The Top Tier of Japanese Cinema
I don't usually write reviews, but I saw that this had a rating much lower than it should - and on further inspection found that the negative reviews were of the quality of an old imported DVD.
So, to start with: this DVD is being released by the Criterion Collection, who always do an astounding job of presenting films on DVD and Blu-Ray. Please, please, please, do not worry anymore about the quality of the DVD. It will be great.
As for the film itself, it's another heartbreaking but beautiful film by Mizoguchi, and a sort of spiritual sister to his other two masterpieces "Sansho the Bailiff" and "Ugetsu". I don't want to go into a synopsis, so I'll just leave by saying that if you like human dramas presented with a beautiful touch, you'll love this film.
We don't have the right to love one another
'Life of O Haru' is a very characteristic movie for Kenji Mizoguchi with its theme of forbidden love, its criticism of social conventions and its realistic and incisive description of the fate of women, the behavior of males and the effect of being sincere in a society, here a feudal one.
In this feudal society, love (sexual intercourse) between a member of the nobility and a commoner is a transgression of the barrier between the social classes. When it is discovered, like in this movie, it is disastrous for the lover, the girl and her family. A real nightmare begins for the girl O Haru. Her beauty and sincerity are exploited to the bone, by brothel keepers, by those who need a male heir to ensure the continuation of the political and social power of a clan or by males (also a member of her family) in a position of 'strength '.
The choice of the scenes, of which some are extremely painful, and the angles of the shots illustrate masterfully the balance of power in...
No One Can Take Away your Dignity - But Yourself
During the 1990's, both my parents took a whirlwind tour throughout the Far East. When they returned, I asked them what they thought of Japan. My dad adored the country...but my mother told me this was her least favorite destination. "Why?" I inquired. My mother responded that Japan was the most patriarchal culture of all the ones she visited...and she certainly deplored any (mis)treatment of women as second class citizens.
The director Kenji Mizoguzhi obviously shared my mom's sentiments...and this theme permeates most of his films. In thinking about the director's life, he was deeply disturbed that due to failing finances, his sister was literally sold to be a geisha...yet she helped him greatly in his early career - sacrificing herself for a male of the family. And he never allowed himself to forget that moral debt.
Now to the film itself. Except for the framing sequence, Oharu starts her adult life as a valuable court attendant for the Imperial Court...
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