Sight & Sound Poll 2012: Ugetsu
August 29, 2012
Film Info
- Japan
- 1953
- 97 minutes
- Black and White
- 1.33:1
- Japanese
- Spine #309
“Quite simply one of the greatest of filmmakers,” said Jean-Luc Godard of Kenji Mizoguchi. And Ugetsu, a ghost story like no other, is surely the Japanese director’s supreme achievement. Derived from stories by Akinari Ueda and Guy de Maupassant, this haunting tale of love and loss—with its exquisite blending of the otherworldly and the real—is one of the most beautiful films ever made.
Cast
| Lady Wakasa | Machiko Kyo |
| Genjuro | Masayuki Mori |
| Miyagi | Kinuyo Tanaka |
| Tobei | Sakae Ozawa |
| Ohama | Mitsuko Mito |
| Ukon | Kikue Mouri |
Credits
| Director | Kenji Mizoguchi |
| Producer | Masaichi Nagata |
| Original story | Akinari Ueda |
| Screenplay | Matsutaro Kawaguchi and Yoshikata Yoda |
| Cinematography | Kazuo Miyagawa |
| Editing | Mitsuzo Miyata |
| Art director | Kisaku Ito |
| Scenery | Tasaburo Ota |
| Settings | Uichiro Yamamoto |
| Costumes | Shima Yoshimi |
| Music | Fumio Hayasaka |
| Sound | Iwao Otani |
| Lighting | Kenichi Okamoto |
| Period authenticity | Kusune Kainosho |
| Makeup | Zenya Fukuyama |
| Hair | Ritsu Hanai |
Disc Features
SPECIAL EDITION DOUBLE-DISC SET:
- New, restored high-definition digital transfer
- Audio commentary by filmmaker, critic, and festival programmer Tony Rayns
- Kenji Mizoguchi: The Life of a Film Director (1975), a comprehensive, 150-minute documentary by filmmaker Kaneto Shindo, with new and improved subtitles
- Two Worlds Intertwined, a new, 14-minute appreciation of Ugetsu by director Masahiro Shinoda
- Process and Production, a new, 20-minute video interview with Tokuzo Tanaka, first assistant director on Ugetsu
- Ten-minute video interview with cinematographer Kazuo Miyagawa, from 1992
- Theatrical trailers
- New and improved English subtitle translation
- A 72-page book featuring film critic Phillip Lopate and three short stories that influenced Mizoguchi in making the film
New cover by Michael Boland
Current Posts
Clippings
Film Essays
Ugetsu: From the Other Shore
By November 07, 2005
Often appearing on lists of the ten greatest films of all time, called one of the most beautiful films ever made, or the most masterful work of Japanese cinema, Ugetsu comes to us awash in . . . Read more »
Film Essays
Ugetsu
By December 28, 1993
Two masterful postwar films awakened audiences worldwide to the rich heritage of Japanese cinema: Kurosawa’s Rashomon (1951) and Mizoguchi’s Ugetsu (1953). Mizoguchi stepped into the . . . Read more »
Film Essays
Ugetsu: From the Other Shore
By November 07, 2005
Often appearing on lists of the ten greatest films of all time, called one of the most beautiful films ever made, or the most masterful work of Japanese cinema, Ugetsu comes to us awash in . . . Read more »
Film Essays
Ugetsu
By December 28, 1993
Two masterful postwar films awakened audiences worldwide to the rich heritage of Japanese cinema: Kurosawa’s Rashomon (1951) and Mizoguchi’s Ugetsu (1953). Mizoguchi stepped into the . . . Read more »
Clippings
Film Essays
Ugetsu: From the Other Shore
By November 07, 2005
Often appearing on lists of the ten greatest films of all time, called one of the most beautiful films ever made, or the most masterful work of Japanese cinema, Ugetsu comes to us awash in . . . Read more »
Film Essays
Ugetsu
By December 28, 1993
Two masterful postwar films awakened audiences worldwide to the rich heritage of Japanese cinema: Kurosawa’s Rashomon (1951) and Mizoguchi’s Ugetsu (1953). Mizoguchi stepped into the . . . Read more »
