Sunday, March 23, 2008

Naniwa erejî (Kenji Mizoguchi, 1936) aka Osaka Elegy


Osaka Elegy (Kenji Mizoguchi, 1936)
Rating: 10

A tragic story of a woman who brings shame to her family by helping them out of their financial jam by acting as her bosses mistress. The cinematography is incredibly beautiful and the Japanese master employs his trademark long takes and includes a self-relexive Kabuki scene. Isuzu Yamada stars as the strong minded woman and foil to the more weakly portrayed degenerate men. The film ends abruptly and without resolution as Ayako wanders the streets in confusion of what to do next after being outcast as a delinquent.

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