Chikamatsu Monogatari / The Crucified Lovers (1954) :
Mizoguchi's Love-birds set against Strict Japanese Traditions and Laws. The Crucified Lovers by Kenji Mizoguchi is in other words, a Romeo-Juliet or should I say Laila-Majnu tale set in Japanese Ghetto. You know the love stories are always common looking except for some brilliant classics but i personally feel that these cultural and traditional effects make them look uncommon, no matter which particular country and which particular culture it is. The Crucified Lovers is a very predictable story (one can even guess it from the title only) helmed effectively by the director. Ishun is a wealthy, but unsympathetic, master printer who has wrongly accused his wife and best employee of being lovers. To escape punishment, the accused run away together but later begin a true affair only to face worst results. Kazuo Hasegawa as Mohie, Kyoko Kagawa as Osan and Eitaro Shindo as Ishun stand as the best performers in the film. I don't know much about Japanese Culture so i won't be able to tell the details of their characterisations but as normal characters they looked convincing. There are couple of things in the film which could have been shown better, execution and elaboration both wise such as predictability of the Love affair and thier decisions. After the first half, it all goes very typical like it used to go with the love stories made in silent era i.e 1920s but that's where the regional touch comes to drive the ship steadily. Like some people have said it, i agree that this one is not upto the standard of other classics of Kenji Mizoguchi but if you think otherwise, it's a great film already. We have seen many heart-breaking love stories over the years so there is no doubt that The Crucified Lovers should become a part of those as it certainly makes enough impact to get the place in that list.
RATING - 7/10*
By - #samthebestest.
Mizoguchi's Love-birds set against Strict Japanese Traditions and Laws. The Crucified Lovers by Kenji Mizoguchi is in other words, a Romeo-Juliet or should I say Laila-Majnu tale set in Japanese Ghetto. You know the love stories are always common looking except for some brilliant classics but i personally feel that these cultural and traditional effects make them look uncommon, no matter which particular country and which particular culture it is. The Crucified Lovers is a very predictable story (one can even guess it from the title only) helmed effectively by the director. Ishun is a wealthy, but unsympathetic, master printer who has wrongly accused his wife and best employee of being lovers. To escape punishment, the accused run away together but later begin a true affair only to face worst results. Kazuo Hasegawa as Mohie, Kyoko Kagawa as Osan and Eitaro Shindo as Ishun stand as the best performers in the film. I don't know much about Japanese Culture so i won't be able to tell the details of their characterisations but as normal characters they looked convincing. There are couple of things in the film which could have been shown better, execution and elaboration both wise such as predictability of the Love affair and thier decisions. After the first half, it all goes very typical like it used to go with the love stories made in silent era i.e 1920s but that's where the regional touch comes to drive the ship steadily. Like some people have said it, i agree that this one is not upto the standard of other classics of Kenji Mizoguchi but if you think otherwise, it's a great film already. We have seen many heart-breaking love stories over the years so there is no doubt that The Crucified Lovers should become a part of those as it certainly makes enough impact to get the place in that list.
RATING - 7/10*
By - #samthebestest.