UGETSU MONOGATARI (1953)

Cast

Plot

Multi-award winning adaptation of two stories by 18th Century writer Akinari Ueda. Set in 16th Century Japan, it tells the tale of two potters who leave their wives and rural homes against their families' wishes. One is seeking glory as a Samurai warrior, while the other seeks only to make his fortune, but is seduced by a ghost princess. A rich and ravishing movie, Ugetsu won the Silver Lion Award for Best Direction at the Venice Film Festival in 1953. The film has made multiple appearances in Sight and Sound magazine's top ten critics poll of the greatest movies ever made, which is held once every decade. In 2000, The Village Voice newspaper ranked Ugetsu at #29 on their list of the 100 best films of the 20th century. “ Translates as "Rain moon tales", a film based on stories some two centuries old, which seamlessly blends realistic and fantastic episodes in the lives of a group of villagers during Japanese civil wars of the 16th century. The film is from what is often called the golden age of Japanese cinema and it stands with the best of Mizoguchi's other films (e.g. Life of O'haru) as historical drama acting as a parable of people's reactions to threat and adversity. The morality thread is strong, but the characters are - mostly - not simple ciphers. As always in the best films from this era, the strongest characters are female” - review from Neil Jacobs