Watching this was love at first sight. I am just astounded by how much I adored it.
For a movie that's considered a minor work in Mizoguchi's filmography, A Story of Chikamatsu is nothing less than a masterwork, every bit as moving as more acclaimed work like Sansho the Bailiff. This is essentially a love story with a healthy heaping of social criticism, but it goes down easily due to its interesting characters and steady pace. I enjoyed how the two leads became lovers only after being unjustly persecuted by a society in which neither was ever fully contented. In that hostile, greedy world, their love becomes a refuge, ironically far more pure than the intentions of their pursuers, motivated more by ego and materialism than anything else.
For a movie that's considered a minor work in Mizoguchi's filmography, A Story of Chikamatsu is nothing less than a masterwork, every bit as moving as more acclaimed work like Sansho the Bailiff. This is essentially a love story with a healthy heaping of social criticism, but it goes down easily due to its interesting characters and steady pace. I enjoyed how the two leads became lovers only after being unjustly persecuted by a society in which neither was ever fully contented. In that hostile, greedy world, their love becomes a refuge, ironically far more pure than the intentions of their pursuers, motivated more by ego and materialism than anything else.