Kenji Mizoguchi - Ugetsu monogatari

[Thorkell A. Ottarsson]

OK, I just saw Ugetsu monogatari again (also known only as Ugetsu).
Now I have to get some things out of the way since most people think
this is one of two Mizoguchi's best film and I don't.

I do have trouble with ghost stories. They just don't interest me.
Ghosts is the most boring monster I know. They usually don't feel real
to me. There are exceptions, where ghosts symbolise remorse and wrong
doing, like in The Shining. Now I know this is not supposed to be a
horror film but I felt like the ghost part of the story was not
needed. It works against the drama, IMO.

Another problem I have with the film is that the moral of the story is
told in the beginning. WELL, SPOILERS!!! A Buddhist monk says that
quick profit in war will lead to greed and disaster and then we watch
the same thing unfold. It made it feel like we where being preached
to, instead of told a fascinating story. I would also have liked the
end that Mizoguchi had planed rather than the one the studio forced on
the film. In Mizoguchi's script, the man who becomes a samurai keeps
on rising in status. That would have been a much better ending. Not as
preachy as what we have in the film.

Another problem I have is, unlike in his women films where Mizoguchi
has sympathy for his protagonists, he is just judging the two men in
this film fromt he beginning to end. There is no sympathy for them at
all. Not that I think they deserved any sympathy but at least they did
not need the judgement. The audience could do that themselves. Let me
take an example. The man who wanted to be a samurai. Why not make us
understand why he wanted that instead of making it a joke from the
beginning? END OF SPOILERS!!!

Now to the positive aspects of the film. It looks like heaven. It is
just a dream. An eye candy! Brilliantly visual and cinematic! It is
the look and the secure hand of the director which makes this film a
great one.

So, a must see and beautiful film, but just a little too preachy :)

[Jerami Nielsen]

Dear Thorkell... 

I will not let you get away by criticizing so easily one of the most beautiful films ever made on earth, a film that makes modern films today seem like toilet water in comparison.

Ugetsu Monogatari - Tales of the Moon and Rain (1953) has since I saw it for the first time followed me deeply throughout my life, namely because of as you mention, the cinematography is spot on. And as often for Mizoguchi, nothing is a coincidence and nothing is put randomly into the frame. Every little detail inside the frame is highly planned, thought out and executed pedantically by him and his crew.

I believe that the powerful effect of this film lies in the depth, honesty and true awareness of portraying the two deluded male characters inner and outer worlds (mainly Genjuro, the pot makers world expresses this best). For me, it all depends of the skill from the directors side of being able to express this problem by pure content, by mise-en-scene and then coming together with subtle poetic cinematography. Everything seems, feels and unfolds like being in a state of dream; the limits of the outer, physical world and the inner, spiritual world constantly crosses over, blending together, mirroring and reflecting each world, always holding the film on a level where the viewer is totally sucked in, just as the main character themselves. Thereby letting us see and go into their deepest mindset and feelings of lust, pride, greed, love, passion and so on, we ourselves are able to reflect intuitively on our own lives... This aspect, I believe, is so important when we talk about Ugetsu. 

But more important about the technical aspect I find striking is that when Mizoguchi let us through his characters dreams and their illusions, he doesn't fall into cheap, easy camera tricks to show the inner world of spirits... He expresses it just like it was reality, but with a certain poetic touch that leaves an echoing effect on our senses. I think that's one of the main keys to understand how he builds up his overall poetical form, thereby reaching a clearly defined aesthetic of beauty.

When you criticize Mizoguchi's judging and leaving no sympathy for his male characters, I feel it very differently as I am seeing the problem from above. As regarding for his main character, Genjuro, the pot maker Mizoguchi lets us constantly see deep into his most fragile and inner area of his soul, throughout the whole film, leaving behind a very intimate connection between character and viewer. For instance, in a spiritual vision he sees his wife coming from behind the clothes shop and trying out a beautiful traditional Japanese dress. Or in the end when Genjuro finally returns home to find his house empty, but as he walks around the house and gets inside again his wife is suddenly sitting by the fire in the middle of the room. The scene and the meaning that unfolds from here should speak for itself, but as I want to emphasize the whole way these sequences are written for the camera, for the mise-en-scene and direction, everything is revealed to be made of a true poet, a director that actually reveals through cinematography to have true, honest feelings full of life and love. Those kinds of short spiritual glimpses of his male characters inner world, always reveals for me that Mizoguchi is outstanding in expressing, thereby inviting us, in bare truth, to look inside and reflect our own life's most secret, personal, valuable and vulnerable feelings... 

Both of these beautiful sequences should speak for itself, as in relation to judge or have sympathy for the directors own characters. I mean, Mizoguchi has enormous sympathy for his characters, male or female, child or adult, warrior or pot maker, spirit or human - for all of them. But that's exactly where he proofs to be a real artist, like a God creating his own world with the camera; through the story, the director reveals to have a deep skill to both plunge deep inner personal feelings into his characters, and in the same time understands the necessity of pushing them into intensive moral conflicts to let them unfold through pain, sorrow, death and tragedy. It's through all their inner fights with themselves, dreams of pride, greed and sins, their path through lust and needs of illusions - delusions so to say, that they finally come out on the other side, through harsh experience with life itself, learning the difference between forces of Good and Evil. That's why I don't really see any importance in criticism of the directors judgement or sympathy in the portrayal of his male characters in Ugetsu, because the essential meaning is unfolding on a higher level; leading the warrior and pot maker through highly complex moral and spiritual conflicts, as to, in the end through prayer and spiritual contact push their souls upwards and realizing wisdom...

I am then reminded of the ending scene, where we see Genjuro, the pot maker, praying, right after we see him and his child working hardly, as in the beginning, meanwhile the voice of the wife's spirit speaks to him, through prayer, through their souls, which Mizoguchi again with deep insight and full of life allows us to hear...

Genjuro: Why did you have to die? Why did you have to die, Miyagi?

Miyaga (voiceover, whispering): I did not die. I am at your side. Your delusion has come to an end. You are again your true self, in the place where you belong. Your work is waiting... What a beautiful shape! Helping you spin the wheel is my greatest pleasure. How I long to see it when its baked! The firewood is cut and ready. The rampaging soldiers are gone. So make your wonderful pottery in peace. So many things have happened. You've finally become the man I had hoped for. But alas... I am no longer among the living. I suppose such is the way of the world. 

Well, this is of course just the short dialog, but beautifully written, almost like a poem in itself, but in combination with the most important elements: imagery, editing, camera movements and mise-en-scene everything comes down to an extremely powerful emotional atmosphere. I mean, how can we even talk or discuss about this film without mentioning the significance of this films ending? Its one of the most beautiful endings ever made for cinema as regarding to leave behind a very clearly feeling of truth, hope and love in our emotional senses, in our souls. But I guess it all comes down to the viewer himself of how much he can feel this film and the impact of the ending; what have he himself experienced in life? What is his own view of life, love and death? Has he himself lost someone dear to him? Has he himself been living in delusions and later realizing, knowing better...? And so on and so forth... But even by itself this last scene is so strong, but also of course in connection with the rest of the film, that it says everything. This is what its all about. The inner strength of these last words and images is so powerful and beautiful exactly because of its tragedy, because of the wife's death: their bodies are doomed to live apart, in two different worlds, but through faith, through prayer and love the family's spirit are still united, working close together just as in the beginning. Of course one can easily see this as a sad, depressing and dark ending, but because of Mizoguchi is letting us hear the voice of the wife's spirit everything turns into love, harmony and unification. As if we were walking deep inside Genjuro's soul, we hear his most dear feelings and wishes, which is love for his wife and hope to continue living as her spirit follows him. In Ugetsu Mizoguchi uses tragedy and beauty in such a strong combination that he is able to push the overall spiritual impact of the film to a very significant level where love and death, body and soul, pain and peace becomes connected, as one, as the overall flow of life... And sadly enough, not many directors of today have the guts to show that anymore... 

As for something else... When you criticize the film for its part of the "ghost story" I have to say that in Japan, and mostly over all the Eastern parts of the world, for centuries and still even today, they strongly believe in ghosts having direct influence on their lives, thereby showing a lot of respect for them. 

Actually, I would rather call it evil spirits. Their belief of spirits of all kinds; Good and Evil, reincarnations, incarnations of sickness, greed, pride, wealth, luck and so on is mainly perceived as spiritual forces. It is rooted so deeply in their culture, childhood, religions, past ancestors (Ugetsu deals apparently with Buddhist philosophy), in their relationship to nature, morality, in their view of life and death and of God that it has been part of everyday life for centuries and I would believe those instincts are still intact in them, in one way or the other. (Its funny you mention The Shinning because I have always felt the whole treatment of ghosts or evil spirits in that film to be simplified, untrue, fake, unnecessary and not coming through so deeply as in Ugetsu, where I feel a much more respected, personal and complex portrait of a spirit. For me, Lady Wakasa in Ugetsu is much more frightening and haunting than any of the spirits filled with gore or twin ghosts of The Shinning, because the world of Lady Wakasa is created with much more darkness and personality; her needs and motifs are deeper, ringing more true as regarding her form and meaning). But I very well know, that for us Europeans or Scandinavians (we are even more distanced to this, I myself am from Denmark), it may be easy for us to slide that element aside, call it silly and meaningless, being left unconvinced of its effect. Because we do not have the same emotional or spiritual sense, belief or understanding of what a spirit is as in the East, because its not part of our culture as strongly as it is and has been for them... For the East I would even say its a universal, fundamental cornerstone of what's holding life, reality and the world together.         

 

Jerami Bajra Nielsen 

> Date: Thu, 4 Oct 2012 07:17:53 +0200
> Subject: Kenji Mizoguchi - Ugetsu monogatari
> From: thor...@gmail.com
> To: film...@googlegroups.com

[Thorkell A. Ottarsson]

Just to let you know Jerami, I will respond I just don't have the time
now. Thanks for the answer!!!

[Thorkell A. Ottarsson]

Thank you for your long answer Jerami. I really liked reading this. It
made me feel like I was watching the film through your eyes. I can see
how you come to this conclusion but it just does not come together
like that for me. The scene where the pot maker is looking at the
dresses for his wife is just another example of the materialism that
drives him. His wife has not asked for a dress. She does not want more
dresses. She wants him! Now, if the film had started by showing us the
hardship of these people. How they needed the money to survive or to
get out of danger. And let me even add that his wife has always dreamt
of a dress. Then I start to understand him. As it is in the film I
just keep on thinking, don't be so greedy and stupid!!! I'm never
allowed to sympathise with him, except in the end. Now, that may play
differently for others. Well for most, since most people think this is
a perfect film and agree with you Jerami.

As to the ghosts. I live in Norway but I'm born and brought up in
Iceland which has a very strong tradition of ghost stories and strong
believe in them. I believed in ghosts as a child and teenager. I can
therefore understand this world. I have just since then lost all
interests in ghosts, except where it serves a more deeper meaning.
Shining is very different from the book. In the book it is real ghosts
but we might wonder if it is really so in the film. Is the caretaker
maybe dead and forced to relive his crime again and again and again.
"You have always been the caretaker..." Are we maybe looking at hell?
Or are the ghosts here symbols for the alcoholism of the protagonist?
I like that it is all left open. If they where just ghosts then the
film would not work as well for me, which is why I like the European
cut better.

As to ghosts in the East. Well, I think you have to be careful here.
Japan is very special when it comes to believe in ghosts, and Buddhism
is also very different there from the rest of the East. So, yes
believe in ghosts is very strong in Japan but the same does not go for
the rest of the East.

You made some very good points here Jerami and I'm quite open for the
possibility that I'm just not getting the greatness. Since most people
agree with you, the chance of that is rather big. I actually have the
same problem with other films most people think is the best thing
ever. I guess in the end it all comes down to what speaks to you at
that time in your life. Maybe when I see this for the 3rd time, at the
right time in my life, I will see the light? :)

Still, don't forget, I gave it 8/10 and that is quite high. So it is
not like I'm saying it is a failure.

All the best
Thorkell

[Bobby Beksinski]

Thorkell I understand that ghost stories may not be your thing. For me
they are actually the most interesting however so few films actually
depict them in the right atmosphere or light. I am not even sure if
have a ghost film on my top horror film list. And it's funny the only
ghost films I can think of that I really like are all Japanese, my
favorite being Hoichi The Earless from the film Kwaiden. The main
thing that I do not agree with on your review is about the characters
not having any sympathy. I look at it as making mistakes (sometimes
the worst kinds that have permanent consequences) and having to deal
with that regret. I know much of your critique came on behalf of Tobei
the samurai and of his character I can understand as he was too much
of a supporting role to give much sympathy to and not very well
fleshed out. I mostly speak on Genjuro and the wife of the two men's
behalf when I talk of sympathy. For me the film delivers emotional
power from their perspectives and actually thinking on it Tobei's
encounter with his wife hitting bottom as he reached the top was the
height of his character's complexity and for the first time you could
see feelings and emotions within him.

Here is my Letterboxd review:

Ugetsu is based partially from a classic Japanese folklore literature
"Tales of Moonlight and Rain" by author Ueda Akinari. Upon seeing the
film again I really want to venture out and find this collection of
stories. Mizoguchi's film brilliantly and flawlessly mixes Japanese
folklore and morality tales of war, greed and consequence into an
unforgettable film experience.

Japanese folklore and culture has always been a huge fascination for
me. Ever since I begun developing a love for cinema, I had noticed my
draw was mostly towards Japanese films and films by Ingmar Bergman.
There is just something about the films from Japan, either that or its
a stated fact that Japan is just simply a cinematic prosperous
country. I mean you could use as evidence towards that statement by
naming how many of the greatest directors to ever hold a camera were
from Japan and see what your total would be.

Ugetsu is no exception and it was originally my first film watched by
Kenji Mizoguchi. On my first viewing I knew I really liked the film
and technically could see how it was considered a masterwork but
ultimately I felt disappointed for the sheer fact that I alone could
not agree with the statement. I assume my expectations were too high.
Over time and many movies later I kept finding myself thinking back on
Ugetsu (this is the mark of a great film). And slowly as it processed
in my mind over months of time I began to realize what a great film it
was. So here I am ecstatic to give it a re-watch and see if the long
contemplation on the film pays off and it did. It only took two
viewings almost a year or maybe more in between each other before I
finally considered this to be a absolute masterpiece.

The film's core is heartbreaking, the morality tale on display is
simple and one could see the downward spiral that the actions of the
main characters would take them. But still it was difficult to watch
and despite Genjuro and Tobei falling into the traps of greed and
desire, there is still much sympathy for them. The end of the film
this second time around really gripped me emotionally and I could not
help but shedding tears for Genjuro. It is that impact of a person who
makes mistakes like we all do but sometimes the worst kinds that cause
permanent consequences and having to deal with the decisions we made
and the regret we have to live with. The way Mizoguchi portrays this
on screen is something of extreme power.

It seems either way, if a person likes or dislikes this film everyone
agrees on one aspect and I wanted to add that in here too that the
cinematography is some of the best black and white in display on film
that ever existed. I can sincerely guarantee you on that. Ugetsu is
one of my favorite films of all time and it receives the top score
from me a 10/10.

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