Directed by Kenji Mizoguchi • 1936 • Japan
A critical and popular triumph, Osaka Elegy established Mizoguchi as one of Japan's major filmmakers. The director's often-used leading actress Isuzu Yamada stars as Ayako, a switchboard operator trapped in a compromising, ruinous relationship with her boss to help support her wastrel father. With its fluid cinematography and deft storytelling, Osaka Elegy ushered in a new era of sound melodrama for Mizoguchi.
Up Next in Directed by Kenji Mizoguchi
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Sisters of the Gion
Directed by Kenji Mizoguchi • 1936 • Japan
Sisters of the Gion follows the parallel paths of the independent, unsentimental Omocha (Isuzu Yamada) and her sister, the more tradition-minded Umekichi (Yoko Umemura), both geishas in the working-class district of Gion. Mizoguchi's film is a brilliant...
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The Story of the Last Chrysanthemum
Directed by Kenji Mizoguchi • 1939 • Japan
THE STORY OF THE LAST CHRYSANTHEMUM was the only movie made by the otherwise massively prolific Kenji Mizoguchi during the year 1939. It was also a fairly daring work to appear amid its repressive, militaristically conservative era, as its tale, of a ge...
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THE 47 RONIN: Part 1
Directed by Kenji Mizoguchi • 1941 • Japan
47 samurai avenge the death of their lord in Kenji Mizoguchi's take on the famous historical event.
