309 Ugetsu

[oldsheperd]

Having never seen the film before, I thought this interrupted shot was intentional, but after watching the whole thing I found it an unusual choice for Mizoguchi to make compared to the rest of the film. Has anyone else thought about this?

[Crocky]

I just watched the crane shot on the Criterion Ugetsu and then checked my Ugestu DVD from the French Box Set : the cut in present in both releases.

[peerpee]

Can someone check the BO YING (BO YANG?) ?

[Michael Kerpan]

Isn't the Chinese DVD just a copy of sorts of the French one?

[ellipsis7]

Brief lake shot mixing through to crane down on my VHS recorded off Film Four.... I'm not sure that the very first shot - essentially a pan - continues into that crane down.... However some negative seems missing - the head of the lake shot is the obvious contender, maybe a mix there also missing?...

[shirobamba]

Compared the BO YING to the French boxset version.

The Bo Ying is a recompressed port of th French DVD. (Exactly the same scratches). Therefore it has the same cutaway.

[Narshty]

Well, the laserdisc was made from a "35mm duplicate negative" and the new DVD from "the 35mm fine-grain master positive". It's possible there could be different footage in each.

[Anonymous]

OK folks, I just found the tape of UGETSU that I made of the TNT foreign film series that aired from January - June of 1990 (in the same timeslot as TCMs current Silent Sunday) and was hosted by the late Roddy McDowell. It's a Janus print and it looks like it's had a rough ride on the art film curcuit but after the Daiei logo there's an extended original Japanese credit sequence. The first shot begins as a right to left pan over a field with a few sheds along the parameter. As the camera continues left, passes a large leafy tree and begins its descent downwards, we see the potter and his wife and child as they pack a cart in the midst of what appears to be a rather spacious farmyard. The next cut continues their conversation in medium shot and a pan right reveals the farmer as he and his wife run out of their house. This cuts to a closer shot of the farmer and his wife as they pass and exit camera right. Another cut and we are tracking camera right with them as they continue and meet the group at the cart. The men push the cart off camera right and a rather fast dissolve takes us out of the first scene.

At no time did I see a cut to anything else during the opening pan/crane shot and the only visual anomoly of any kind was a slight "bump" and darkening of the screen as a "super" of Japanese characters came on just before and during the pass by the tree. I've looked at the shot about a dozen times now and cannot detect any "cheat" cuts while the tree is in the extreme foreground. The entire shot from start to finish appears to be done in real time and represents a smooth continuous camera move through contiguous space. The shot is a relatively short example of its type and I cannot imagine a cut to another location interrupting its flow. Such a cut would not appear out of place in Godard or late '60s Bergman but I doubt that such a cutting pattern would be normal for a Japanese film of this period. While I've seen about 3/4 of Kurosawa and a smattering of Ozu and others, UGETSU and THE LIFE OF OHARA are the only Mizoguchi I've yet seen. This broadcast was my only encounter with the former and a rather murky 35mm print at the '97 Atlanta Film Festival remains my only experience of the latter. Of the explantions offered as to its orgins I concur with the theory that it somehow remains as an artifact from an English language release print. I cannot explain how it manages to appear in modern transfers from different countries/DVD regions or how it superseded what apparently is an original Japanese print with English subtitles prepared for/by Janus Films prior to 1990.

[montgomery]

I'm calling it a mistake (and a pretty bad one) until someone proves otherwise.

[Michael Kerpan]

It may be a mistake -- but if it is found on the French release as well, it is presumably a mistake made by Kadokawa (the company that bought Daiei's film business) -- not Criterion. Until this appears on DVD in Japan (presumably under the direct supervision of Kadokawa), however, we won't have much in the way of an alternative reference point.

[Narshty]

The strange jump-cut is there on the old BFI VHS too.

[Michael Kerpan]

The strange jump-cut is there on the old BFI VHS too.

Then it's a mistake made by Daiei -- long before its acquisition by Kadokawa.

;~}

[King of Kong]

I saw this for the first time two nights ago. It's simply amazing - a breathtaking, dreamlike film. I had only seen one Mizoguchi film before, The Story of the Last Chrysanthemum, but Ugetsu is definitely the superior work. As for the extras, I dipped into the 3 interviews on the feature disc, and I found them remarkably thorough. I hope to listen to the commentary soon, as well as read the stories and watch the included doco.

I do hope Criterion issues more Mizoguchis.

[Michael Kerpan]

I had only seen one Mizoguchi film before, The Story of the Last Chrysanthemum, but Ugetsu is definitely the superior work./quote]
Not in my book.

I suspect, however, that "Story of the Last Chrysanthemums" really _demands_ actual screening much more than "Ugetsu" does. Moreover, the currently available English-subbed video of this film is really not very good.

I do hope Criterion issues more Mizoguchis.

Agreed

[King of Kong]

I suspect, however, that "Story of the Last Chrysanthemums" really _demands_ actual screening much more than "Ugetsu" does.

Possibly. I enjoyed ...Crysanthemum quite a bit as well, but found Ugetsu immediately captivating. Perhaps the earlier film does warrant a second (and third, fourth, etc) screening.

Moreover, the currently available English-subbed video of this film is really not very good.

I assume you mean the Home Vision Entertainment edition, with its abysmal picture quality, audio problems and subtitle gaps? If so, we're in agreement.

[Michael Kerpan]

Possibly. I enjoyed ...Crysanthemum quite a bit as well, but found Ugetsu immediately captivating. Perhaps the earlier film does warrant a second (and third, fourth, etc) screening.

I think I found Ugetsu more immediately captivating too. But I like "Chrysanthemums" more now. I think the pre-50s Mizoguchi films benefit by being seen theatrically -- on a big screen. The 50s films are more compatible with viewing on TV.

I assume you mean the Home Vision Entertainment edition, with its abysmal picture quality, audio problems and subtitle gaps? If so, we're in agreement.

That's the one.

[unclehulot]

I was SO psyched to see The Story of the Last Chrysanthemums theatrically recently, but I guess it was going to be from 16mm....then one of the projectors went bad, so....it ended up being that same lousy video version PROJECTED on the big screen! Yecch!

[Steven H]

What a great set this is, and I thoroughly enjoyed Rayns' commentary (I didn't know Mizoguchi prized Sansho the most.) It's also extremely useful including the original short stories Comparing them against the film has definitely brought Ugetsu, what I previously considered one of the more shallow and conventional Mizoguchi films, around for me. The levels of the social and psychological are much more open to me now. The threat of war on the psyche of the individual, as with Tobei, of desire of power seems satirized (and the similar vein of thought, inspired and shared by Maupassant, is thankfully included.)

The ghost story seems to have been watered down, less severe now, which makes Genjuro's complicity even stronger. He's not given the easy out Ueda hands him, destroy the creature and you will be fine, an easy evil. Instead, Genjuro's greed and lust is a destructive force that causes his wife and child harm, and injures his soul (according to the priest.) The ghost is barely condemned, after all, what harm has it done? Fed and clothed Genjuro, given him love, even physical love, and asked for nothing in return but his company. Just because a strange priest saw "death on his face", he spurns his etherreal wife. Without this knowledge, it's not to be assumed the bliss would have ended (I'm not saying that he wouldn't have died prematurely, but just that Mizoguchi doesn't necessarily demonify the spirits.)

In my opinion, this is really Tanaka's film though (not to slight Mori, one of my favorite actors). Since her character is largely invented, considering the short stories barely mentioning wives, I see Mizoguchi using her to connect the abstract short pieces to his style of storytelling. The shimpa, deserted and doomed, heroine, Mizoguchi's "feminine ideal", seems to me the dramatic center of the film. I don't know why, but Ugetsu reminds me of Hitchcock's Rebecca, and I wonder what Mizoguchi would have done with a film like that. Imagine Rebecca with Ugetsu's creepy score... strange.

On a nerdy note, does it seem odd that Criterion didn't see fit to give Shindo's documentary it's own spine number? It seems "worth it", especially when compared to supplemental style material afforded collectable status in the past (though some much more important films have been shunted to the same status, especially Floating Weeds and The Lower Depths, but still).

[zedz]

On a nerdy note, does it seem odd that Criterion didn't see fit to give Shindo's documentary it's own spine number? It seems "worth it", especially when compared to supplemental style material afforded collectable status in the past (though some much more important films have been shunted to the same status, especially Floating Weeds and The Lower Depths, but still).

Off the top of my head, this seems to be consistent with past Crterion practice, in which the documentaries 'elevated' to spine number status (My Metier, Ingmar Bergman Makes a Film, A Constant Forge, The Making of F&A - any others?) have been part of multi-title box sets. F&A stretches that rule by assigning spine numbers to different versions of the same film, but doing the same in this case would break the rule entirely.

[Michael Kerpan]

This DVD looks pretty good. ;~}

It's ironic that, by the time a good subbed DVD finally came out, my affecton had already cooled considerably on this film. The best parts are undoubtedly magnificent, but I would rate this one of the most uneven Mizoguchi film I've seen.

[shirobamba]

"Uneven" in what respect, Michael?
Admitted: It's a pretty complicated bricolage of interrelated motives (2 woman ghosts) and strands of narration (2 tales of ambitious husbands), perhaps one of the most complex text(ures), Mizoguchi has woven. It's episodic nature seems to be unique for Mizoguchi (I'm judging from the few I've seen, please correct me, when I'm wrong), almost experimental: the mixture of harsh realistic parts, with shades of comic relief, and dreamlike sequences seems very modern to me. In fact rewatching the film after quite a long time its "moderness" surprised me, and had me reconsider M's storytelling, that I remembered as "oldfashioned".

I'm just reading Le Fanu's "Mizoguchi and Japan", to gain a bit more background. It's quite informative, though not on par with the thorough analysis of Bordwell f.e.
If I dare ask: why did it disappoint you?

[Michael Kerpan]

The would-be samurai sub-plot strikes me as pretty poorly executed, by and large. As I recall, Kurosawa was (discreetly) critical of this -- despite his overall respect for Mizoguchi's work. FWIW, Kurosawa considered "Crucified Lovers" a superior film -- and I would certainly agree with AK on this point.

Complex cross-cut narratives date all the way back to the 20s in Japan -- to Murata's "Souls on the Road" and Kinugasa's "Page of Madness". I wasn't able to see the former (it got no closer to me than NYC), but the latter is a far more "modern" seeming film than "Ugetsu". "Ugetsu" seems more old-fashioned than much of Mizoguchi's earlier work, too (cf. Sisters of Gion).

All the ghost-related parts are, of course, awesome. ;~}

I found LeFanu's Mizoguchi book extremely disappointing. Mostly plot summaries and script analysis. Remarkably little sensitivity to visual elements -- and lots of fan-boy-esque biographical "special pleading".

[King of Kong]

I've just finished listening to Raynes' commentary - it's definitely one of the better tracks I have heard in a while. It was interesting to find out that Mizoguchi himself wasn't 100% happy with the finished film - appears he had to cave in to studio pressure to not make the outcome of Tobei's story as bleak as he would have liked. Yet as in the case Rashomon, the reconcilatory ending of Ugetsu does seem justified, given the suffering of the characters - it's not exactly Hollywood-style closure, thank god.

But I was surprised to discover that Mizoguchi did not have *complete* control over the end product. Such are the risks involved in working in a studio system, I guess...

[Michael Kerpan]

David --- I am unimpressed by the whole would-be samurai subplot -- some parts are better and some are worse, but none are up to the standards set by Mizoguchi at his best (in the other pasts of this film -- or elsewhere).

The fact that Mizoguchi might have been an SOB (especially towards women) in his personal light strikes me as relatively unimportant (no matter how interesting), compared to a careful analysis of what exactly he does in the films themselves. I find Mizoguchi far more interesting and admirable as the creator of moving images than as a "personality". This is why I find Bordwell's approach (in Figures Traced in Light" than Le Fanu's (in his recent book on Mizoguchi).

[Michael Kerpan]

My only real complaints about "Sansho" -- the actor portraying the grown-up hero isn't a very good (and there may be problems with how his part is written) -- and Tanaka's role is way too iconic and abstract.

I think Sansho is far more coherent and consistent than Ugetsu overall (but a few scenes in Ugetsu are more "magical" -- and not just because they involve ghosts).

I think the film maker's history and cultural issues are both important -- but decidedly secondary to aesthetic issues. But they are far easier to talk about than visual style (etc.). The very things that make films most special to me are those that I have almost no ability to capture in words.