william d
It's okay, although I thought many of the characters were stereotypical of what you would expect in this kind of drama.
Rated 3.5/5 Stars •
Rated 3.5 out of 5 stars
03/31/23
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william k
Kenji Mizuguchi's last film startles with a narrative full of subplots centered on the turmoil and sorrows of one brothel's inhabitants; lively staged with a large cast there are some strong and heart-wrenching scenes along the way.
Rated 3/5 Stars •
Rated 3 out of 5 stars
03/31/23
Full Review
nick s
In his final film, Mizoguchi returns to the problems of oppressed sex workers in Japan which has always been one of the central topics of his creative work. Moreover, once again the feature is shot entirely in one of the brothels in Tokyo. With that done, Mizoguchi repeats himself in some sense as for instance Woman in The Rumour (1954) with Yoshiko Kuga and Kinuyo Tanaka.
After the World War, there were a lot of brothels in Japan due to increased poverty. Initially, many women used to work for the foreigners (we see here one of them Miki â" portrayed by Machiko Kyo), but later just settled with such work for any customers they could find. Mizoguchi shows not an average poor brothel, but the place where women look after themselves very well, buy expensive stuff and wear fancy kimonos. Nevertheless, all of them are just poor women who cannot find other ways to make living. Some of them have to support kids or families, and they are trapped in this situation. Their debts increase as years go by, and moreover, they get used to such life in the brothel. There is a way to quit, though some of them try to do so.
We glance at the stories of 5 courtesans living there. One of them works there just to earn money for studies and clothes of her son, the other helps her husband who dumped her, Miku just lives there to maintain the quality of life she enjoys, and one girl Yasumi (played by Ayako Wakao) seems to be strong and motivated enough to find her way out of brothel. The girls meet their clients and later dream about a future life with kids or new husbands. We see many scenes of their lives which are both touching and miserable. Surprisingly, they are far from standing shoulder-to-shoulder with each other. There is a room for jealousy, competition, intrigues, and insults. Yasumi goes further landing money to other courtesans acting as a loan shark in an attempt to make enough money to escape. She doesnâ(TM)t spend and she takes advantage of men falling in love with her. One of them pays off all her debts, while another one gives her a place for opening the shop.
As plot advances, we see that there is almost no way out of this life for these women, and they slowly lose hopes. They are getting rejected by their sons, husbands, lovers, though they only do this work to help the same people who are the closest to them. Women start fading away, and later there will be no chance for them to get another job once prostitution gets banned in Japan. The women in brother talk about Yasumi calling her shark, and in the end, she becomes only one who escapes the brothel. She opens the new shop, but she had to pay a price for that cheating on many people and losing dignity. No one really respects her. Though, at least she has a new life to live now.
The film is quite bleak as we see these courtesans oppressed and hopeless. Yet it is socially important as many women have always been forced to make living this way. The approach of Mizoguchi showing women so unhappy in quite rich brothels would be emulated by many directors in the XX century. The most famous example of a similar movie would be a colourful and exquisite Shanghai Flowers by Hou Hsiao-Hsien where Taiwanese director amplified this topic Mizoguchi has always been concerned about.
Rated 3.5/5 Stars •
Rated 3.5 out of 5 stars
03/31/23
Full Review
spencer p
Shows the drama of poverty when taken down the wrongest road, in a well-acted though discomforting period piece.
Rated 3/5 Stars •
Rated 3 out of 5 stars
03/30/23
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Audience Member
Kenji Mizoguchi's last film was so great ( great as in tragic) that it directly led to the banning of prostitution in Japan.
Rated 5/5 Stars •
Rated 5 out of 5 stars
02/14/23
Full Review
Audience Member
Sadly, this was to be the last film made by film-maker, Kenji Mizoguchi before dying. But at least he went out with a great film, especially one that touches on his usual themes. In fact, this film was so powerful that it's considered to be one of the reasons why prostitution was banned in Japan shortly after its release.
The story focuses on a group prostitutes working in a brothel called Dreamland, and each has their own personal problems to deal with, while the country's politicians are also debating the issue of prostitution which could ruin their livelihood. Hanae is a married woman with a child, whose husband is unemployed and depressed, Mickey is the new girl in the brothel who is very cynical and only cares about herself, Yumeko is a widow and an older prostitute whose son wants nothing to do with her, Yorie wants to get married and leave the brothel, and Yasumi is the most respected and profitable of the prostitutes who is saving up to buy her way out of the brothel, while also stringing along a man who wants to marry her, but is only using him for money.
Despite having a fairly short running time of 80-odd-minutes, Street Of Shame manages to develop its characters quite well. No one feels like a cardboard cutout as the film explores their issues and how they live their lives from day to day, not knowing what will come next as their profession is possibly about to be outlawed and not knowing what to do with themselves. I especially enjoyed how the tormented Yumeko character was developed as her life slowly falls apart after her own son disowns her. There's a great deal of emotion and turmoil to be found in the story, and you can't help but feel sympathy for these characters because the script does such a good job at developing them.
The acting is also pretty good, though actresses Aiko Mimasu (Yumeko) and Machiko Kyo (Mickey) steal the show with their roles, even though their characters are polar opposites of one another. The cast as a whole is also quite good and each makes their character feel alive and never lets them fall into the pitfalls other characters would in lesser dramas.
While not his most polished work, Street Of Shame is still a fantastic film that is well worth watching and a fitting sendoff for the underrated director. It's a film that will make you feel a wide range of emotions as you follow each of the troubled characters and you will be engaged from beginning to end.
Rated 4.5/5 Stars •
Rated 4.5 out of 5 stars
02/26/23
Full Review
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