Yogi's Movie Consumption Blog

A courtlady falls in love with a man of lower social standing. As the two lovers are discovered the woman falls steeply through all social nets until she reaches rock bottom. There is no change of direction in the downward spiraling tale of the continually humiliated Oharu, no matter how hard we wish for a bit of luck for the poor woman. She rarely gets any opportunity to take a decision that might influence her fate. Nevertheless, she ends up at the bottom of the ancient Japanese society with no hope of returning to any kind of standing. The brutality of the men in her life, including her father is maddening. The only glimpse of a cynical practicality is when all the outlawed women solidarise, sharing what little resources are available to them. At one point, Oharu meets an older street musician who seems to have shared the fate of Oharu but has sunken even deeper. Although Oharu is polite to the poor lady you can still feel the importance of status to Oharu. Inside Oharu's...

A printer is in love with his master's wife: When they are forced to elope through a series of unfortunate events, their romance is deemed. I enjoyed the move thoroughly. What seems a bland a beginning quickly turns to an amour-fou situation. The fugitive lovers are being chased by various factions, but mainly to restore the printer's reputation. The two lovers are depicted as irrational in most of their decisions, and also quite stupid. They don't seem to be able to see beyond the confines of the system they are trying to break out of. That's why their pursuers have an easy time of tracking them down. Actually, most of the sub-plots would have allowed the lovers to escape, but in every single case they chose not to do it. So at the end, all they have left is to bare the consequences of their actions and be proud of them. There is a bit of a strange moment in the end, when the servants comment on the happy air of her former mistress. Maybe Mizoguchi wanted...