Directed by Kenji Mizoguchi
Written by Kenji Mizoguchi and Yoshikata Yoda based on the novel “The Pit” by Aleksandr Kuprin
1936/Japan
Daiichi Eiga
First viewing
O-Mocha: If we do our jobs well they call us immoral. So what can we do? What are we supposed to do?
This sad but beautiful film by Kenji Mizoguchi is quite thought-provoking.
O-Mocha (Isuzu Yamada) and Umekichi are sisters. They barely make ends meet working as geishas in the Gion, the pleasure district of Kyoto. The gentle Umekichi’s patron has gone bankrupt and she feels an obligation to take him in and look after him. O-Mocha’s philosophy is that men are the enemy and should be taken for everything that can be gotten out of them. She plots to rid the household of Umekichi’s patron and find rich patrons for both of them. Like a Japanese Scarlett O’Hara she will stop at nothing to get her way. Ultimately, neither sister’s philosophy of life emerges victorious.
I thought this was fantastic. Isuzu Yamada was even better than she was in Osaka Elegy and the cinematic storytelling is stunning. Once again, there are few sympathetic characters here. O-Mocha in particular is heartless in the extreme. However, the film really made me think. What, indeed, were they supposed to do? O-Mocha finds herself in a tragic state of affairs at the end and her sister says she would not have suffered her fate if she had been nicer to men. But O-Mocha says, even when she is broken, that being nice would mean giving in and she will never give in. And Mizoguchi makes it clear that the nice sister doesn’t get anything for her pains either. The system is stacked against the geisha and by implication against women in general.
And that concluded my viewing for 1936!
While I find Mizoguchi’s film difficult to watch they are really interesting windows into traditional Japanese culture and I feel wiser from watching them. This one is no exception. He is very concerned with gender roles and especially the plight of women. Those geishas are really out there where there is little hope left. Maybe a comparison to Camille?
I am watching early Chinese film now (one of those on your 1937 list 🙂 ) and it is really remarkable how much better Japanese cinema is at this time.
Camille had it made compared to the women in these Japanese films! I love Japanese film. I’ve been thinking about how ironic it is somehow that the Japanese were making and watching deeply humane films at home while their army was laying waste to China. Have you watched any of the early Ozu? That is excellent too. Gentler of course. And I have fallen in love with Shimizu.
Only Tokyo Story. It was in fact my pick for the blog club. But I am hungry for more so if you have some recommendations I am quite receptive.
I have traveled extensively in the far east and lived in China. I tend to prefer Korean and Japanese productions over Chinese, simply because of the characterization of people. They go deeper than films from most other places and are good entry points to their culture.
I have never even traveled in East Asia – only got as far as Singapore. I wish I had. I also need to see more Korean films. I liked the ones I have seen.
It’s hard to choose which of Ozu’s films to recommend as they are all good. I’m going to limit myself to two and suggest Late Spring (1949), which in my opinion is a real masterpiece, and I Was Born, But … (1932), a funny yet moving silent film.