Tribute to Kenji Mizoguchi 2017 / Sanshô dayû / Japan 1954
The wife, son and daughter of an exiled provincial governor are seized by slave traders. The mother Tamaki is sent to Sado Island, while the children are indentured in a work camp run by the cruel bailiff Sansho. The son Zushio submits to the harsh regime, but his sister Anju refuses; when they reach adolescence, she succeeds in persuading him to escape. But righting past wrongs proves severely challenging.
A curiosity about slavery in the pre-feudal Japan of the 11th century led Mizoguchi to adapt this story by the great Meiji writer Mori Ogai – although the film’s second half is almost entirely Yoda’s invention. The wife, son and daughter of an exiled provincial governor are seized by slave traders while journeying to join him. The mother Tamaki is sent to Sado Island, while the children are indentured in a work camp run by the cruel bailiff Sansho. The son Zushio submits to the harsh regime, but his sister Anju refuses to; when they reach adolescence, she succeeds in persuading him to escape. But righting past wrongs proves severely challenging. Maybe it’s because this picture of ancient Japan is so credible that it delivers so many modern resonances. The long-take ending delivers one of Mizoguchi’s most overwhelming visions of the human place in the world.
Tony Rayns
125 min / Black & white, 35 mm
Director Kenji Mizoguchi
/ Screenplay Yoshikata Yoda, Fuji Tahiro podle krátké povídky / based on the short story Sansho Dayu by Ogai Mori
/ Dir. of Photography Kazuo Miyagawa
/ Music Fumio Hayasaka, Kanahichi Odera, Tamekichi Mochizuki
/ Editor Mitsuzo Miyata
/ Art Director Kisaku Ito, Shozaburo Nakajima
/ Producer Masaichi Nagata
/ Production Daiei, Kyoto
/ Cast Kinuyo Tanaka, Yoshiaki Hanayagi, Kyoko Kagawa, Eitaro Shindo, Akitake Kono
/ Sales Kadokawa Corporation
/ Contact The Japan Foundation
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