Kenji Mizoguchi and the Art of Japanese Cinema

Kenji Mizoguchi is one of the three acclaimed masters together with Yasujiro Ozu and Akira Kurosawa of Japanese cinema. Ten years in the making, Kenji Mizoguchi and the Art of Japanese Cinema is the definitive guide to the life and work of one of the greatest film-makers of the 20th century. Born at the end of the 19th Century into a wealthy family, Mizoguchi’s early life influenced the themes he would take up in his work. His father’s ambitious business ventures failed and the family fell into poverty. His mother died and his beloved sister was sold into a geisha house. Her earnings paid for Mizoguchi’s education. Weak and deluded men, and strong, self-sacrificing women these were to become the obsessive motifs of Mizoguchi’s films.