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This is the first
full-length study of Mizoguchi for over 20 years, and as such is greatly
to be welcomed by devotees of the Japanese master. Le Fanu, who teaches
at the European Film College in Denmark, wrote an earlier book on Tarkovsky,
and this new work is even more impressive in its scholarship and attention
to detail. As the title indicates, he sets Mizoguchi’s films within the
wider context of Japanese history, culture, and society, of which he has
acquired quite an astonishing knowledge. I particularly like his very personal
style of writing, and he does not hesitate to heap praise, where he feels
it warranted, on one or two obscure early films which hardly any of us
will ever have the opportunity to see. He shares my view that the pinnacle
of Mizoguchi’s achievement is Sansho Dayu (1954), one of what he
calls the “Great Tryptych” along with The Life of Oharu (1952) and
Ugetsu Monogatari (1953). However, he casts no light on something
that has puzzled me for years: the character credited to Toshiro Mifune
in The Life of Oharu is, to me, nothing like the famous actor; he
is too tall, he walks differently, and his voice is not as deep. Years
ago I read another writer on Japanese cinema (I think it was Joan Mellen)
who also thought it wasn’t Mifune. If anyone can cast further light on
this, I would be intrigued to know!
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