Mizoguchi Kenji (1898-1956), was with Ozu Yasujiro and Kurosawa Akira one of the three greatest Japanese directors of all time. For some obscure reason, however, both in Japan and abroad he now seems to be less popular than those other two directors. Only 7 of his films are available in the Criterion series, against 20 by Ozu and 26 by Kurosawa (although I regard the sometimes rather bombastic Kurosawa definitely as a lesser director than Mizoguchi). And in the 2012 Sight & Sound poll of the best movies of all time, Ozu came in at third position with Tokyo Monogatari, but Mizoguchi had only a shared 50th place. Let's hope this is a temporary dip, for Mizoguchi deserves better.

In the 1950s, Mizoguchi was the idol of the French New Wave, because his moving-camera, long-shot long-take technique exemplified the aesthetic that the young Cahiers du cinéma critics were championing (and which they also found in films by, for example, Jean Renoir and Max Ophüls). Rivette adored him for the mastery of his mise-en-scene, Godard eulogized his elegance, metaphysics and instinct as a director and called him ?the greatest of Japanese filmmakers, or quite simply one of the greatest of filmmakers.? To this day, Mizoguchi remains the apogee of Japanese film to the French, while Kurosawa retains a greater appeal for the "action and ethics"-oriented audiences of Britain and the United States.
[Mizoguchi Kenji (Photo Wikipedia)]
Mizoguchi Kenji was born into a wealt...