Customer Reviews

The Sisters of the Gion [VHS]

5 star:		(4)
4 star:		(4)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

For the many fans of the book "Memoirs of a Geisha", "Sisters of the Gion" is a treasure of a movie. Released in 1936, it was intended for an audience who daily lived similar lives to the ones onscreen. Thus, for the casual Western viewer the actions & social conflicts it presents may seem strange. To someone who wants to see what daily life in the Gion quarter of Kyoto was like in the mid 1930's, it's a gem!

"Sisters of the Gion" opens with an auction of household items. We are told they belong to the merchant Furosawa who has gone bankrupt. Mr. Furosawa then abandons his wife, child & faithful clerk to go stay in the Gion residence of Umekichi, a geisha to whom he had been patron. Umekichi lives with her more modern sister Omocha. We know she is more modern from the first scene she appears in, as she wears Western fashions as opposed to the kimono worn by her sister. Omocha is not happy they will be supporting Mr. Furosawa & gives Umekichi a lecture on geisha economics; she believes men are only as good as the size of their wallet, & has no use for a man who can't support them. The rest of the short movie (66 minutes) follows Omocha's plots to secure herself & Umekichi wealthy patrons & the emotional devastation she wreaks in the process. Of course the final scene shows her having been punished for her pains, as was expected by the conservative moral climate of the time.

What will prove fascinating to the viewer who has read "Memoirs of a Geisha" is the minutiae of daily life in Kyoto during this period. The original viewers in 1936 took the street scenes & shots of domestic life as a given, but to modern eyes it is astonishing to see the tiny corridors that passed as streets in Gion, the platformed tatami rooms with tea braziers & ubiquitous long-stemmed pipes smoked by all the characters. The few traces of European influence (large cars, fedoras, Omocha's dresses) slam jarringly into the timeless framing of bare rooms & kimono clad women.There isn't a building higher than two stories evident in any outdoor shot, & merchants still visit customers homes to thanks them for their patronage! An early scene even shows the sisters walking down a street, stopping every few steps at shrines to clap their hands in homage, all without pausing their conversation! Truly, a world which vanished irrevocably at the end of World War II!

Honestly, "Sisters of the Gion" gets it's 4 stars as an anthropological artifact, not as a movie. But to anyone interested in daily life during this period of Japanese history, it is an invaluable record.

I just had a chance to see this beautiful movie, and once again I have to revise my ideas about Japanese cinema--it's even more profound than I'd believed. What strikes the viewer immediately is the masterful use of shadow. The great novelist Kawabata wrote about the shadows of traditional Japanese homes and buildings, lit by lamps instead of neon, and this film utilizes shadow with the touch of a Rembrandt. The viewer is pulled into another world, the lovely and cruel world of pre-war Asia. The director explores the cruel circumstances of the sisters with compassion, and complete realism. The viewer knows with absolute certainty that the sisters will never escape their destiny--not because of any moral failing, but because there's no way out. If you haven't seen this movie--watch it very soon and visit a world you've never dreamed of.

Mizoguchi Kenji always had a soft spot for the women of Japan, being known as a "feminist" director in his home country. Mainly, he sees the pathos of the suffering of Japanese women, buckling under the strict social rules of their society. He is a master of "aware," beautiful suffering, that is such a trademark of Japanese film.

"The Sisters of the Gion" ("Gion no Shimai") is true to Mizoguchi's theme, telling the story of two Geisha "sisters," sharing a home together and scrapping by in the Gion pleasure district of 1930's Kyoto. The elder girl, Umekichi, is a traditionalist, believing in old-fashioned values such as loyalty and trust. The younger girl, O-Mocha ("Toy" in Japanese) is head-strong and modern, believing that the men who are their customers should be fleeced for every penny, showing them the same lack of respect they show the girls.

Ultimately, both girl's ideals lead down the same troubled path, as the oppressive world they live in offers little room for interpretation. They are both right, and they are both wrong. They both suffer.

Mizoguchi's camera paints this depressing portrait with such precise vision that one cannot helped but be moved by the plight of the two sisters. The black and white images are masterfully manipulated, staying in the brain long after the frame has moved on. The film's short running time, only 69 minutes, allows for the story to be told completely, with exactly enough information and no extra fluff or frivol.

Overall, a beautiful, powerful film. It ranks amongst my favorite Japanese films of all time.

This same theme of the suffering geisha sisters was followed up by Mizoguchi in his 1953 post-War film "A Geisha" ("Gion Bayashi") If they were packaged together, they would make a stunning DVD release.

Sisters of the Gion is a film not unlike Mizoguchi's other, more famous film-Ugetsu-in its haunting beauty. Mizoguchi's eye is evident everywhere...his famous attention to detail makes us enter into this beautiful world and move with the characters through their doomed lives, along the way becoming emotionally involved in their destinies. Another reviewer remarked on Kurosawa's high esteem for Mizoguchi. This film makes clear why the younger director revered his elder. As new DVD releases of the master's work become available, Mizoguchi's reputation will only be enhanced.

For anyone who loves film and is sensitively aware to exacting and masterful craftsmanship, this film will be richly satisfying. For anyone who is a film scholar or amateur cineaste, this film is one of the classics that must be seen.

Although "The Sisters of the Gion," is a good film, I would have to say that it is not as great as Mizoguchi's other films such as, "Sansho The Bailiff," "Ugetsu," or "The Crucified Lovers." Nonetheless, it is well worth viewing and owning. [Looking forward to the DVD someday]. The films narrative centers around two sisters who are both Geisha girls in the Gion region of Kyoto: Umekichi (Yoko Umemura) and her sister Omocha (Isuzu Yamada). Umekichi is very traditional in regards to loyalty to her clients; whereas Omocha sees the world through a different prism, which leads her to view men as stepping stones to better her life. Even if this means lying and being deceitful.

However, both of these sisters are trapped in a world where there lot has been determined. This is a common theme in Mizoguchi's films. I don't believe there was a director who took the mantle of a womens plight in Japan, and gave it the spotlight as he was able to do. This common thread of the plight of females is woven into his films. The character Umekichi is involved with a bankrupt businessman, Shimbei Furusawa (Benkei Shigayona) who lives with the sister after leaving his wife. The sister Omocha is very unhappy, as she tells her sister that a man that cannot support them does not belong in their lives.

Meanwhile, Omocha is able to get the help of an antique dealer named Jurakuso (Fumio Okura) to give her money, so that she can pay off Furusawa, which in turn is to allow Jurakuso to become the new client of her sister. However, things don't go too well as Omocha pockets half the money. Moreover, in another one of Omocha's schemes, she persuades a textile clerk by the name of Kimura (Taizo Fukami) to steal merchandise at his store so that her sister can wear a nice kimono while entertaining wealthy clients. The store clerk Kimura is eventually fired, and these events will lead to a climax in the film, which I do not wish to spoil for you.

This is a very decent film, especially for a film which was produced in 1936. And while it is not one of my favorite films of Mizoguchi, for those who are looking for early Japanese cinema, this film is a worthwhile look. Also, for those who wish to add to their cinema collection, you might want to purchase the film [When it is released on DVD]. As I wrote earlier, this is not one of Mizoguchi's better films, however, it is an accessible film. Many of the films he directed are not available. And those that are, are for the most part only available on VHS. Therefore, I recommend this film of a very early, and great Japanese director.

While I have of course heard the name Mizoguchi Kenji, the only films of his that I have watched are Ugetsu (1953) and The New Tale of the Heike (1955) and while I did enjoy both of them, mainly the former, for the most part I did not have a particularly strong interest in watching Mizoguchi's films because at the time I was embroiled within the filmic worlds of Kitano Takeshi, Iwai Shunji, Miike Takashi, etc. However, as time passed my interest in older Japanese films began to increase, so now I am trying to broaden my knowledge of classic Japanese films, especially those that were filmed before 1945 of which I have only seen a handful.

Mizoguchi is well known in the world of Japanese film, because he was one of the first Japanese directors to put the role of women in Japanese society on the center stage. He is often criticized by later film viewers and critics because his women, while strong, only could find true security in the world of men by adaptation to the males around them. However, of course, it should be noted that for his time the films he created were quite different than the casual fare. Like Imamura Shohei, Mizoguchi Kenji tended to make films about those in the lower strata of society and the ways in which the rich can destroy these individuals' lives.

Sisters of Gion tells the story of Umekichi and Omocha an older and younger geisha trying to make the best of their lives in a time in which the patronage of geisha is on the downswing. Gentle and kind, Umekichi takes in her lover Furusawa after his business goes bankrupt. She states that she only does so because she owes him for helping her become a full fledged geisha, but it is obvious that she loves the destitute ma. Omocha, young, better educated, and brash dislikes Furusawa because he is sponging off Umekichi and decides that she needs to be rid of him. However, her methods might lead to a bad conclusion.

A wonderful film that clocks in at a little less than seventy minutes, Sisters of Gion has a dark theme. Both Umekichi and Omocha, while being of complete different personalities, are both victims of their positions in society. Without a rich patron to depend on, their lives are quite vicarious, and as in the case of Umekichi, as the women get older their positions become even more precarious.

Kenji Mizoguchi portrayed the awful drama of the Geisha universe through a gritty and relentless story.

Two sisters, one bordered by arcane traditions and customs and the other, rebel who tries desperately to escape from this vicious and opressive circle trying to take advantage at all costs.

Powerful existential drama. A true classic of the genre.

Director Kenji Mizoguchi is known as a champion of women's rights long before the movement took root in Japan. His sister was sold into adoption when she was 14 and he was only a few years older, and later sold as a Geisha, and that experience marked him for life. One of his greatest films, The Life of Oharu (1952), deals relentlessly with abuse and exploitation of women. Another, Street of Shame (1956), a tear-jerker about prostitutes, was instrumental in bringing about the outlawing of prostitution after the war.

Criterion has recently re-released four Mizoguchi films, including Street of Shame mentioned above, in a series titled "Fallen Women." Each film deals in some way with the plight of women in Japan's male-dominated society.

Sisters of the Gion (1936) is an early offering that tells the story of two sisters, both struggling to eke out a living as second-rate geisha in the Gion district (the "pleasure quarter") of Kyoto. The elder of the two, Umekichi, has been supported by a patron, Mr. Furusawa; however, at the beginning of the film, Furusawa's business has gone bankrupt, and he moves in with Umekichi and her sister.

Whereas Umekichi harbors some genuine feeling for Furusawa, her younger sister, Omocha, is cold and conniving. She persuades Kimura, a clerk in a kimono shop, to steal a kimono for her, implying that she will repay him by becoming his mistress. Instead, he is fired. Resentful of her sister's now-penniless former patron, Omocha constructs a web of falsehood to persuade Furusawa to leave and Umekichi to take on a new danna-sama (patron).

Eventually, her deceitfulness catches up with Omocha; Kimura takes revenge by throwing her from a moving car. In the final scene, bedridden with injuries, she dissolves in tears: "Why in the world do we have to suffer like this? Why do there even have to be such things as geisha? Why does the world need such a profession? It's so unfair. I wish they never existed."

As a voice crying out in the wilderness 50 years ahead of its time, it is perhaps understandable that the treatment here is somewhat heavy handed. My own preference is for Mizoguchi's 1953 film A Geisha (unfortunately not included in the Criterion release). Nevertheless, for a glimpse of geisha life in prewar Japan, Sisters of the Gion offers up a slice of truth missing from such soap-operatic fare as Memoirs of a Geisha.