Movie – Ugetsu or
Ugetsu Monogatari
French title under which I
watched it ''les contes de la lune vague après la pluie''
Score : 8/10
Year
:1953
Country :
Japan
Language
: Japanese
Duration:
1h33 (imdb list 1h36)
Today I watched this movie for the second time. I'm not exactly sure when I
first saw it (a year or two ago), but when I took the dvd at the media library,
the title didn't seem familiar. It's only while watching that I realized I had
seen it before. Either case, it's a rather good drama/ war movie, but the
shrill music makes it difficult to watch.
It tells of 2 brothers, their wives, their love and ambitions during the
Japanese civil war and blends war and drama with fantastic elements so present
in Japanese culture.
The movie is very tasteful not showing the full violence and horror of the
civil war ; there is a decapitation scene which happens behind a rock and not
even shown.
The
director does show the uselessness, mess and disorganization of
this war, as well as the soldier's cruelty but never becomes graphic. Most
of the violence the protagonists meet is suggested.
The main tale is about love, and how ambition can either ruin
or strengthen it.
The atmosphere is sometimes heavy, as it should : this is a war drama, not a
comedy, so don't expect much laughter. Well, maybe at some of the sets or
a bit of overacting you might chuckle, but not from the story. Actually, that
theatrical overacting is part of Japanese movie making, to this day.
Some of its elements become quite apparent early on and one can guess where the
plot goes, but the ride is enjoyable nonetheless.
The
direction, production design and acting make good use of physical acting to
depict emotional and symbolic components.
As I said, there are many shrill moments, making the movie difficult to watch ;
it's best to use a lower volume and read the subtitles than to suffer the
sound, in my opinion.
The lighting is very subdued, adding to the dramatic effect rather nicely - especially
the high contrasts.
Off
course, social norms may sometimes shock us in view of certain scenes, but they
have to be put in their context.
Overall a good movie ; yet, its heaviness and shrill sounds mean that I
probably won't watch it again before quite some time...
Starring
:
Machiko Kyō as Lady Wakasa
Mitsuko Mito as Ohama
Kinuyo Tanaka as Miyagi
Masayuki Mori as Genjurō
Eitaro Ozawa as Tōbei (as Sakae Ozawa)
Ikio Sawamura as Genichi
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