Kenji Mizoguchi
Director, Actor
Filmography (All Films)
Sisters of the Gion (1936)
- Dir. Kenji Mizoguchi
Feat. Isuzu Yamada, Yoko Umemura
- An early feminist film from director Kenji Mizoguchi, focusing on two geisha sisters – one of whom enters into a codependent relationship with…
Osaka Elegy (1936)
- Dir. Kenji Mizoguchi
Feat. Isuzu Yamada, Yoko Umemura
- A counterpart to Mizoguchi's other 1936 film SISTERS OF THE GION, featuring some of the same cast and crew and again focusing on the hardships faced…
Story of the Last Chrysanthemums, The (1939)
- Dir. Kenji Mizoguchi
Feat. Shôtarô Hanayagi
- The story of an aspiring kabuki actor in late 19th–century Japan, and the woman who loves and supports him at a great cost to herself. A…
Loyal 47 Ronin, The (47 Ronin) (1941)
- Dir. Kenji Mizoguchi
Feat. Yoshizaburo Arashi
- Sombre rendition of a famous Japanese legend that's both quietly dignified and overtly nationalistic, tooled as propaganda during the height of…
Utamaro and His Five Women (1946)
- Dir. Kenji Mizoguchi
Feat. Minosuke Bando, Kinuyo Tanaka
- Biographical drama about the 18th century printmaker Kitagawa Utamaro, and the women (mostly brothel workers) who inspired his work.
Life of Oharu (1953)
- Dir. Kenji Mizoguchi
Feat. Kinuyo Tanaka, Toshiro Mifune
- The prolific, though rarely seen dir. Mizoguchi came to attention with this chronicled downfall of a court–concubine in 17th century Japan,…
Ugetsu Monogatari (1953)
- Dir. Kenji Mizoguchi
Feat. Masayuki Mori, Machiko Kyo, Kinuyo Tanaka
- Stories by the 18th century writer Akinari Ueda are woven into an odyssey of civil–war misfortune, in which two peasant–potters and their…
Sansho Dayu (Sansho the Bailiff) (1954)
- Dir. Kenji Mizoguchi
Feat. Kinuyo Tanaka, Yoshiaki Hanayagi, Kyoko Kagawa…
- One of Mizoguchi's great classics, based on an 11th century Japanese folktale elaborated into a sprawling vision of a cruel, mysterious cosmos, where…
Uwasa no onna (Her Mother's Profession, The Woman in the Rumour) (1954)
- Dir. Kenji Mizoguchi
Feat. Kinuyo Tanaka, Yoshiko Kuga
- Dir. Mizoguchi's longtime muse, Kinuyo Tanaka, plays the madame of a geisha house who falls prey to rumour when both herself and her daughter become…
Crucified Lovers, The (Chikamatsu Monogatari) (1954)
- Dir. Kenji Mizoguchi
Feat. Kazuo Hasegawa, Kyoko Kagawa, Eitaro Shindo
- Powerful, Bunraku–inspired tragidrama of adulterous lovers whose illicit romance is doomed in Feudal, 17th century Japan. Essential Mizoguchi.