"Kenji Mizoguch Revealed" "Director Kenji Mizoguchi is a key figure who can't be overlooked in the word's film history," "He was a wel esteemed director who produced such works as" "Ugetsu Monogatari (Ugetsu) and Sansho-dayu (Sansho the Bailiff) in the 1 950s, which is considered to be the golden era of Japanese cinema." "However, these are two of his last few works in his later years," "He started his career as a director in the 1 920s." "Drector Kenji Mzoguchi He started his career as a director in the 1 920s." "Drector Kenji Mzoguchi" "Taki no Shiraito (The Water Magcian) you just saw was created in 1 933, around which time Kenji Mizoguchi established an essential position in Japanese cinema," "Also to be noted is that this is a silent flm," "The film was created during the tail end of the Japanese silent flm period, while the general trend in filmmaking around the world had drastically shifted to creating talke films." "It is most unfortunate that many Japanese masterpiece flms have been ost over time as Japanese sient films were far from being properly stored." "Fortunatey, however, although not in ts complete form," "Taki no Shiraito stil remains with us today." "It is said to be Mizoguchi's representatve work during the sient film period," "We are very lucky." "We can see in this film Taki no Shiraito that his style had already been estabished in the early 1 930s," "Taki no Shiraito" "Taki no Shiraito The story which the film Taki no Shiraito was based on was" "Taki no Shiraito" "Taki no Shiraito extremey famous and widely known at the time," "Taki no Shiraito" "Taki no Shiraito It was written by Kyoka lzum who was a very popuar writer then," "Taki no Shiraito" "Taki no Shiraito It was one of his major works," "Kyoka Izumi wrote a number of wel-plotted novels which are stil read today, but is also known for his extraordnary talent with scripts for plays considered to be of the Shimpa style," "You may be wondering about this Shimpa style," "Shimpa-style plays featured contemporary dramas, but where its method of expressions and acting styles were strongly influenced by kabuki performance," "Kabuki is a traditional performng art, so t was referred to as Kyuha, or the old schoo style," "Contemporary dramas weren't performed in kabuki," "The old performng stye that had been estabished and remained made it rather difficult for modern practices and lives to be featured," "That is why Shimpa, the new school style, had been established as a new form, new style of performing art," "However, compared to modern day plays, even the Shimpa-style plays included poses and movements typical of kabuki," "They included many scenes where the actors beautifuly posed." "They made breathtaking poses as if they were a part of beautiful, eye-grabbing paintngs." "That was the style." "This was the influence of kabuki," "Only a few theatrical troupes stil practice this Shimpa style as it is considered old-fashioned today," "However, t was the stye that represented the Japanese performing arts durng the Meij perod," "There is a common theme in most of the Shimpa-stye pays." "Taki no Shiraito s such a typical example," "Taki no Shiraito" "Taki no Shiraito The woman, the main character," "Taki no Shiraito" "Taki no Shiraito suffers beyond imagination for her man," "Taki no Shiraito" "Taki no Shiraito And for that man," "Taki no Shiraito" "Taki no Shiraito she devotes her ife and energy to him," "Taki no Shiraito" "Taki no Shiraito The man on the other hand.," "Taki no Shiraito" "Taki no Shiraito succeeds in life, but is eft with a deep sense of guit," "Taki no Shiraito" "Taki no Shiraito This is the basc plotine of the Shimpa-style plays," "Taki no Shiraito" "Taki no Shiraito At the same time, this was indeed" "Taki no Shiraito" "Taki no Shiraito a reality durng the Meij perod, when moderniation began in Japan," "As Japanese society started to modernize under the infuence of the West, its driving force was the idea that anyone who studied hard and graduated from a good school wil be employed and lead a successful life." "The truth was that it only appied to men," "So if there was a samurai famiy that had gone out of power, they'd want the son to go to a good school and succeed so that their family may once agan rise in the socal ladder," "This was the desire of the ruined ruling cass in the old Japan," "In order to achieve this, the whole family, especaly the women, had to work hard," "Back in the old days, there weren't that many choices of work for women," "Other than working in factories, it was common for women to become a geisha," "Women working for their families and feeding them with her pay as a gesha was so typical back then." "Putting the men in the famiy through school depended on her pay as well." "In fact, Kenji Mizoguchi himself led such a ife." "He came from a family that lost its fortune," "After graduating from primary school, he never had a rea job but went from one job to another," "He then joned the film industry when he was about 20," "Until then, he spent his adolescence with the support of his older sister who had become a geisha," "The film is based on his rea life's story," "Taki no Shiraito" "Taki no Shiraito A wonderfu woman sacrifices everythng she has for her love" "Taki no Shiraito" "Taki no Shiraito to allow him to study and" "Taki no Shiraito" "Taki no Shiraito for him to succeed in life," "Taki no Shiraito" "Taki no Shiraito She gives up everything," "Taki no Shiraito" "Taki no Shiraito She offers him money and an opportunity for his education," "Taki no Shiraito" "Taki no Shiraito but in the process gets invoved in a crime and s brought to court," "Taki no Shiraito" "Taki no Shiraito The prosecutor of her trial turns out to be" "Taki no Shiraito" "Taki no Shiraito the young man who she had provided school tution," "Taki no Shiraito" "It is a common storyine in melodramas," "Considered rather old-fashioned nowadays, but they happened during the Meji period," "The story may be a little exaggerated with extraordinary coincidences, but it isn't a far-fetched storyline that was specifically written for a melodrama," "It was a common scenario in real life back then." "The story's hghight is what knd and what degree of sense of guilt the man feels when he meets the woman again," "I believe this aspect was depcted based on Kenji Mizoguchi's own experience," "The film finely ilustrates such sentiments." "Takako lrie The woman here is a water artist named Taki no Shirato," "Takako lrie" "Takako lrie When I was a child, water arts were still performed a lot across Japan," "Takako lrie" "Takako lrie Also to be noted is" "Takako lrie" "Takako lrie Takako lrie, the actress who played the role of ths water artist Taki no Shiraito," "Takako lrie" "Takako lrie Whie she actualy was this film's producer," "Takako lrie she was the most popular fim star at the time," "She came from a nobe family," "It is true that she gained her fame partialy because she was a girl from a noble famiy who became a film actress," "But she was also known as the top beauty in Japanese cinema in her days," "She had this gracefulness whch troubes the peope when watching her striving so hard," "That is the kind of woman men want to give up all for and do everything in ther power for her," "But in the film, the man is far from devoting himself to the woman," "Instead he ends up in a position where he makes her sacrfice herself for him," "Ths depicts the typical relatonship between men and women widely accepted during the Meiji period where men succeeded by using women as steppingstones," "In this film, however, Mzoguchi keenly poses the queston of whether such practice shoud be accepted," "In the film, there is a man who the woman financially supports," "Young Kinya," "Tokhiko Okada" "Tokhiko Okada This role was played by the film star most popular in Japan at the tme," "Tokhiko Okada" "Tokhiko Okada A young and handsome man," "Tokhiko Okada" "Tokhiko Okada What was so specia about hm was that" "Tokhiko Okada" "Tokhiko Okada he had the gift with more westernized gestures." "Tokhiko Okada" "Tokhiko Okada Around the same time as this fim," "Tokhiko Okada" "Tokhiko Okada he often payed such roles as a good-humored, funny student" "Tokhiko Okada" "Tokhiko Okada in a number of Drector Yasujiro Ozu's fims in a more modern setting." "Tokhiko Okada" "Tokhiko Okada Tokhiko Okada was a great star of his time," "Tokhiko Okada" "Tokhiko Okada This said, the film Taki no Shiraito was a melodrama" "This said, the film Taki no Shiraito was a melodrama by the best looking coupe in Japanese cinema at the tme whch closely refected the true nature of Japanese socety." "The detailed depction of the course of a couple being carried away to meet their destiny adds great depth to the film and hints at us about the masterpiece works of" "Kenji Mizoguch in his later years," "This fim is a tragic story," "Taki no Shiraito" "Taki no Shiraito The man now as a prosecutor" "Taki no Shiraito" "Taki no Shiraito faces the woman who is his lover and who he owes his lfe to," "Taki no Shiraito" "Taki no Shiraito He s now in a position where he must sentence her as guilty," "Taki no Shiraito" "Taki no Shiraito However, the man himself later commits suicide out of guilt." "The story ends in what could be considered a double suicide." "The beauty of double suicide is frequently featured in Japan's traditional pays," "I believe that this film shares a similar or the same kind of beauty in ts work." "Tokyo Koshinkyoku" "Tokyo Koshinkyoku The other fim is Tokyo Koshinkyoku (T okyo March)," "Tokyo Koshinkyoku" "Tokyo Koshinkyoku Although only partially, the film has survived over the years," "Tokyo Koshinkyoku" "Tokyo Koshinkyoku It can't be watched as a compete work as only parts of the flm stil remain today," "Tokyo Koshinkyoku" "Tokyo Koshinkyoku However, I still think it is very fortunate that" "Tokyo Koshinkyoku" "Tokyo Koshinkyoku we have a silent flm work by Mizoguchi, even ony partially." "The film is starred by Shizue Natsukawa, another top film actress of the time," "Takako lrie who played the lead role in Taki no Shiraito was one of the best classic beauties," "Shizue Natsukawa In contrast, Shzue Natsukawa was a new type of film star" "Shizue Natsukawa" "Shizue Natsukawa of the younger generation," "Shizue Natsukawa" "Shizue Natsukawa A group that emerged from a new wave of modernization," "Shizue Natsukawa" "Shizue Natsukawa A new type indeed," "Shizue Natsukawa" "She was very intelligent and cute," "She was also energetc and acted without hesitation," "Kenji Mizoguch himsef grew up in a feudal time and was taught feudal ideologies," "But because of such a feudal society, he was abe to have the life he wanted," "Hs older sister became a geisha and paid his tuition," "She was the one who supported hm," "She was the one who watched over him." "He grew up in such an environment, but he thought that was wrong," "It was wrong for men to succeed at the cost of women." "I believe that was Kenji Mizoguchi's ifeong theme," "So the sense of guit toward women reappears through Mizoguchi's films." "Tokyo Koshinkyoku" "Tokyo Koshinkyoku With such a mindset, Mizoguchi tred to depict a new type of woman" "Tokyo Koshinkyoku" "Tokyo Koshinkyoku as Japan was starting to modernize, as Japan was starting to modernize," "There's no doubt that modernization, feudaism and tradtion co-existed inside Mizoguchi." "As he was taught feudal views while growng up, its blessing can be seen in Taki no Shiraito, as wel as in his later work Ugetsu Monogatari." "Depicted n these films are the beauty of kabuki and noh which developed during feuda times," "Nevertheless, Mizoguchi himself sought modernization." "I believe his nner struggle can be wel seen n these two works,"