One must be wondering by how this film is actually a love story and I don’t want to spoil the film, but one will see how love becomes a big part of storyline right to the end. Overall, “A Story from Chikamatsu” is another fantastic Mizoguchi Kenji masterpiece worth watching! Highly recommended!
Image courtesy of © Kadokawa Corporation 1954. All Rights Reserved.
TITLE: A Story from Chikamatsu – The Criterion Collection #949
YEAR OF FILM: 1954
DURATION: 102 Minutes
BLU-RAY DISC INFORMATION: 1080p High Definition, 1:33:1 aspect ratio, Black and White, Japanese Monaural with English Subtitles
COMPANY: Janus Films/THE CRITERION COLLECTION
RELEASE DATE: November 13, 2018
Directed by Mizoguchi Kenji
Based on the Play by Chikamatsu Monzemon
Adaptation by Kawaguchi Matsutaro
Screenplay by Yoda Yoshitaka
Produced by Nagata Masaichi
Music by Hayasaka Fumio, Mochizuki Tamezo
Cinematography by Miyagawa Kazuo
Edited by Suganuma Kanji
Art Direction: Mizutani Hiroshi
Set Decoration: Ebise Yaichi
Production Design: Tsuji Hisakazu
Costume Design: Ito Natsu
Starring:
Hasegawa Kazuo as Mohei
Kagawa Kyoko as Osan
Shindo Eitaro as Ishun
Ozawa Eitaro as Sukeemon
Minamida Yoko as Otama
Tanaka Haruo as Doki Gifuya
Naniwa Chieko as Oko
Sugai Ichiro as Gembei
Ishiguro Tatsuya as Isan
Spiritual rapture and institutional hypocrisy come to stark, vivid life in one of the most transcendent masterpieces of the silent era. Chronicling the trial of Joan of Arc in the days leading up to her execution, Danish master Carl Theodor Dreyer depicts her torment with startling immediacy, employing an array of techniques including expressionistic lighting, interconnected sets, and painfully intimate close-ups to immerse viewers in her subjective experience. Anchoring Dreyer’s audacious formal experimentation is a legendary performance by Renée Falconetti, whose haunted face channels both the agony and the ecstasy of martyrdom.
Please note: We use the Japanese style of featuring names for this review (family name first, first name second).
From Japanese filmmaker Mizoguchi Kenji (“Sansho the Bailiff”, “Ugetsu”, “The Life of Oharu”), considered one of the three masters of Japanese cinema (alongside Kurosawa Akira and Ozu Yasujiro), was his 1954 film “Chikamatsu Monogatari” (A Story from Chikamatsu).
An adaptation of the 1715 joruri play “Daikyoji Mukashi Goyomi” by the greatest Japanese dramatist, Monzaemon Chikamatsu.
The film was nominated for the Palme d’Or at the 1955 Cannes Film Festival and was among Mizoguchi’s last films which attracted the attention of audiences worldwide.
And now the film was released on Blu-ray courtesy of The Criterion Collection in November 2018.
VIDEO:
“A Story from Chikamatsu” is featured in black and white (1:37:1 aspect ratio). Considering the film is over over 65-years old, the film looks amazing in HD! Black and white levels are crisp and clear, detail is much more evident with this 2018 remaster.
According to the Criterion Collection, “The transfer was supervised by cinematographer Miyajima Masahiro and filmmaker Martin Scorsese, this new 4K digital restoration was undertaken by Kadokawa Corporation and The Film Foundation, in cooperation with the Japan Foundation, from a 35 mm fine-grain scanned at Cineric in New York on the facility’s proprietary 4K high-dynamic wet-gate film scanner”.
AUDIO & SUBTITLES:
As for the lossless audio, “A Story from Chikamatsu” is presented in monaural lossless and features crystal clear dialogue and music. According to the Criterion Collection, “The original monaural soundtrack was remastered from a 35 mm variable-density optical soundtrack and restored by Audio Mechanics in Burbank, California.
SPECIAL FEATURES:
“A Story from Chikamatsu” comes with the following special features:
- Kyoko Kagawa – (110:53) Actress Kagawa Kyoko talks about her experiences working on “A Story from Chikamatsu”.
- Mizuguchi: The Auteur Behind the “Metteur en Scene” – (41:21) A video essay in which film scholar Dudley Andrew examines the ways director Mizoguchi Kenji incorporated elements of Bunraku theater in “A Story from Chikamatsu”.
EXTRAS:
“A Story from Chikamatsu – The Criterion Collection #949″ comes with a 5-fold essay “From a Distance” by Haden Guest.
Mizoguchi Kenji’s “A Story from Chikamatsu” is a love story, no doubt a drama about two people on the run and for those familiar with Mizoguchi films, they don’t always end in the most happiest circumstances, especially when compared to his fellow filmmakers, Ozu Yasujiro or Kurosawa Akira.
But instead of miring in tragedy, there is always a content feeling after watching a Mizoguchi film that one can feel grateful for the cinematic experience.
“A Story from Chikamatsu” is no different.
The film introduces us to a wealthy scroll-maker named Ishun (portrayed by Shindo Eitaro), who makes plenty of money producing calendars. He is married to a young woman named Osan (portrayed by Kagawa Kyoko), who is from a poor family and married her much older husband thinking that she could help her family.
As Ishun often tries to cajole his maid Otama (portrayed by Minamida Yoko) to become his mistress, she refuses. She is also interested in Mohei (portrayed by Hasegawa Kazuo), one of Ishun’s top apprentices.
One day, Osan’s younger brother begs his sister for money, as he is often irresponsible and now her family could lose their family business and be in shame. Osan tries to ask her husband, but he refuses to share any of his wealth with his young wife.
Osan doesn’t know who to ask but if there is one person who is dependable, it is Mohei. And Mohei agrees to help her with an idea to forge a receipt in an attempt to obtain money from Ishun. But unfortunately, he is caught.
Coming to Mohei’s defense is the maid, Otama, who lies and tells Ishun that he did it for her.
Ishun looks at this opportunity as perfect for him because perhaps now he can make her become his mistress, but once again she refuses. So, Isshun assumes that she is sleeping with Mohei and jealous, he has Mohei locked up in the attic.
Meanwhile, Osan feels terrible that Mohei got in trouble and Otama had to lie to save him. When Osan sees a crying Otama, Otama admits the truth about what her husband has been trying to do to her and how lecherous her husband truly is. So, she hopes to confront him by switching rooms with Otama, in hopes of catching her husband in the act.
Unbeknown to Osan, Mohei has escaped from the attic and is heading to Otama to thank her. Not knowing that Osan and Otama switched rooms, when Mohei ends up with Osan in Otama’s room, those searching for Mohei, one of the shopkeepers see him and Osan together and think they are having an adulterous relationship.
This is very bad as the law states that those caught in adultery are punished by by execution. They immediately report it to Ishun and Ishun is shocked, angered and insulted.
While Mohei escapes, Ishun confronts his wife who tells her that she and Mohei did not do anything and that she wanted to catch him because she knows of what he is doing with the maid (which is a capital offense that is punishable by death). Not wanting to get into any trouble, he doesn’t punish his wife and tries to keep it as a secret, to save himself but also his young wife. Unfortunately, those who work for him who know what happened, are not exactly willing to keep it a secret.
As Mohei plans to escape and head to the Kansai area, Osan decides she has had enough and leaves home. She ends up meeting with Mohei, while Ishun has alerted the police of Mohei’s forgery and adultery and both are now wanted by the police.
Where can they run? Where can they hide? Will they be able to escape?
“A Story from Chikamatsu” is a fascinating and exquisitely filmed film. Mizoguchi once again knows how to get wonderful performances from his actors and both Hasegawa Kazuo and Kagawa Kyoko were magnificent. Mizoguchi is known to be demanding in getting perfection from his actors but it’s one of the reasons why his films are so well-revered.
And “A Story from Chikamatsu” was also heralded by Kurosawa Akira who said of the film, “a great masterpiece that could only have been made by Mizoguchi.”
It was an interesting look of traditional Japanese culture from corrupt businessman, the shame on a family for not paying debts, how people were executed by committing adultery but also to see the character dynamics, especially when it came to the actors playing the parents or family members of the two protagonists.
But everything from the storyline, the pacing and even the cinematography by Miyagawa Kazuo was well done and I can’t help but be elated that Criterion Collection has released another Mizoguchi film. Considering there are 80 films in his oeuvre, the fact that we are getting Mizoguchi films with a wonderful transfer is amazing.
One must be wondering by how this film is actually a love story and I don’t want to spoil the film, but one will see how love becomes a big part of storyline right to the end.
Overall, “A Story from Chikamatsu” is another fantastic Mizoguchi Kenji masterpiece worth watching! Highly recommended!
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