Bruce Loeb on Piano (Taki no shiraito/a.k.a. The Water Magician). Thislate silent Mizoguchi is already characteristic of his mature style in being afilm of delicate passion and crushing irony. Takako Irie portrays the star of atraveling show, lonely but large hearted, and given to extreme generosity thatflies in the face of wisdom. When she inadvertently causes a young coach driverto lose his job, she insists on making amends by putting him through law school,in the process falling hopelessly in love and dangerously into debt. Years latershe is brought to trial before the former student, now a judge. "Mizoguchihas given us one of his best controlled, most economical, most justly pacedfilms°.He has created an entire world for his heroine to inhabit. Like the realworld it is made up of many parts." (Donald Richie)