Tonight I concluded my mini-retrospective of the films of Kenji Mizoguchi with a viewing of "The Story Of The Last Chrysanthemum" (1939). I was only able to obtain eight of the director's movies : four early films on the Eclipse label that I bought in a set, and four of his later films - masterpieces all - that I found and reserved from the library. Speaking of the later films, the greatness of each one prepared me for the next. I had seen "Ugetsu" and "Sansho The Baliff" about a decade ago, but I was not yet as well-versed in Japanese cinema as I would become after nine years with Professor Tim and the CSUN Cinematheque. In other words, upon seeing those two films for the first time in 2007 or so, I knew they were very good, great even, but I was not used to either the pace or style of Japanese filmmaking, meaning the works of the great directors of the past of course, and not the low level gory horror films and crummy gangster flicks that have been churned out since.
It wasn't until the Professor screened his Yasujiro Ozu retrospective in 2014, when we got to see 15 "truly Japanese" films week after week (as opposed to Japanese films that imitate Western styles), that I began to appreciate how great these movies are. Ozu's films are very slow, featuring a lot of conversational dialogue. His camera doesn't move. It takes patience for an American viewer to get used to. But once you do get used to these things (if you are willing to accept them as I did), it begins to sink in that you are watching one of the greatest directors of all time. When the Ozu series wrapped up, I had come to consider him one of my favorite filmmakers, and his star (and muse) Setsuko Hara as one of the greatest actresses of all time. It was Ozu who got me into true Japanese films, and got me comfortable watching them. As I say, you have to have patience.
And now I have revisited Mizoguchi. I did so because he was the next director scheduled for a retrospective at CSUN, before Professor Tim's tenure as the host of the Cinematheque came to a sudden end. I was able to screen, on a TV set in The Tiny Apartment , the eight films I have mentioned, beginning in late August and ending this evening with "Chrysanthemum"
In my prior reviews of some of Mizoguchi's films, I have almost been stumped for superlatives. As I worked my way up from his early 70 minute dramas, which had a gritty, almost noirish feel, I was almost bowled over by the time I got to his acknowledged masterworks, which actually start with "The Story Of The Last Chrysanthemum" in 1939. All of a sudden, Mizoguchi (who made 99 films and began in the Silent era) went from making short format movies to very long ones. "Chrysanthemum" runs 2 hours 23 minutes and tells the story of a young Kabuki actor, the adopted son of a Master Thespian as it were. His father is revered, and so all of the theater assistants and his fellow actors praise the son's performances too, because they are sycophants. In reality, the son is a terrible actor, a Ham, and the others giggle and say as much behind his back. They know he has no talent but they go along with the charade because of his famous father.
Finally, he becomes close to the nanny who takes care of his infant brother, the biological son of his parents. This nanny has watched the older, adopted son strive to please his father by becoming an actor, but being a kind person - and secretly in love with him - she cannot help but tell him the truth about what others are saying out of earshot, that he can't act. He asks her for her own assessment, and she tells him the truth again - the other actors and assistants, cruel and hypocritical as they be, are right.
She tells him the truth. His acting is terrible and his performances are a sore thumb in a company known for it's exceptional talent.
In a big surprise, instead of sulking, the young man thanks the nanny for her honesty, because it was delivered with kindness and real consideration for him. He subsequently falls in love with her and vows to dedicate himself to becoming a good actor by adhering to the disciplines of the art.
The conflict in the film, the axis point, comes when the young man's mother finds out that the nanny has confided in her son. Everything was supposed to be slap-happy, with the son receiving false accolades while his father the Master Actor continued to draw the critical acclaim, but now the nanny has upset the apple cart. Worse, the son is in love with her and wants to marry.
But this is Japan, so Saving Face and the submission to Male Pretense are the rules everyone must live by. The honest and compassionate nanny is banished by the young actor's mother. He is never to see her again.
From here (the 30 minute mark of the movie) begins a tale of love versus enforced familial obligation, patriarchal dominance and unforgiveness, where love not only takes a back seat but is kicked out the door.
The young actor knows he has little talent, but a light has been shined upon him by the observations of the nanny. She sees that he does indeed have potential.
She cares about his art, rather than his value as a phoney successor to his father's celebrity. She wants him to work his craft and become truly great, rather than ascend to stardom with the veiled laughter of his detractors echoing his steps to the top.
But his mother has fired her as the nanny, and forbidden the son to see her. They run off nevertheless, to join a small-time touring theater group, and from there you have an epic story and one of the great masterpieces in the history of world cinema.
If I were a professional columnist, I would spend a week writing and re-writing and editing to a tee all the specifics of this movie, and what it did to me. I would try to explain the greatness of Mizoguchi, and his phenomenal actors. But it is late, and all I can tell you is that I don't know what to say about this guy.
I have already said that his "Sansho The Baliff" is one of the Ten Greatest Films ever made. But now, I think that "The Story Of The Last Chrysanthemum" must be considered for the list as well.
The last twenty minutes of this film are among the greatest achievements in all of cinema.
I am out of superlatives for Mizoguchi and his films, except to say that - in terms of getting to the heart of human drama, he might be the greatest director of all time.
There aren't enough Thumbs Up I could give to his masterpieces like "Sansho" or tonight's film.
They are simply among the top tier of the greatest motion pictures ever created.
xoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxo :):)
No comments:
Post a Comment