{"product_id":"9781844570560","title":"Mizoguchi and Japan","description":"\u003cstrong\u003eMizoguchi and Japan\u003c\/strong\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eAuthor(s): Mark Le Fanu\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cp\u003eFor a majority of filmgoers, the names most usually associated with classic Japanese cinema are those of Kurosawa and Ozu. Yet during the early 1950s, at the same time that Kurosawa was becoming known to the public through the release of classics like \u003ci\u003eRashomon\u003c\/i\u003e and \u003ci\u003eThe Seven Samurai\u003c\/i\u003e, another Japanese director, Kenji Mizoguchi, quietly came out with a trilogy of films - \u003ci\u003eThe Life of Oharu\u003c\/i\u003e, \u003ci\u003eUgetsu Monogatari \u003c\/i\u003eand \u003ci\u003eSansho the Bailiff \u003c\/i\u003e- that are the equal of Kurosawa's in mastery, and which by any account rank among the greatest and most enduring masterpieces of world cinema.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eAs a storyteller, Mizoguchi was drawn to the plight and oppression of women throughout the ages - it was, for him, the 'subject of subjects'. So in addition to the movies just mentioned, he is remembered for a string of masterly contemporary films that examined, with unprecedented candour and ferocity, the conditions of life in Japanese brothels and geisha houses. Yet, as well as being a moralist. Mizoguchi was a stylist. His films are considered by critics to be among the most beautiful ever made, from a purely pictorial point of view. Filmgoers who have responded enthusiastically in recent years to Chinese classics like \u003ci\u003eFarewell My Concubine\u003c\/i\u003e or to the colourful works of Zhang Yimou will be delighted to discover 'pre-echoes' of this cinema in such late films by this Japanese master as \u003ci\u003eThe Empress Yang Kwei Fei\u003c\/i\u003e and \u003ci\u003eTales of the Taira Clan \u003c\/i\u003e(both released in 1955) works in which colour, costume and decor are deployed with compelling refinement.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eDespite his extraordinary qualities as a film-maker, \u003ci\u003eMizoguchi and Japan\u003c\/i\u003e is the first full -length study in English for over 20 years of a director whose work is as vibrant now as it ever was in its heyday, and whom the French film review \u003ci\u003eCahiers du Cinema\u003c\/i\u003e recently hailed 'the greatest of all cineastes.'\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eMark Le Fanu's preface to the new ebook edition\u003c\/b\u003e - \u003cu\u003ehttps:\/\/media.bloomsbury.com\/rep\/files\/revised-mizoguchi-and-japan-preface.docx\u003c\/u\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eA Retrospective to the 2008 edition\u003c\/b\u003e -\u003cu\u003e https:\/\/media.bloomsbury.com\/rep\/files\/mizoguchi-and-japan-retrospect.doc\u003c\/u\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eReview(s):\u003cbr\u003e\u003cp\u003e\"Le Fanu’s love for Japanese cinema as a whole is advantageous … Though he appreciates the uniqueness of Mizoguchi’s art, Le Fanu is careful to situate it in a rich national tradition … His book is beautifully written: its prose is clear, precise and jargon-free, offering an aesthetic interpretation, rather than a dissection of Mizoguchi’s work along ideological or theoretical lines.\" - \u003ci\u003eTimes Higher Education\u003c\/i\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\"Le Fanu is a refreshing anomaly in contemporary academic film criticism.\" - \u003ci\u003eCineaste\u003c\/i\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\"I offer Le Fanu the highest compliment that can be paid a critic: his book made me want to rush out and screen every Mizoguchi film I could lay my hands on.\" - \u003ci\u003eSight \u0026amp; Sound\u003c\/i\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\"Like all critics worthy of the name, Le Fanu goes to great pains to retrace the spiritual path of the artist he is writing about, sharing with us his intellectual curiosity and in doing so displaying a profound knowledge of the arts and the history, the literature and the customs of Japan … Le Fanu here makes a major contribution to our knowledge of this great Japanese master.\" - \u003ci\u003eMichel Ciment, Positif\u003c\/i\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\"As the title indicates, the author sets Mizoguchi’s films within the wider context of Japanese history, culture and society, of which he has acquired an astonishing knowledge … [Le Fanu] wrote an earlier book on Tarkovsky, and this new work is even more impressive in its scholarship and attention to detail.\" -\u003ci\u003e Talking Pictures\u003c\/i\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\"If you want to know more about Mizoguchi, I can make no higher recommendation than Mark Le Fanu’s \u003ci\u003eMizoguchi and Japan\u003c\/i\u003e. Le Fanu’s writing is beautifully structured: he moves logically from topic to topic. He is logical because, after all, in film writing, to talk about one thing is usually to talk about everything. \u003ci\u003eMizoguchi and Japan\u003c\/i\u003e, then, ends up inevitably casting its net wider, making it surely one of the best film books of the year.\" - \u003ci\u003eNocturnal Emissions\u003c\/i\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\"We have waited twenty years for a decent new book on the subject. We are fortunate to have got one as good as this.\" - \u003ci\u003eKrazsna-Krausz Moving Image Book of the Year Award judging panel (shortlisted)\u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eISBN:  9781844570560\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e ","brand":"British Film Institute","offers":[{"title":"Hardback","offer_id":40593942151374,"sku":"9781844570560","price":115.0,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0600\/7029\/7806\/products\/getimage_5236e4fd-81e4-4de8-beed-ee36353b60a7.jpg?v=1637797326","url":"https:\/\/pickwickbookshop.com\/products\/9781844570560","provider":"Pickwick Bookshop","version":"1.0","type":"link"}