Customer Reviews

Utamaro and His Five Women [VHS]

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

 

 

In a career littered with period films this is one of the rare examples where the master Japanese filmmaker Mizoguchi Kenji portrayed an actual historical figure, though "Utamaro and His Five Women" hardly shoots for a factual representation of an artist's life. "Utamaro" does not aim to be a literal biography but is instead an imagining of the great painter in the prime of his career and his relationship with his models - a relationship that mirrors Mizoguchi's own love/hate relationship with women. This film has the formal beauty one expects from the director, but lacks much else that is memorable. Perhaps "Utamaro" is best left for admirers of the director - initiates to Mizoguchi should look for "Sisters of the Gion," "Osaka Elegy," "Ugetsu," "A Geisha" (aka "Gion Music Festival") or his masterpiece "Sansho the Bailiff" instead. The VHS of "Utamaro" from New Yorker is terribly blurry and also unfortunately out-of-print.

I have just finished watching this film. I think it belongs up there with the very best Japanese films, and it is certainly one of the best achievements of Mizoguchi. It is impeccable - those visually haunting long shots, the sheer elegance of movements, the serene, changing flow of the narrative. For those people who understand and love cinema beyond "Meet the Fockers", this should be an exquisite experience.

Often Japanese films (Ozu) are hard for the Westerners to watch, as they seem to be too long and often stagnant. This is true to a certain extend, as cinema requires patience. In this case, there was no feeling of unnecessary protraction: the film was moving at a comfortable pace.

The quality of my tape was quite low - hiss, slightly blurred images, low contrast. Normally, I would be upset by all this. However, after a few minutes of watching I stopped to care. This is undoubtedly a true masterpiece. My highest recommendation.

This movie is an odd mix of strong women, and weak men. When taken in the context of a post-war film made during the US occupation, it is an interesenting anti-censorship film.

Kenji Mizoguchi (1898- 1956) in Japan, and Rainer Werrner Fassbinder (1946-1982)in Germany, have probably been the most supreme exponents of the feminine universe along the story of cinema.

Mizoguchi took over this emblematic project since his own terrible and desperate livings in brothels of the 20's , but even so, he doesn't show us a painful and self-complaint portrait about himself, rather than that he stands and states the transcendence of the art in our lives and how that position is the driving-force of our existence even in the worst unthinkable conditions.

This original and monumental movie deals with two talented exponents of the painting in Edo. Utamaru is by far, more original, inventive and prominent of both. Soon both masters will become friends.

But there will be many rivers to cross when the love, jealous and possession sense of several involved women try desperately to get the love of Sinosuke; bringing with it the unexpected tragedy.

The second narrative premise deals with the artistic freedom to create, and Utamaru must to accept to be with both hands tied during fifty days.

A fundamental testimonial of one of the most notorious Japanese filmmakers ever born and one of the maxim image `s poets of the cinema.

I came at this film not from the point of view of a movie buff, but from that of an art lover. The fact that Utamaro is the central figure is what inspired me to watch it. It's an interesting take on Utamaro's relationship with the women who formed the subjects of his prints, and although far from even remotely accurate in that respect is fascinating all the same. Although the film centres around the life of the artist, it is the women in the film who are the strong characters... Okita being especially prominent... and the male characters are rather weak in comparison, Utamaro himself included. The five women represent five different 'types', which I found particularly interesting due to Utamaro's fondness for portraying sets of female 'types' in his prints. If you know anything of the biographical details of Utamaro's life, forget all of that because this film isn't an accurate portrayal of the artist's life. All the same it is incredibly enjoyable and highly entertaining.