Phantasmagorical tales throughout cinematic history have overwhelmingly failed to pull legitimate emotional reactions out of the viewer. Cheese-ventures such as Ghost pile on the schmaltz, suffocating the viewer with its heavy-handedness. One could even toss Frequency in this category of emotional cheap-shot film-making, with music swells to induce tears over the drivel on screen. Then we simply pull out our way-back machines and take a gander at Kenji Mizogutchi's masterpiece Ugetsu Monogatari and see that it doesn't have to be this way! Here there is no long lost love chiming in from beyond the grave with ephemeral kisses. In fact the ectoplasmic aspect is not the focus at all. This is a human tale about responsibility and staying faithful to family in a time of crisis; a rumination on the selfish possibilities stirred up by wealth, greed, and stature. The phantoms are only there to aid the story in presenting its points of view as opposed to being the story itself.
Mizogutchi has stated in the past that a film should "unfurl like a scroll" and his ever flowing camera makes sure to keep that thesis alive. Almost every shot is a long take with slow, fluid movement as if the viewer is a voyeur, watching the action as we pass along. Brilliant mise en scene only adds to the flavor. There is a key scene where the main character Genjuro returns home from his spectral odyssey. He strolls into his home to find no one there and makes a full circle around the house. When he enters the second time he sees his wife in front of a lit fire. This is a single, gorgeous take with the smoothest of roaming camera and tells an entire story on its own. Pure visual splendor.
In many ways Ugetsu could be seen as the anti-Ozu film in both form and story. Fluid, constantly roaming camera and a story not based entirely in the "real" world (though, to be fair, this is a debatable issue) vs. static camera for stories of social realism. Was Mizoguchi rebelling against the master of old? Whatever the reasons for his stylistic choices, he managed to create a film unlike anything Japan had seen before.
Mizogutchi has stated in the past that a film should "unfurl like a scroll" and his ever flowing camera makes sure to keep that thesis alive. Almost every shot is a long take with slow, fluid movement as if the viewer is a voyeur, watching the action as we pass along. Brilliant mise en scene only adds to the flavor. There is a key scene where the main character Genjuro returns home from his spectral odyssey. He strolls into his home to find no one there and makes a full circle around the house. When he enters the second time he sees his wife in front of a lit fire. This is a single, gorgeous take with the smoothest of roaming camera and tells an entire story on its own. Pure visual splendor.
In many ways Ugetsu could be seen as the anti-Ozu film in both form and story. Fluid, constantly roaming camera and a story not based entirely in the "real" world (though, to be fair, this is a debatable issue) vs. static camera for stories of social realism. Was Mizoguchi rebelling against the master of old? Whatever the reasons for his stylistic choices, he managed to create a film unlike anything Japan had seen before.