Sanshô
Dayû and Gion Bayashi in November
12
September 2007
There
can be few true fans of Japanese cinema whose eyes do
not glaze everso slightly when the hear the name Kenji
Mizoguchi , whose 90 film career as a director includes
a number of recognised classics, including the 1952 The
Life of Oharu (Saikaku ichidai onna)
and the superb 1953 Ugetsu Monogatari,
a run that was to continue the following year with the
equally extraordinary Sanshô Dayû
(Sansho the Bailiff).
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Based
on an ancient legend, as recounted by celebrated author
Mori Ogai (in his short story of the same name, written
in 1915), an aristocratic woman, Tamaki (played by Tanaka
Kinuyo, who also stars in Ugetsu Monogatari),
and her two children, Zushio (Hanayagi Yoshiaki) and Anju
(Kagawa Kyoko), who are separated by feudal tyranny from
Tamaki's husband. When the children are kidnapped and
sold into slavery to the eponymous "Sansho"
(Shindo Eitaro), the lives of each of the family members
follow very different paths – each course uniquely,
and insufferably, tragic. A profoundly moving and beautifully
made film, Sanshô Dayû is
a great work from a great director, and should be on every
film fan's essential viewing list.
Made
between Ugetsu Monogatari and Sanshô
Dayû, the far less widely seen Gion
Bayashi is the story of 16-year-old Eiko who
agrees to be trained by the older Miyoharu to become a
geisha, following in the footsteps of her recently deceased
mother. But the pair choose to go against the tradition
of the submissive female and reserve the right to refuse
a client if they so wish. A visually beautiful and compelling
film that provides a fascinating and sobering insight
into the world of the geisha.
Neither
film has been available on UK DVD before, and now both
are to be released by Eureka under the Masters of Cinema
label, the first of four double-bill releases promised
for the coming months. Our mouths are already watering.
Special
features on this release are:
- Lavish
96-page book featuring archival imagery, articles by
Robin Wood (film critic and author) and Mark Le Fanu
(author of Mizoguchi and Japan) and a full
reprint of an acclaimed translation of Mori Ogai's original
1915 story on which Sanshô Dayû
is based;
- Video
discussions about both Sansho Dayu and Gion Bayashi
by acclaimed Japanese film expert/critic, festival programmer,
and filmmaker Tony Rayns;
- Original
theatrical trailers.
This
2-disc set will be released on 19th November 2007 at the
RRP of £23.99.
