Mizoguchi Kenji

Mizoguchi Kenji

(born May 16, 1898, Tokyo, Japan—died Aug. 24, 1956, Kyoto) Japanese film director. After studying painting, he became an actor at the Nikkatsu studio in 1919 and made his debut as a director in 1922. His early films include Street Sketches (1925), Tokyo March (1929), Osaka Elegy (1936), and The Story of the Last Chrysanthemums (1939). His pictorially beautiful films, of which he made more than 80, often dealt with the conflict between modern and traditional values. He won international acclaim for Ugetsu monogatari (1953), an allegorical commentary on postwar Japan. He was also noted for his films about women, including The Love of Actress Sumako (1947), Women of the Night (1948), and Street of Shame (1956).

---

Mizoguchi Kenji 

Born May 16, 1898, in Tokyo; died Aug. 24, 1956, in Kyoto. Japanese film director.

Mizoguchi graduated from an art school in Tokyo. In 1922 he made his debut with the film The Day When Love Returns. In the 1920’s, Mizoguchi showed an interest in social topics. The conflict between traditional and modern values became the main theme of his work. The films Osaka Elegy (1936) and Sisters of the Gion (1936), which dealt with the life of the Japanese woman, were the greatest achievements in realism of the prewar Japanese cinema.

Among Mizoguchi’s best works were The Life of O’Haru (1952), Ugetsu Monogatari (1953), and Sansho the Bailiff (1954). A number of Mizoguchi’s films received prizes at the International Film Festival in Venice (1952, 1953, 1954).

REFERENCES

Iwasaki, A. Istoriia iaponskogo kino. Moscow, 1966. (Translated from Japanese.)
Mesnil, M. Mizoguchi Kenji. Paris, 1965.