After getting used to the nuanced resolution and smooth imagery of digital images, we instinctively resisted black and white films.
Worry about those rough images and blurry backgrounds that affect our immersion when watching the film.
However, the reason why film is called art is also due to the multifaceted nature of creation and understanding.
For example, black and white images filter out color, but also reduce the noise in the image to distract the audience's attention.
Directors and cinematographers can put more energy into constructing the storyline and expressing the emotions of the characters, and as long as the image is kept correct, it can exert the appeal of the film.
This effect is evident in the black-and-white masterpieces of some of the masters of Oriental cinema, such as Naruse Yoshio, Yasujiro Ozu, and even Fei Mu's "Spring in a Small Town", as well as one of Kenji Mizoguchi's masterpieces, "The Song Girl of Gion" (1953).
Mizoguchi photographed eiko, a geisha in Gion, Kyoto, from entry to official debut, sad and beautiful, but not cold.
The film begins with the death of Eiko's mother.
At the age of 16, she could not continue to endure ridicule and blank eyes at the foster uncle's house, and her sick father, because of the failure of the business, was already unable to take care of himself.
So she had to ask Miyoharu, a good sister who had been a geisha, to adopt her.
Miyoharu is hesitant, knowing that training a geisha is no easy task and is about Eiko's happiness in life.
So he sent a servant to Eiko's father and asked him to sign the guarantee.
However, Eiko's father, who was at the end of his rope, did not even attend Eiko's mother's funeral and refused to sign the letter of guarantee in any case.
Looking at the bitterly begging Eiko, Miyoharu seems to have seen her youth when she finally accepted Eiko.
Eiko, played by Fumiko Wakao, is full of youthfulness
However, entering the geisha industry is not as easy as ordinary people think, and the installation fee alone costs 300,000 yen.
Miyoharu asks the owner of the tea house (each tea house has a number of geisha) for help, and finds a rich merchant to pay eiko a large sum of money.
The children of the poor have taken charge early, and Eiko has studied hard and worked hard, and every day she is the first to go to school.
Whether it is song and dance, shamisen, flower arrangement, tea ceremony, one move and one style are carefully experienced.
After years of study, I finally reached the moment of graduation.
What she didn't expect, however, was that the joy of becoming a teacher would soon be crushed by harsh social realities.
Miyoharu and Eiko
In the real life of a geisha, it is not enough to rely only on the income of performances and accompanying wine, most of them also need the protection and support of a boss, which is actually a package.
Eiko, who has come out like a flower, has long become the target of the guests.
On the night of a trip to Tokyo with the wealthy merchant Nanda with Miyoharu, Nanda, who had been coveting Eiko for a long time, wanted to take a hard bow, but was bitten by Eiko, who was desperately resisting.
This caused a catastrophe, not only did The business plan planned by Nanda soak up the soup, but Miyoharu and Eiko were also left out in the cold by the owner of the tea house, and there was no longer a chance to appear.
The versatile Eiko
Feeling deeply remorseful, Eiko runs to the owner of the tea house to plead guilty, hoping to ask For Nanda's forgiveness.
Miyoharu, who had learned the news, hurried to arrive and exchanged it for Eiko on the condition that she promised to accompany the officials who Wanted to seduce Su Nanta.
At the end of the film, Miyoharu's words: "You have to live well, I protect you, I am your boss..."
Let the cruel life around Eiko grow up from childhood to adulthood finally flash a motherly warm light.
Gion Sisters
In Gion Singers, Mizoguchi does not simply describe society's oppression of geisha, but satirizes the power and ugly side of this society from the overall ecology of officials, rich merchants, to the interdependence of tea houses and geisha.
As for the costumes, songs and dances, flower arrangements and tea ceremonies that are regarded as representatives of oriental culture and art, which are mastered by the geisha, Mizoguchi presents them with aesthetic composition and light and shadow.
Let the audience feel the very color level and beauty in the black and white image world.
tea ceremony
ikebana