Today, the film is often ranked alongside Ugetsu (1953) as one of Mizoguchi's finest works.[3]. Genres: Drama Ten years later, … On its French release in 1960, Sansho the Bailiff was ranked by Cahiers du cinéma as the best film of the year, topping such classics as Breathless, L'avventura, and Psycho.Critics were struck by the film's gorgeous photography, elegant camerawork, and exotic settings and by Kenji Mizoguchi's signature use of imagery that quietly evokes a spiritual transcendence above … Viennale. 1954 124 min . Director: Kenji Mizoguchi Tokuzô Tanaka. The Head Priest writes a letter for him as proof of who he is. Sansho the Bailiff No one believes he can do this, since governors have no command over private grounds. Sansho the Bailiff takes place in feudal Japan where a a pitiless feudal lord banishes a governor to a distant province for standing up for the rights of his impoverished people. This FAQ is empty. Sansho the Bailiff Directed by Kenji Mizoguchi • 1954 • Japan Starring Kinuyo Tanaka, Yoshiaki Hanayagi, Kyoko Kagawa When an idealistic governor disobeys the reigning feudal lord, he is cast into exile, his wife and children left to fend for themselves and eventually wrenched apart by vicious slave traders. We should count ourselves extremely fortunate that a company like Criterion, at the pinnacle of DVD production, are the ones releasing this film digitally, as they did with Ugetsu , to the English-speaking world. Watching it again recently invoked the same emotion - I was deeply saddened by the horrific acts one human can do to the other. Drawing on a popular traditional tale and a 1915 novella by Mori Ogai, Mizoguchi’s Sansho the Bailiff/Sanshô dayû (1954) is a jidai-geki historical film concerning the cruel misfortune befalling the wife and children of a humane exiled provincial governor in ancient feudal Japan. The ending, although cathartic, is not saccharine. Anju hears a song from a new slave girl from Sado which mentions her and her brother in the lyrics. Doctors Jo Wilson, April Kepner, and Andrew DeLuca share the episodes they think are essential to understanding their characters. Zushiō tells her that both Anju and their father have died and apologizes for not coming for her in the pomp of his governor's post. Follows the lives of the Borgen family, as they deal with inner conflict, as well as religious conflict with each other, and the rest of the town. An entomologist on vacation is trapped by local villagers into living with a woman whose life task is shoveling sand for them. Written by Sansho the Bailiff (Sansho dayu) (1954) Director: Kenji Mizoguchi. The compassionate governor leaves behind his wife, Tamaki, his young son, Zushio, and his younger daughter, Anju, to fend for themselves. Kenji Mizoguchi. Fred Camper, writing in The Little Black Book of Movies (edited by Chris Fujiwara), calls Sansho "one of the most devastatingly moving of films". The mother of a feudal lord's only heir is kidnapped away from her husband by the lord. 1984. Actors: Akitake Kôno… Eitarô Shindô Kazukimi Okuni Ken Mitsuda Kinuyo Tanaka Kyôko Kagawa Masao Shimizu Noriko Tachibana Yôko Kozono Yoshiaki Hanayagi. Noriko is twenty-seven years old and still living with her widowed father. Country: Japan. He tells his mother he has been true to his father's teachings, which she acknowledges poignantly. Read reviews from world’s largest community for readers. The first time I saw this film was when I was in university. The New Yorker film critic Anthony Lane wrote in his September 2006 profile on Mizoguchi, "I have seen Sansho only once, a decade ago, emerging from the cinema a broken man but calm in my conviction that I had never seen anything better; I have not dared watch it again, reluctant to ruin the spell, but also because the human heart was not designed to weather such an ordeal. It impressed me greatly then. Sansho won the Silver Lion for best direction in the 15th Venice International Film Festival, which once again brought Mizoguchi to the attention of Western critics and film-makers, after The Life of Oharu (International Award, 1952) and Ugetsu (Silver Lion, 1953). Editorial Reviews. But Sansho has a similar sympathy for the poor and downtrodden, executes similarly melodramatic twists of fate, and ends on a similarly sentimental note to many of Dickens’ works. Sanshō's son Tarō (Akitake Kōno), the second-in-charge, is a much more humane master, and he convinces the two they must survive in the manor before they can escape to find their mother. A Japanese pacifist, unable to face the dire consequences of conscientious objection, is transformed by his attempts to compromise with the demands of war-time Japan. Sansho the Bailiff is a 1954 film directed by Kenji Mizoguchi.. Professor Richard Peña (Columbia University), in his entry for Sansho in 1001 Movies You Must See Before You Die, calls Sansho "one of the great emotional and philosophical journeys ever made for the cinema", and "[p]ossibly the high point in an unbroken string of masterpieces made by Kenji Mizoguchi shortly before his death". In the British Film Institute's 2012 Sight & Sound polls, Sansho the Bailiff came in at 59th in the critics' poll, with 25 critics having voted for the film. Tokuzo Tanaka was first assistant director on SANSHO THE BAILIFF, and in this 2007 interview, he offers a complex portrait of Kenji Mizoguchi, outlines the methods employed by the filmmaking team, and remembers the director’s surprising feelings about the film. The husband and his samurai father must decide whether to accept the unjust decision, or risk death to get her back. It was directed by Andrzej Wajda with sets and costumes by Eiko Ishioka, lighting by Jennifer Tipton, sound by Hans Peter Kuhn, choreography by Suzushi Hanayagi, and a large all-Asian cast, including Bai Ling. Original title: Sansho Dayu (Sansho the Bailiff). Anju (Kyōko Kagawa) still believes in the teachings of her father, which advocate treating others with humanity, but Zushiō (Yoshiaki Hanayagi) has repressed his humanity, becoming one of the overseers who punishes other slaves, in the belief that this is the only way to survive. Ishun is a wealthy, but unsympathetic, master printer who has wrongly accused his wife and best employee of being lovers. This leads her to believe their mother is still alive. 2017. Sansho the Bailiff plays like a fable with tragedy and hardships on the road to redemption. Zushiō resigns immediately afterwards, stating that he had done exactly what he had intended to do. Despite having witnessed the family reuniting after such aghast turn of events, separated for years, in several films, the demonstrative, unadulterated writing renders the novelty and makes it powerful and moving. Was this review helpful to you? Anju accompanies them, and while they break branches to provide covering for the dying woman, they recall their memories of their earlier childhood. Sentiments like "All men are created equal" or "Everyone is entitled to happiness" don't really wash in a period so firmly entrenched in militarism and sharp class distinctions. Get a sneak peek of the new version of this page. Just before they are separated, Zushiō's father tells him, "Without mercy, man is like a beast. In this legendary tale set in the 11th century Japan, a kindly governor is exiled, his wife forced into prostitution, and his son and daughter sold into slavery to the tyrannical baliff Sansho. (1954). At this point Zushiō changes his mind and asks Anju to escape with him to find their mother. Sansho the Bailiff, Mizoguchi’s eighty-first film, belongs with a group of four or five outstanding masterpieces on historical themes, including Ugetsu, that he directed late in his career for the Daiei production company. It is set in Japan during the Heian period (794-1185). The adopted son of a legendary actor, and an aspiring star himself, turns to his infant brother's wet nurse for support and affection - only for her to give up everything for her beloved's glory. On certain days, and in certain moods, it would be easy enough to declare that Kenji Mizoguchi's Sansho the Bailiff is the greatest movie ever made. Everybody tries to talk her into marrying, but Noriko wants to stay at home caring for her father. [4] The Sight & Sound is regarded as one of the most important of the "greatest ever film" polls. And guess what, a century later the human race has not really advanced that much in this area.While the film also highlights the noble side of us - compassion and mercy to the weak, maintenance of integrity amid suffering - it is the downside of it that gets me. The discs boot up directly to the menu screen without any promotional advertisements. Zushiō leaves for Sado where he searches for his aged mother, whom he believes is still a courtesan. When an idealistic governor disobeys the reigning feudal lord, he is cast into exile, his wife and children left to fend for themselves and eventually wrenched apart by vicious slave traders. Instead he followed his father's proverb and chose mercy toward others by freeing the slaves held by Sanshō. When an idealistic governor disobeys the reigning feudal lord, he is cast into exile, his wife and children left to fend for themselves and eventually wrenched apart by vicious slave traders. David Levene . The mother is sold into prostitution in Sado and the children are sold by slave traders to a manorial estate in which slaves are brutalized, working under horrific conditions and branded when they try to escape. I finished the movie feeling depressed, as I did several decades ago.Super B/W photography, a good story, and masterly directing by Mizoguchi make this a classic film of all time. A virtuous governor is banished by a feudal lord to a far-off province. The description that kept coming to my mind again and again while watching Sansho the Bailiff was “Dickensian.” Which I admit is weird for a film set in feudal Japan. Use the HTML below. Sansho the Bailiff When an idealistic governor disobeys the reigning feudal lord, he is cast into exile, his wife and children left to fend for themselves and eventually wrenched apart by vicious slave traders. Thus: Sanshô the Bailiff, newly arrived on DVD from the goodly folks at the Criterion Collection. Sansho The Bailiff . A smaller-scale workshop was mounted by Geisler-Roberdeau under Malick's own direction in Los Angeles in spring 1994. No disrespect intended to Citizen Kane or The Rules of the Game or North by Northwest, for on certain other days those movies might be Numero Uno. "Sansho the Bailiff" is a cinematic retelling of a 1000 year old folk tale. He urges his son to remember his words and gives him a statuette of Kannon, the Goddess of Mercy. A seasoned geisha and her apprentice maiko are forced to give in to their clients' sexual advances to survive. It featured many supernatural anthropomorphic elements such as talking animals like Toei's other anime movies of that time. In mediaeval Japan a compassionate governor is sent into exile. The estate, protected under the Minister of the Right, is administered by the eponymous Sanshō (Eitarō Shindō), a bailiff (or steward). A perfect and profound masterpiece, rivaled only by its near companion Ugetsu.[7]. However, after Zushiō's escape, Anju commits suicide by walking into a lake, drowning herself so that she will not be tortured and forced to reveal her brother's whereabouts. The ending, although cathartic, is not saccharine. Instead, it’s bittersweet with a vein of sadness running through an otherwise uplifting moment. The manor is burned down by the ex-slaves, while Sanshō and his family are exiled. Taipei Film Festival. Cast & Crew Show all . It was adapted in 1961 into the anime film Anju and Zushiomaru, bearing the same name as the legend, produced by Toei, directed by Yabushita Taiji.

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