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Ugetsu Monogatari (film)

Ugetsu
Ugetsu monogatari poster.jpg
1953 Japanese poster
Directed by Kenji Mizoguchi
Produced by Masaichi Nagata
Written by Matsutarō Kawaguchi
Yoshikata Yoda
Based on Ugetsu Monogatari by Akinari Ueda
Starring Masayuki Mori
Machiko Kyō
Kinuyo Tanaka
Music by Fumio Hayasaka
Ichiro Saito
Tamekichi Mochizuki
Cinematography Kazuo Miyagawa
Edited by Mitsuzō Miyata
Production
company
Distributed by Daiei Film
Release date
  • March 26, 1953 (1953-03-26) (Japan)
Running time
94 minutes
Country Japan
Language Japanese

Ugetsu or Ugetsu Monogatari (雨月物語?) is a 1953 Japanese romantic fantasy film directed by Kenji Mizoguchi and based on stories in Ueda Akinari's book of the same name. It is a ghost story and an example of the jidaigeki (period drama) genre, starring Masayuki Mori and Machiko Kyō.

Drawing its plot particularly from Ueda's tales "The House in the Thicket" and "The Lust of the White Serpent," the film is set in Azuchi–Momoyama period Japan. It is about a peasant farmer and potter who leaves his wife and young son during civil war, and is seduced by a spirit that threatens his life. A subplot involves his friend, who dreams of becoming a great samurai and achieves this at the unintended expense of his wife.

Major themes include the ethics of war, in light of World War II, forbidden relationship with the spirit world and neglect of family duty. The film won the Silver Lion Award at the 1953 Venice Film Festival and other honours. Ugetsu is one of Mizoguchi's most celebrated films, regarded by critics as a masterpiece of Japanese cinema. It is credited with simultaneously helping to popularise Japanese cinema in the West and influencing later Japanese film.

In the farming village, Nakanogō, on the shore of Lake Biwa in Ōmi Province in the late 16th century, Genjurō, a potter, takes his wares to nearby Ōmizo. He is accompanied by Tōbei, who dreams of becoming a samurai. A respected sage tells Genjurō's wife Miyagi to warn her husband about seeking profit in times of upheaval, and to prepare for a probable attack on the village. Genjurō arrives with wide profits, but she asks him to stop. Genjurō nevertheless works long hours to finish his pottery. That night, Shibata Katsuie's army sweeps through Nakanogō, and Genjurō, Tōbei and their wives are uprooted. Genjurō collects his pottery from the kiln, and decides to take the pots to a different marketplace. As the two couples travel across a lake, a boat appears from thick fog. The sole passenger tells them he was attacked by pirates, warns them back to their homes, then dies. The two men decide to return their wives to the shore. Tōbei's wife Ohama refuses to go. Miyagi begs Genjurō not to leave her, but is left on the shore with their young son, Gen'ichi, clasped to her back. At market, Genjurō's pottery sells well. After taking his promised share of the profits, Tōbei runs off to buy samurai armor, and sneaks into the ranks of a clan of samurai. Lost from her companions, Ohama has wandered beyond Nagahama in her desperate search for Tōbei. She is raped by a group of soldiers.


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