First, this is a tragic, tear-jerking love story, less complex than some other Mizoguchi films, but I can't believe it won't tear your heart out a little. I'm fairly ignorant of Japanese cultural history, but the film convincingly plays out the social structure of Kabuki theater troupes, with prominence dependent on a family name, back-biting hangers-on, a harsh distant ruling father, and a bevy of servants. Mostly masterfully staged; the Kabuki sequences with distant long takes add poignancy and irony to the 'real-life' drama of the actor and his ill-matched lover. I disagree with other reviewers who found the lead actress cloying; I interpreted Otoku's devotion as a carryover from traditional Japanese class structure, and she coughed pretty rarely until the last part of the film. Actually, for 'realism' she should've been coughing more.
Tuxedos and bowlers sometimes are sported, but otherwise Western influences over life within the plot seem pretty rare. OTOH, the whole film seems to exhibit the influence of the Western romantic tradition--I don't know how much Japanese tradition is parallel to that. The main plot-line does have some surprising and/or unfortunate elements (SPOILERS): the way Kiku finds Otoku, the way Kiku gets convinced to return home, his lack of effort to find her in Tokyo, his father's final acceptance, Otoku's death without Kiku being there to weep--surely he knew she would die while he was away.
That being said, the videotape I viewed was faded, faces were indistinct, scenes may have been deleted, and the subtitles were extremely bad. It's actually lucky the plot was simple and fairly predictable, or the lack of subtitles for many stretches of conversation, or their obvious inaccuracy, would have spoiled the film--they surprisingly did not. Yes, it's predictable, but so is Shakespeare or Tokyo Story, and frankly, the degree of predictability is culturally interesting.
Tuxedos and bowlers sometimes are sported, but otherwise Western influences over life within the plot seem pretty rare. OTOH, the whole film seems to exhibit the influence of the Western romantic tradition--I don't know how much Japanese tradition is parallel to that. The main plot-line does have some surprising and/or unfortunate elements (SPOILERS): the way Kiku finds Otoku, the way Kiku gets convinced to return home, his lack of effort to find her in Tokyo, his father's final acceptance, Otoku's death without Kiku being there to weep--surely he knew she would die while he was away.
That being said, the videotape I viewed was faded, faces were indistinct, scenes may have been deleted, and the subtitles were extremely bad. It's actually lucky the plot was simple and fairly predictable, or the lack of subtitles for many stretches of conversation, or their obvious inaccuracy, would have spoiled the film--they surprisingly did not. Yes, it's predictable, but so is Shakespeare or Tokyo Story, and frankly, the degree of predictability is culturally interesting.