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Tommaso wrote:It looks like Mizoguchi will be for MoC what Ozu is for Criterion... (only kidding).

Heh, I almost made a similar joke earlier today.

You haven't been your usual Ozu joke self lately.

I did notice that the booklet for Akasen Chitai/Yokihi says that Mizoguchi on MoC "includes" the other three sets and wondered if that was one of Nick's awful teasers.

davidhare wrote:Foggy when I was coming to London a bit during the late 70s early 80s, every time I went to the old NFT for screenings there was invariably a queue (The British seem to require queues to make life possible) even if there were only ten people and always - ALWAYS - in the middle of it some pompous twat who would bray on about art and life and the whole damn thing, while the rest of us had to stand there as though we were actually interested in what he had to say.

Ah, I see. BFI Southbank looks like an aircraft hanger now, and in my experience this doesn't really seem to happen anymore - either such types have ceased to go to the movies regularly, or the space is too intimidating. Anyway, I'd prefer queue-based pompous projection to things like the awful current 'Cool Films Hot Location' marketing blitz - I wince every time this crap whizzes by on the side of a bus.

The pomposity was breathtaking. This was the beginnings of the whole Peter Wollen/Laura Mulvey era when obscurantism was the prevailing orthodoxy and eveyrthing was being tangled into pseudo semiotics.

In terms of academia, I don't think much has changed in that respect. Wilful obscurantism still reigns!

Does anyone know what kind of color stock Mizo used in Yohiki? The muted color exhibits a brown-red bias with the blues/green-yellows quite subdued. The print looks a bit faded on the left hand edge as well. That final cap looks... drained of color. (speaking of the beev of course.

HerrSchreck wrote:Does anyone know what kind of color stock Mizo used in Yohiki? The muted color exhibits a brown-red bias with the blues/green-yellows quite subdued. The print looks a bit faded on the left hand edge as well. That final cap looks... drained of color. (speaking of the beev of course.

Daieicolor (which is Eastmancolor)

Thanks MC.

Has anyone, say Hare or Kerpan (or Steve or DancingK), seen this projected, or have another edition to cap it against?

I have the French DVD -- which generally has the same "mellowed" look. Not sure if I have time to tackle screen shots tonight, however.

I took a peek at the new DVD of Yokihi -- and thought it looked pretty lovely overall.

And I watched all of Akasen chitai -- which I've never seen look better. And Tony Rayns intro to this one was pretty good too.

Hats off to MOC!

I love the Rayns introductions, but I get the sense Tony would rather be talking about early Mizoguchi, which I am relying on MoC to provide us with.

I watched "Yokihi" last night and must say I have very mixed feelings about it. Though I knew this is generally regarded as one of Mizos lesser films I'm nevertheless surprised how shallow it was. A clear case of style over substance (and normally I have no problems with this at all). But it seems that Mizo here was only interested in using lavish decors and colours (truly magnificent all the way) but totally forgot about imbuing the script with any sort of depth or even believability. Reading the original poem in the booklet I was much impressed and genuinely moved; watching the film left me curiously cold apart from the magnificent ending. For the most part I was reminded of some second-rate historical epic from Hollywood, and the march of the rebel soldiers onto the capital looked as stagey as the worst in Olivier's Shakespeare films. I'm not surprised to hear from Rayns that it was re-made by a Chinese director only a few years after the Mizo version, and while watching "Yokihi" I found myself wishing for a further remake by Zhang Yimou (I'm sure he would be exactly the right director to make this lift off without sacrificing any of the visual sumptuousness).

Well then, in my view clearly the weakest of all the Mizos I've seen so far, though I wouldn't exactly call it a bad film. Excellent transfer with wonderful colours on top of it, though with this being a colour film I find the many speckles on the print much more intrusive than with the black and white films. Well, it can't be helped...

The use of color AND the performance of Machiko Kyo are strong points of Yokihi for me. There are a few wonderful scenes (e.g., the Emperor and Yokihi going incognito amongst the common people), but this is one film where Mizoguchi DOES come across as rather disengaged.

I still like it more than Lady of Musashino, though (and Victory of Women).

Michael Kerpan wrote:The use of color AND the performance of Machiko Kyo are strong points of Yokihi for me. There are a few wonderful scenes (e.g., the Emperor and Yokihi going incognito amongst the common people), but this is one film where Mizoguchi DOES come across as rather disengaged.

I still like it more than Lady of Musashino, though (and Victory of Women).

Yes, Machiko Kyo does a wonderful job here, but the female parts in all Mizoguchi films I've seen so far were almost always the strongest performances. When I read the booklet and learned how much care and interest Mizo apparently put into getting the decors right, it doesn't seem to me that he was disinterested in the film per se. But I feel that he simply didn't take enough interest in the script itself. It hovers uneasily between a grand historical epic and intimate chamber drama, and I believe that Mizo was much better at the latter. The other period films I've seen place their emphasis much more on the characters and their motivations, are much more individualized (and that even goes for a 'propaganda' piece like "47 Ronin"); my problem is that in "Yokihi" the characters, especially the more minor ones, often appear too one-dimensional. And the film's general subdued tone clashes with the heavy dramatic going-on's. Look even at the final suicide: done by something as 'unexciting' as hanging. There's no need for "Ran"-style mass seppuku, of course, but to make this convincing one would have wished to have learned a little more in depth about Machiko Kyo's character. The wonderful acting for me doesn't help to make up for it.

I don't share your dislike for "Musashino", btw. The film may only be average by his standards, but to me emits nevertheless some true concern for the problem of old vs new ways of living it's dealing with. The end may be melodramatic with the sights of 'Tokyo reborn', but for me it worked.

Alas, despite some nice cinematography, I find Musashino's story fairly ridiculous (and some major editing misjudgments are outright ludicrous). Not even _close_ to average for Mizoguchi. (A much bigger train wreck, comparatively speaking, than Ozu's Munekata Sisters).

I'll take Yokihi any day.

Shucks, David -- your defense of Yokihi is SO much more eloquent than mine.

I think this could have been a bit stronger, and it has never been at the very top of my M-list -- but I have always been fond of it.

And the music IS pretty nice in this too.

Indeed, an excellent defense of the film, and I myself am surprised I didn't like it more, David (given that I'm normally the first to excuse weak dialogue or plot if the visuals are great, and in "Yokihi" of course they are). The Emperor is perhaps a good example for where my problems with the film come from. He is sympathetic, yes, but not much more. At the beginning I thought Mizo might develop this devotion to music/art more into something along the lines of Shakespeare's Prospero, i.e. a ruler who forgets about his 'job' as a ruler because of his artistic leanings and gets into troubles because of this. But little in this direction follows. There is also little real indication in the film why exactly the people rebel against the Yang clan. There are too many loose ends, or lines in the plot that would have needed a stronger and clearer development, or at least something more dramatically effective. But I agree about the ending, which I also think is truly moving and very beautiful.

Talking about the music (and coming to the other film in the set), I was amazed by Mizos daring in "Akasen Chitai" in using Mayuzumi's electronic sounds. Strikingly effective, as the whole of the film is. Here I find precisely the depth of characterization in ALL characters and a true concern of the filmmaker for what he's doing that I miss in "Yokihi". I have little to add to what Rayns says in his intro and audio commentary (one of the best I heard in the last few months, truly engaging and very well researched), but I'm much impressed by how modern the film is and how genuinely frank about sexual matters. I also love the way Mizo refrains from any didacticism or from judging his characters. Machiko Kyo's performance here easily outdoes her playing in "Yokihi", good as that is. I didn't expect this kind of film from Mizo at all, and wonder what kind of films he would have made if he had lived a little longer and followed in this direction.

As to Mayuzumi: he was actually the first to write electronic music in Japan (not just for films), and there's a nice cd with some of his early works (and some other composers) called 'Hirosi Siotani's Work' (after the engineer/producer of the electronic studio where Mayuzumi made these works). Interesting stuff , with titles like "Music for sine wave by proportion of prime number" and so on, though not quite as great as his most famous work, the "Nirvana Symphony" which is a curious and very effective combination of Buddhist chant and avantgarde orchestral music. Should appeal to the Stockhausen fans here, I'd say. Mayuzumi's stature is often diminished by Takemitsu, and I think he just doesn't deserve this.

How do people think Yokihi compares to Tales of the Taira Clan? I remember not finding that historical drama very engaging either, for similar / the same reasons as Yokihi is being criticised here. Still looking forward to watching this though, soon. I thought that Tales... was much better than Lady from Musashino though, I was suprised by how much I disliked that one, especially as I generally prefer Mizoguchi's contemporary films to his historical ones.

lazier than a toad wrote:How do people think Yokihi compares to Tales of the Taira Clan? I remember not finding that historical drama very engaging either, for similar / the same reasons as Yokihi is being criticised here. Still looking forward to watching this though, soon. I thought that Tales... was much better than Lady from Musashino though, I was suprised by how much I disliked that one, especially as I generally prefer Mizoguchi's contemporary films to his historical ones.

Taira Clan is near the bottom of my Mizoguchi list (along with Musashino, Victory of Women and Bijomaru).

My booklet has jumbled up pages and I'm wondering if it is a one-off problem, in which case I will just send my copy back to Amazon for a replacement.

No problems with the booklet in my copy.

I have the same problem with the booklet.. The first 5 pages are normal, then it skips to page 22. After page 28 it goes back to page 13. From there is goes normal to page 44 and skips again to page 29. Last few pages (from 36) go forth again to page 53 and end with 56.

A real mess!

Received mine this morning (USA), and my booklet is fine.

This particular booklet is saddle-stitched, so fixing it should require only removing the staples from the spine, reordering the pages, and replacing the staples. This might be a better option than requesting a replacement set. Just a thought....

Anyone with a faulty booklet, please IM me and I will endeavour to get it replaced. This appears to be an isolated incident and hasn't affected any that I've inspected.

reno dakota wrote:This particular booklet is saddle-stitched, so fixing it should require only removing the staples from the spine, reordering the pages, and replacing the staples. This might be a better option than requesting a replacement set. Just a thought....

Would work if all the pages are in the booklet.. I miss, for example, almost everything from Akasen Chitai en I have everything from Yôkihi double!