KENJI MIZOGUCHI DOUBLE FEATURE [YOKIHI / AKASEN CHITAI] (LIMITED EDITION 2 DVD SET)

[4583]

Stock Status: In Stock

$34.95

Genre: Art House

Country: Japan

Year: 1955 / 195

YOKIHI (PRINCESS YANG KWEI FEI) - 1955

When first we see her, the "princess" (Machiko Kyo) is a mere servant girl. The reigning princess dies, and the emperor chooses the servant as his wife. Jealousy and back-stabbing doom this union from the start. Mizoguchi characteristically explores the plight of women in the face of a repressive, chauvinistic society—in this instance, 8th century China.

AKASEN CHITAI (STREET OF SHAME) - 1956

Kenji Mizoguchi's final film was on one of his favorite subjects: prostitutes. After a spate of universally lauded period pieces, Mizoguchi returned to the socially conscious dramas that he made famous in the 1930s. Here, as in Osaka Elegy (1936), he offered a scathing critique of society's hypocrisies and exploitative treatment of women, without the sort of transcendence seen in Life of Oharu (1952). This gritty drama of six working girls in one brothel in Tokyo's Yoshiwara red-light district explores how the women came to work in such a place — trying to pay for their children's education, trying to bail their fathers out of prison, trying to support their out-of-work husbands — and how they fight to maintain their dignity in spite of the degradations of their profession.

Machiko Kyo gives a remarkable performance as Mickey, a cynical hooker with a heart of stone, who shames and then cruelly propositions her own father, while Aiko Mimasu plays the aging Yumeko, who is emotionally shattered after her son rejects her. This film was reportedly instrumental in the outlawing of prostitution in Japan.

DVD FEATURES (Applies for both films)

Fullscreen Version

Japanese audio

Optional English and French subtitles

KENJI MIZOGUCHI DOUBLE FEATURE [YOKIHI / AKASEN CHITAI] (LIMITED EDITION 2 DVD SET)

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Product 713 of 1439 in category Art House

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KENJI MIZOGUCHI DOUBLE FEATURE [YOKIHI / AKASEN CHITAI] (LIMITED EDITION 2 DVD SET)[4583]Stock Status: In Stock

$34.95

KENJI MIZOGUCHI DOUBLE FEATURE [YOKIHI / AKASEN CHITAI] (LIMITED EDITION 2 DVD SET)

[4583]

Stock Status: In Stock