August 25 is the death day of Kenji Mizoguchi, the director known as the "master of women's film" in the world film industry, who is impressed by the rich oriental charm of his films, the flowing long-lens aesthetic and the female figure at the bottom. Today, let us look back at Mizoguchi and his deeds as a remembrance.
Text/Editor: Fly on a barrel
Editor-in-charge: Liu Xiaodai
Curated: Leave the bookroom behind
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1. Rich oriental charm
When it comes to the typical ethnic styles of Japanese cinema, the three directors who cannot be ignored are Akira Kurosawa, Yasujiro Ozu, and Kenji Mizoguchi. Compared with the latter two, Akira Kurosawa's films are a mixture of Japanese tradition and Western culture, more Westernized and full of modern consciousness. Ozu is often compared with Mizoguchi, the two are in a similar era, both are deeply influenced by traditional Japanese culture, both studied Hollywood in the early days, and in the later stages, they invariably deviated from and abandoned the Hollywood style, and instead devoted themselves to expressing the unique spiritual outlook and rich oriental charm of the Japanese nation in the film.
In traditional Japanese culture, especially painting, both have found rich nourishment that will help them form a unique style in the future.
Ozu, who has loved painting since childhood, has been close to many famous Japanese painters throughout his career. World-renowned Japanese painting masters such as Higashiyama Kuei and Takayama Tatsuo often willingly appear in Ozu's films as props.
In Autumn Harmony, the background wall is painted as the "Door" of Higashiyama Kuei's "Twelve Views of Tokyo"
Not only that, but what Ozu learned from traditional Japanese painting is a style of contemplation and contemplation. Reflected in the film, it is the well-known "Ozu-style" lens expression.
Ozu prefers the sense of stability formed under the fixed lens, trying not to move the photography to avoid the destruction of the stable composition, and often uses a low camera position and an up-camera lens to convey a respect for the subject when dealing with the subject in front of the lens.
Ozu also inhibits the actors from making larger movements within the camera, and after Ozu's actors succumb to the screen modeling, their own performances become less important. Under this "sacrifice", Ozu's film acquires a kind of painting-like static beauty, reaching a quiet harmony.
In the early years of Mizoguchi, due to his poor family, he participated in the work of drawing the pattern design of the yukata, and worshiped a certain painter as a teacher. What he learned from the traditional Japanese scrolls is the combination of art and nature, and through the lateral movement of the lens, the natural space is slowly unfolded like a scroll painting. At this time, when the audience faces the camera, it seems that they are also looking at a slowly unfolding picture scroll, elegant and subtle, flowing with contemplation, quite oriental charm.
For example, the beginning of "The Tale of the Rainy Moon" is an empty shot of a natural scene, after the slow shaking of the long shot, it slowly moves to the village house where the protagonist is located, and then the protagonist Abin and his wife appear. The mouth of the ditch uses a large scenery here, rejecting the medium and close scenes, time is flowing, and space is changing. Mizoguchi, while blending the characters with the scenery and gradually unfolding the narrative, acquires an environmental appeal, thus forming an aesthetic style of oriental scroll painting.
Regarding the strong oriental charm in the style of the two, in fact, you can also see some hints from the setting of the background of the opening of the film by Ozu and Mizoguchi. Ozu used to use the very simple Japanese burlap cloth that represented Japanese characteristics as the backdrop for his opening subtitles, in order to establish a calm tone full of life.
Mizoguchi often brings the beauty of traditional Japanese painting and the mysteries of traditional Japanese musical instruments to movies.
In many works such as "The Tale of the Rain Moon" and "Doctor Yamajita", Mizoguchi has adhered to a consistent strategy, that is, to use Japanese classical painting as the backdrop for the opening calligraphy subtitles, and to play the soundtrack with traditional Japanese instruments such as the noh pipe as the beginning.
It is worth mentioning that when Mizoguchi combined the film with the ancient Japanese theatrical form, Noh, he did not simply transfer the performance of Kabuki to the camera, but gave the rhythm of Noh to the characters in the film. This technique was later borrowed by Akira Kurosawa and shined in Spider's Nest City.
2. Flowing long lens aesthetics
Audiences who have seen Mizoguchi films, in addition to being interested in the "ancient meaning" of traditional Japanese elements such as scrolls and Noh music in their films, will certainly be impressed by its unique "one shot at a time" long-shot aesthetic style.
Mizoguchi insists on shooting one scene and one shot, and often rehearses repeatedly before booting, and points at the camera after booting. This makes Mizoguchi demanding on the actor, and in these long shots with an average length of forty to fifty seconds, and some even lasting a few minutes, the actor must have a full mood to guarantee the authenticity and integrity of the performance.
In addition, The smooth long shot of Mizoguchi also includes the transformation of internal time and space. At the end of "The Tale of the Rainy Moon", Genjuro got rid of the female ghost and returned home, but did not know that his wife had died in the war, he entered the house and shouted "Miyamoto, Miyamoto", no one responded in the cold and desolate room, he ran all the way to the backyard, and when he returned to the original entrance, his wife Miyagi was already cooking in front of the stove as usual in the foreground.
This passage was not cut, it was a visual miracle that only film could present to us, and later became a classic long shot in film history, and was warmly sought after decades later by the pioneers of the New Wave who had a special interest in long shots.
At the same time, influenced by the natural themes in traditional Japanese painting, Mizoguchi's long shots also have a tendency to "panorama". There are almost no close-ups in Kenji Mizoguchi's films, and he believes that close-ups are not expressive, and the panorama is the most emotionally contagious. This may be contrasted with the audiovisual style of Hou Xiaoxian, who insists on using long-range shots and rarely uses close-ups and close-ups, thus forming a distant posture, when the film narrative requirements take a back seat, and the emotional foil and portrayal are in the first place.
However, perhaps the most directly influenced director in Mizoguchi is the Greek director Angelopoulos, who prefers to place the characters in the landscape and then place the camera in a more distant position to emphasize the power of the scene as the action takes place. In Landscape in the Mist, that long, big-range shot reinforces the insulted and damaged little girl with a powerful power as she walks. Let's imagine how much the shocking power of this scene would be curtailed if Anzhe had used frequent close-ups and cuts at this time.
3. The female figure at the bottom
Although he has made more than 90 films in his lifetime, he has never been willing to fall behind in the shooting trend, and there are many innovations in shooting techniques. But Mizoguchi is probably best known for his continued attention to women's living conditions in the film.
Compared to Emperor Kurosawa, who also devoted himself to period dramas, Mizoguchi's films do not have a great samurai spirit, no strong males, and no samurai who "restrains his own selfish desires and dedicates himself to others." The male characters in Mizoguchi's films often appear indecisive, either low-level men without firm convictions, or shameless and high-ranking officials, or fierce and brutal stragglers.
In contrast, the redemption of men, the tolerance of suffering, the women in Mizoguchi films often sacrifice themselves for the success of men, thus flashing their own eternal brilliance.
In "The Daughter of the Western Crane Generation", Ah Chun, who sold himself as a prostitute to pay off his father's debts, went through ups and downs and did not go down the cynical road, but finally took refuge in Buddhism and prayed for the blessings of all sentient beings. Miyagi and Abin in "The Tale of the Rainy Moon" willingly follow their husbands, even if Abin becomes a prostitute and Miyagi is in a different place, the two still insist on saving and guiding their husbands. In "Doctor Pepper", after the cook king gradually lost himself in the manor of Doctor Pepper, his sister Anshou was still kind and benevolent, and finally saved his brother by self-sacrifice.
When it comes to why he is obsessed with the shaping of female figures, Mizoguchi himself has an interesting statement. When Mizoguchi first joined the company, there was already a director who was known for shooting male subjects, so for commercial reasons, Mizoguchi suggested that Mizoguchi direct female-centered films. Unexpectedly, Mizoguchi fell into it from then on, becoming more and more interested in this subject, and finally embedding his admiration and love for women in his own reality into his films throughout his life.
Of course, this is just an anecdote. In exploring why Mizoguchi is obsessed with creating female figures, we may have to look to the source of most creators' creations: their childhood and life experiences.
Mizoguchi grew up in a family where his patriarchy declined, his mother died prematurely, and the burden of the family was all on his sister. In order to make a living, Mizoguchi's sister took up the burden of the family, became a geisha, and later became a concubine of the nobility. Mizoguchi, who lives at his sister's house, later projects this experience into the film, as the low-level female figures who are full of redemption and forbearance.