After remastering Mizoguchi’s Sansho the Bailiff earlier this year for Blu-ray, Criterion unleashes another of the auteur’s trio of early 50’s Venice prize winners with 1952’s The Life of Oharu, a classic tragedy exemplifying the director’s favorite theme, the plight of woman in a world cruelly controlled by men. While Sansho has enjoyed a considerable reputation in the annals of cinema, Mizoguchi openly criticized the studio interference that hobbled his original intentions, instead he often citing this earlier title as his greatest achievement. Considering it was made without sufficient funding and filmed in a warehouse instead of sound stage that necessitated filming be halted frequently due to passing trains, it’s fascinating to see the auteur, infamous for his meticulous, uninterrupted takes, succeed so gloriously in form and content here.
Opening on a dark, rainy night, we meet the aged Oharu (Kinuyo Tanaka), a prostitute commiserating with...
Opening on a dark, rainy night, we meet the aged Oharu (Kinuyo Tanaka), a prostitute commiserating with...
- 7/9/2013
- by Nicholas Bell
- IONCINEMA.com
Since the mid-1980s, when his serial performance work, Chang in a Void Moon, ran at New York’s Pyramid Club, John Jesurun has explored on stage characters and stories mediated by the images technology throws back at us. His formally ambitious plays use theater, music, and projection to tell narratively fractured tales that are both spellbindingly eerie as well as, sometimes, hilariously funny. His latest play, Stopped Bridge of Dreams, is running now at La Mama in New York City through February 5. As I’m traveling from Sundance to Rotterdam, I’m sad I’m going to miss it. But perhaps some of you can go and file a report.
Here’s how the Vimeo page describes the piece:
John Jesurun’s Stopped Bridge of Dreams unfolds inside an anonymous globe circling jetliner—a modern age pleasure palace—operated by a mother and son.Inspired by 17th Century Japanese writer,...
Here’s how the Vimeo page describes the piece:
John Jesurun’s Stopped Bridge of Dreams unfolds inside an anonymous globe circling jetliner—a modern age pleasure palace—operated by a mother and son.Inspired by 17th Century Japanese writer,...
- 1/27/2012
- by Scott Macaulay
- Filmmaker Magazine - Blog
IMDb.com, Inc. takes no responsibility for the content or accuracy of the above news articles, Tweets, or blog posts. This content is published for the entertainment of our users only. The news articles, Tweets, and blog posts do not represent IMDb's opinions nor can we guarantee that the reporting therein is completely factual. Please visit the source responsible for the item in question to report any concerns you may have regarding content or accuracy.