Ugetsu
| Ugetsu | |
| Directed by | Kenji Mizoguchi |
| Written by | Matsutarō Kawaguchi, Akinari Ueda, Yoshikata Yoda |
| Starring | Masayuki Mori, Machiko Kyō, Kinuyo Tanaka |
| Produced by | Masaichi Nagata |
| Distributed by | Daiei |
| Release date | March 26, 1953 (Japan) September 7, 1954 (USA) |
| Runtime | 94 min. |
| Language | Japanese |
| Budget | |
| IMDb page | |
Ugetsu, aka Ugetsu Monogatari (雨月物語), is a 1953 film by acclaimed Japanese director Kenji Mizoguchi. The film, set in Medieval Japan, stars Masayuki Mori and Machiko Kyō, and is based on Ugetsu monogatari, a 1776 collection of stories written by Ueda Akinari.
It is perhaps Mizoguchi's most celebrated film, and is regarded by many critics as one of the seminal masterworks of Japanese cinema.
Ugetsu is ostensibly a Ghost story, in which a peasant craftsman in Medieval Japan is undone by his greed. Typical of Mizoguchi's films, Ugetsu is politically oriented toward the ways women suffer at the hands of men; also typically, it features stunning visual arrangements and meticulously orchestrated long takes, as well as obfuscating elements like fog and silence.
Ugetsu won the Silver Lion Award for Best Direction at the Venice Film Festival in 1953. The film has made multiple appearances in Sight and Sound magazine's top ten critics poll of the greatest movies ever made, which is held once every decade. In 2000, The Village Voice newspaper ranked Ugetsu at #29 on their list of the 100 best films of the 20th century.
On November 8, 2005, Ugetsu became available for the first time on Region 1 DVD when The Criterion Collection released a 2-disc edition of the film, which included numerous special features as well as a 150-minute documentary on Mizoguchi.
External link
- Ugetsu monogatari at the Internet Movie Database
- The Criterion Collection DVD