I was already somewhat perplexed by this movie when Lady Wakasa (Machiko Kyô) uttered the above line to the film's protagonist Genjuro (Masayuki Mori). It just struck me so funny that I lost touch with the picture. The statement was made with the utmost sincerity, but it simply came across as comical to me. And at no time did I get the impression that Lady Wakasa was a ghost while attempting to seduce Genjuro from his life of pottery and profit. That only happened when I came to the reviews on this board by those obviously more in tune to the picture than I was. For my part, I didn't consider Genjuro and his friend Tobei (Eitarô Ozawa) to be honorable characters, both leaving their families in pursuit of personal ideals. Tobei in particular turned out to be a scam artist by impersonating a real Samurai warrior. How do you live with yourself by stealing someone's head and declaring yourself a skilled swordsman? If I was the Lord Captain I would have challenged him on that point. And then, Tobei's wife Ohama (Mitsuko Mito) turns to prostitution? Maybe I'm not seeing something here, but the span of time in which all this occurred seemed like a mere matter of days. How would someone's life change course in such a limited amount of time? Believe it or not, the most credible part of the story for me was when Genjuro returned home and found his own wife (Kinuyo Tanaka) to be a ghost. After everything else that happened, that I could believe.
Review of Ugetsu
