(Text: Catching the Wind and Catching Shadows)
As one of the four great masters of Japanese cinema, Kenji Mizoguchi is a contemporary of Ozu, and even entered the film industry before Ozu. His focus on civilian life led him to make a number of films with a strong realist style in the early days, and in the late period, after Mizoguchi won the best director in Venice for "The Woman of the Crane Generation" in 1952, he began to be internationally renowned, and was highly respected by the West, especially the French New Wave, and everyone was fascinated by his careful scene scheduling.
"Nishizuru Generation Girl" that gave Mizoguchi international attention
For Mizoguchi's works, he draws more nourishment from traditional Japanese culture. Mizoguchi has studied the ancient arts of Japan and has a high level of knowledge of Kabuki, Noh, and humanoid pure glass. In the 1950s, "Nishitsuru Generation Girl", "Rain Moon Story", "Kinmatsu Story", etc. are all based on classical Japanese art. Andre Bazin, the godfather of the French New Wave, also said that Mizoguchi is more representative of the real Japanese characteristics of the film, relatively, Kurosawa Akira was influenced by the West, Mizoguchi did not have it at all.
Mizoguchi was on the filming scene of "The Tale of the Rainy Moon"
Mizoguchi wandered around Asakusa as a young man, read a lot of opera and cross-talk, and was very interested in painting and literature, he favored the Japanese writer Izumi Kyoka, and his early films "Nihonbashi", "The Waterfall of White Silk", and "A thousand origami cranes" were adapted from his novels, showing unfortunate women. Mizoguchi's attention to the people at the bottom and his attention to prostitutes is also consistent with the theme of Izumi Kyoka's works. As for how to enter the film industry, Mizoguchi initially wanted to go to the studio to become an actor with the help of his sister, and then had to start the road of directing.
Mizoguchi and Akira Kurosawa are both tyrannical directors
Mizoguchi is undoubtedly a tyrant when making movies, with a strong and domineering personality, a true perfectionist. For example, on the set, Mizoguchi devoted himself wholeheartedly, and the other staff did not dare to be sloppy in the slightest. He himself was a very bookish person, but he forced the people he worked with to make greater efforts, such as Tanaka Atsuyo, who was asked to read a lot of books about pure glass in "The Wave Girl". When it comes to Mizoguchi's perfectionism, Akira Kurosawa, who is also a tyrant, once said that the man he once called "the devil" by those he cooperated with was a model for him to emulate. And we all know Akira Kurosawa's overbearing gossip on the set, and Akira Kurosawa did a good job of learning from Mizoguchi.
Young grooves
In his childhood, Mizoguchi was a small who did not learn any skills, his father was full of fantasies but had no ability, relying on his mother to run the family, and after his mother's death, he was raised by his sister who was sold as an artist, and later his sister made concubines for rich people, for his sister to work so hard to support his family, Mizoguchi never had any guilt, and this is also consistent with the attitude of Mizoguchi's film towards women, Mizoguchi movies are full of women who completely sacrifice themselves for the sake of family and men.
The female figure in the film "Langhua Lament" is the most typical feature of Mizoguchi films
Like the men in Mizoguchi's works who fascinate women and play with women, in real life, Mizoguchi constantly disappoints one woman after another. Outside of work, he often lingered in the Wind Moon place, and after being rejected by a geisha, he fell in love with a waitress, and their relationship lasted only two months, the woman who had made a long cut in the back of the ditch with a knife, and he himself showed off the scar to his royal screenwriter Ita Yoshihito, saying, Look, if you don't understand women, you can't write a good script.
In 1953, Mizoguchi directed the female lead in "Pastoral Girl"
Mizoguchi's ambivalent attitude towards women is fully reflected in his life. After his mistress attempted to kill him, he became entangled with her and eventually abandoned by Mizoguchi and became a prostitute. At the same time, although he wants to keep his wife, their relationship has not eased at all, the wife does not cook for him at abnormal times, and Mizoguchi will beat his wife madly after getting angry. After his wife went crazy, Mizoguchi lived with his wife out of pity, and then at the same time, he began to pursue his royal heroine, the great Japanese actor Tanaka Atsuyo, after being rejected, Mizoguchi's sense of revenge gradually arose, and then not only ignored Tanaka Atsuyo, but also sneered and obstructed Tanaka Seiyo as a director of the film, but Ozu, as Tanaka's friend, was enthusiastic to help, and he also participated in the film directly as a screenwriter, and Mizoguchi was extremely unhappy about it.
At the front ditch of the Louvre, Tanaka Arishiro and screenwriter Yoshihito Ita are photographed
We can no doubt say that only in this way can Mizoguchi be able to make a film exclusive to his style and achieve the unique Mizoguchi Kenji. In addition to Izumi Kyokazu, Mizoguchi's favorite writers Nagai Hokaze and Tanizaki Junichiro (about the anecdotes of these two writers, want to know about baidu) are also like him, and they are obsessed with women in creation and life. As a perfectionist, even if he himself does not write a script, but every time Itachi Yoshihide writes the script, he will be forced to refuse by Mizoguchi, beaten back many times to meet Mizoguchi's requirements, coupled with Mizoguchi's strict control of art, photography, performance and other aspects, and finally created his famous "one shot" style, while presenting us with his mysterious but emotional film world.
Movie Magnate: Kenji Mizoguchi
Mizoguchi's own disposition is more or less as mentioned above, and Mizoguchi's film achievements, style, and contributions to Japanese cinema and even world art films will be elaborated in the next issue!