In terms of the greatest Japanese directors, my sense is that films critics tend to mention three: Ozu, Kurosawa, and Mizoguchi. Of the three, I never really understood the reason Mizoguchi made the list. I should say that I’ve seen far less of his films than the other two, but I did see Ugetsu Monogatari and Sansho Daiyu, perhaps two of his most famous internationally. I liked those films, but they didn’t seem to warrant putting him as one of the best Japanese filmmakers (at least after the first viewing).

So I’ve been trying to watch more of his films recently. I re-watched the films above, and I did appreciate the visual aspects of the films a lot more, and I thought both were good-to-very good. After those two, I watched Osaka Legacy and Sisters of Gion. Both were good, especially the second one. Isuzu Yamada’s feistiness stood out, reminding me of Stanwyck’s and Magnani’s feminine spunk. The fact that Mizoguchi made what can be categorized as feminist films, in 1936 Japan, also surprised me.