Ugetsu

(Ugetsu monogatari)

BAMPFA Collection

Ugetsu is a shattering experience, among the greatest movies ever made.

Mike Hale, New York Times
featuring

Machiko Kyo, Masayuki Mori, Kinuyo Tanaka, Sakae Ozawa,

In sixteenth-century Japan, with the pandemonium of civil wars a looming presence in their lives, the potter Genjuro and his wife long to be rich and safe, respectively. The all-too-real and the supernatural move steadily toward each other; a boat ride on foggy waters foreshadows the horizontal unity Kenji Mizoguchi gave his two worlds. For just as his images overflow with life, this reality flows into the phantom universe. Mizoguchi built an eerie netherworld entirely out of shadows and lighting, decor and texture, and the graceful chicanery of human desire.

Judy Bloch
FILM DETAILS 
Screenwriter
  • Yoshikata Yoda
  • Matsutarô Kawaguchi
Cinematographer
  • Kazuo Miyagawa
Language
  • Japanese
  • with English subtitles
Print Info
  • B&W
  • 35mm
  • 95 mins
Source
  • BAMPFA
Permission
  • Janus Films