Kenji Mizoguchi

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longstone
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Re: Kenji Mizoguchi

#251 Post by longstone » Sat May 24, 2014 2:48 pm

yes , thanks for posting that

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Michael Kerpan
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Re: Kenji Mizoguchi

#252 Post by Michael Kerpan » Sat May 24, 2014 3:00 pm

longstone wrote:yes , thanks for posting that
You're welcome. Seeing the list again made me feel quite nostalgic. ;-}

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Re: Kenji Mizoguchi

#253 Post by longstone » Sat May 24, 2014 3:16 pm

regarding officially released versions with English subs, the best versions I have are ,
the Masters of Cinema Blu-ray box ,
the Artificial Eye Blu-ray set ,
the Eclipse fallen Women set ,
Criterion Life of Oharu Blu-ray,
the Artificial Eye Lady of Musashino DVD,
the French Tiara Clan DVD ,
Australian 47 Ronin
and two Talking Silents DVDs from Japan,
does anyone know is there anything else available easily with English subtitles that fills any of the gaps ?

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Michael Kerpan
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Re: Kenji Mizoguchi

#254 Post by Michael Kerpan » Sat May 24, 2014 3:51 pm

longstone wrote:regarding officially released versions with English subs, the best versions I have are ,
the Masters of Cinema Blu-ray box ,
the Artificial Eye Blu-ray set ,
the Eclipse fallen Women set ,
Criterion Life of Oharu Blu-ray,
the Artificial Eye Lady of Musashino DVD,
the French Tiara Clan DVD ,
Australian 47 Ronin
and two Talking Silents DVDs from Japan,
does anyone know is there anything else available easily with English subtitles that fills any of the gaps ?
There is this release of Musashi Miyamoto: http://www.japanesesamuraidvd.com/.sc/ms/dd/ee/209" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

longstone
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Re: Kenji Mizoguchi

#255 Post by longstone » Sat May 24, 2014 4:27 pm

Michael Kerpan wrote:
longstone wrote:regarding officially released versions with English subs, the best versions I have are ,
the Masters of Cinema Blu-ray box ,
the Artificial Eye Blu-ray set ,
the Eclipse fallen Women set ,
Criterion Life of Oharu Blu-ray,
the Artificial Eye Lady of Musashino DVD,
the French Tiara Clan DVD ,
Australian 47 Ronin
and two Talking Silents DVDs from Japan,
does anyone know is there anything else available easily with English subtitles that fills any of the gaps ?
There is this release of Musashi Miyamoto: http://www.japanesesamuraidvd.com/.sc/ms/dd/ee/209" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;
thanks very much , I've not seen that film

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Michael Kerpan
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Re: Kenji Mizoguchi

#256 Post by Michael Kerpan » Sat May 24, 2014 4:48 pm

Mizoguchi's MM is not like any other version you may have seen of this story. (I personally like it, however).

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ando
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Re: Kenji Mizoguchi

#257 Post by ando » Wed May 28, 2014 11:55 am

Michael Kerpan wrote:My recollection of the Le Fanu book is that it mostly ranged between mediocre and somewhat poor.
Not at all. It's certainly not a comprehensive study of the whole of Mizoguchi's output (focusing on his more well known films) but I'm finding it quite useful as a primer to viewing the films during the current retro in NYC. I'd recommend it.

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Michael Kerpan
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Re: Kenji Mizoguchi

#258 Post by Michael Kerpan » Wed May 28, 2014 4:17 pm

Here is a pretty accurate review of the book by Freda Freiberg:

http://sensesofcinema.com/2006/book-rev ... and-japan/" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

She captures what is good AND problematic. I happen to to have found the more problematic aspects offputting enough to impair those aspects that others might find quite useful. My strongest recollection of the book now is one of having been repeatedly been aggravated by it (in a non-productive fashion).

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ando
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Re: Kenji Mizoguchi

#259 Post by ando » Wed May 28, 2014 5:57 pm

Yes, I posted that link earlier. She's quibbling - sure Le Fanu makes assumptions about the tastes of most western audiences and regurgitates old debates from "the high point of auterism", but if he "assiduously researched the historical background, critical reception, production history, theatrical and literary sources, socio-political context and narrative construction of all the extant Mizoguchi films", what more do you need from a primer? Of course, he may not have intended it to be an intro but it's certainly works as one.

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whaleallright
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Re: Kenji Mizoguchi

#260 Post by whaleallright » Wed May 28, 2014 7:15 pm

did he really "assiduously research" all of that? I've noticed a tendency for film books to be advertised as "thoroughly researched" (etc.) when they basically are a synthesis of secondary material. for example, there was a Barbara Stanwyck bio out a few years back that the publisher claimed to have lots of original research, but it didn't seem to have hardly any. the newer bio (the first in what will likely be a multi-volume series) genuinely is the product of extensive, long-running research. Le Fanu's track record isn't exactly encouraging--his Dreyer book features a lot of opinions and analyses and little if any new information.

of course, some of my students think "research" means "two clicks beyond Google" so YMMV.

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Michael Kerpan
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Re: Kenji Mizoguchi

#261 Post by Michael Kerpan » Wed May 28, 2014 8:45 pm

jonah -- you probably need to look at this for yourself. My feeling was this was usually felt pretty superficial, "assiduous research" or not. It recycled a lot of what seemed like "conventional wisdom". MUCH more real substance in Bordwell's chapter on Mizoguchi than in LeFanu's whole book.

I just took a look at random pages -- and it looks like it has quite a few mistakes -- but don't have time at the moment to double check things. For instance, he definitely mis-describes how bunraku was/is performed.

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whaleallright
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Re: Kenji Mizoguchi

#262 Post by whaleallright » Thu May 29, 2014 3:48 pm

maybe I'll take a look.

also: if you read French (or Japanese), the volume of reflections by Mizoguchi's regular screenwriter Yoda Yoshikata is quite valuable.

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Michael Kerpan
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Re: Kenji Mizoguchi

#263 Post by Michael Kerpan » Thu May 29, 2014 4:23 pm

I'll tackle this someday (in French), I wish I had been able to get the Ozu Notebooks (in French) before they went out of print -- and got too expensive.

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whaleallright
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Re: Kenji Mizoguchi

#264 Post by whaleallright » Thu May 29, 2014 4:43 pm

yes, I had an opportunity to purchase those at a suburban Paris film fair, and for some reason passed them up.

i also passed up a chance to get this amazing poster for I Was Born, But...--made for what I believe was the film's first release in France, in the 1980s:

Image

](*,)

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Michael Kerpan
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Re: Kenji Mizoguchi

#265 Post by Michael Kerpan » Thu May 29, 2014 5:32 pm

My son could have bought the Ozu notebooks when he was in France on a summer student exchange years ago. I would have happily wired him the extra money. ;-}

Awesome poster.

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YnEoS
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Re: Kenji Mizoguchi

#266 Post by YnEoS » Sun Jun 01, 2014 11:29 pm

Unfortunately I wasn't able to make it to two of the recommendations I got in this thread, Utamaro and His Five Women and Portrait of Madame Yuki, but I was able to see Crucified Lovers today.

My overall impression is that it did seem quite a bit better than any previous Mizoguchi's I've watched, but it still wasn't quite up to the same level of reaction I get out of an average Naruse/Ozu/Shimizu/Yamanaka/etc. I might be oversimplifying the other Mizoguchi's I've seen in memory, but it seemed one thing that helped make this film a lot better was that there were more changes in character relationships within each scene, so it never felt as monotone as I remember other Mizoguchi films being.

I didn't notice any really overt complexly blocked long takes that Bordwell pointed out in his essay, but there was a lot of good blocking with the way characters positioned themselves and changed posture over the course of the scene, and once I got more attuned to that I was much more absorbed in the drama. The scene of the two lovers fleeing on the boat stands out as particularly effective.


I had to squeeze this screening in the middle of a bit of a busy weekend, so I was a bit tired and not 100% properly mentally hyped for the film walking in, so I might have a better appreciation of it with a second viewing. Still overall it was a pretty positive viewing experience and has given me a slight glimmer of hope of appreciating more Mizoguchi in the future.

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Michael Kerpan
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Re: Kenji Mizoguchi

#267 Post by Michael Kerpan » Mon Jun 02, 2014 8:21 am

Glad you did like Crucified Lovers, hopefully it will be a start towards getting attuned to the Mizoguchian wavelength.

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movielocke
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Re: Kenji Mizoguchi

#268 Post by movielocke » Fri Jan 16, 2015 1:45 pm

For denizens of the Los Angeles Environs, UCLA begins a 35mm retrospective of Mizoguchi today. Unfortunately it's not nearly as comprehensive as the other recent retrospectives mentioned upthread, not a single rare film is playing, so it only affords the possibility to see all the films that are available from Vidiots and Eddie Brandt albeit in better quality than VHS.

https://www.cinema.ucla.edu/events/2015 ... dium=email" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

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FrauBlucher
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Re: Kenji Mizoguchi

#269 Post by FrauBlucher » Mon Dec 28, 2015 7:40 am


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Tommaso
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Re: Kenji Mizoguchi

#270 Post by Tommaso » Mon Dec 28, 2015 5:42 pm

I didn't know about this before. Are they talking about a newer restoration than the one that is on the Artificial Eye release? If so, a clear case for a Criterion release (I hope).

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Re: Kenji Mizoguchi

#271 Post by Calvin » Mon Dec 28, 2015 5:46 pm

Tommaso wrote:I didn't know about this before. Are they talking about a newer restoration than the one that is on the Artificial Eye release? If so, a clear case for a Criterion release (I hope).
Indeed, it's a new (2015) 4K restoration from Shochiku that's already been released on Blu-Ray in Japan

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FrauBlucher
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Re: Kenji Mizoguchi

#272 Post by FrauBlucher » Mon Dec 28, 2015 7:14 pm

I found the article from a Janus retweet. Take that for what it's worth.

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George Kaplan
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Re: Kenji Mizoguchi

#273 Post by George Kaplan » Tue Dec 29, 2015 8:58 am

Very careless writing and editing to not mention the venue, which happens to be the Francesca Beale & Walter Reade Theaters at Lincoln Center. Also, for what it is worth, the press screening notice identifies this as a Janus Films release.

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Trees
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Re: Kenji Mizoguchi

#274 Post by Trees » Fri Apr 22, 2016 10:08 pm

Is this Ugetsu restoration screening at Cannes brand new?
• Ugetsu monogatari (Ugetsu) by Kenji Mizoguchi (1953, 1h37, Japan)
Presented by The Film Foundation, KADOKAWA Corporation, and the Hollywood Foreign Press Association.
Restored by The Film Foundation and KADOKAWA Corporation at Cineric Laboratories. Special thanks to Masahiro Miyajima and Martin Scorsese for their consultation on this restoration. Restoration funding provided by the Hollywood Foreign Press Association in association with The Film Foundation and KADOKAWA Corporation.

http://www.festival-cannes.com/en/article/62136.html" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

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movielocke
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Re: Kenji Mizoguchi

#275 Post by movielocke » Sat Apr 23, 2016 1:49 am

I wonder if that "consultation" means Scorsese supplied a print for timing / grading reference?


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