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Sansho the Bailiff (Japanese with English subtitles)
Location
Main screening room
Date
August 15th, 2022
Duration
124 min
Cycle
The essentials

Making lists is an activity moviegoers are fond of. Every year, the same ritual: compilation of the ten best films, with comparative analyses, debates, heated discussions. But what about the ultimate list of the most outstanding films in the history of cinema? That is to say, those films that must be seen, those that have forever transformed the art of cinema, but also our way of seeing a culture, of understanding the world as well as our own lives? This program aims to tackle this challenge with nearly eighty films, produced between 1916 and 1960, while waiting for your lists!

Sansho the Bailiff
Directed by
Kenji Mizoguchi
Language
Japanese with English subtitles
Actors
Kinuyo Tanaka, Masaichi Nagata, Yoshiaki Hanayagi
Origins
Japan
Year
1954
Duration
124 min
Genre
Drama
Format
35 mm
Synopsis

In the 11th century, a governor is sent into exile for defending the peasants. Kidnapped with their mother as they try to join him, his children end up in slavery at the domain of the cruel Sansho. During the 1950s, the Japanese historical film was renewed, moving away from the folkloric framework to become more social and critical of the feudal past. This film illustrates very well Mizoguchi's humanism, both ideologically and dramatically, and his plastic and lyrical approach to the image.

Sansho the Bailiff

Kenji Mizoguchi

Kenji Mizoguchi was a Japanese filmmaker who directed roughly one hundred films during his career between 1923 and 1956. His most acclaimed works include The Story of the Last Chrysanthemums (1939), The Life of Oharu (1952), Ugetsu (1953), and Sansho the Bailiff (1954), with the latter three all being awarded at the Venice International Film Festival. A recurring theme of his films was the oppression of women in historical and contemporary Japan.Together with Akira Kurosawa and Yasujirō Ozu, Mizoguchi is seen as a representative of the "golden age" of Japanese cinema.

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About Sansho the Bailiff
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About Kenji Mizoguchi
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