Museum of the Moving Image Retrospective on Prolific Japanese Filmmaker Starts Tomorrow

He’s the greatest filmmaker you never heard of. Kenji Mizoguchi (1898–1956) produced 85 movies that spanned the silent and sound eras in Japan. Critics praised the beauty of his scenes, his masterful use of tracking shots and compositions that move between close-ups and tableaus, and his enduring focus on the human experience, particularly the suffering of women. Tomorrow, the Museum of the Moving Image and the Japan Foundation will kick off a major retrospective on Mizoguchi that will screen his classics, such as Ugetsu, which tells the story of two brothers who leave their wives and village to purse wealth and martial glory in 16th century Japan, and Street of Shame, which depicts five prostitutes in Tokyo’s red-light district who have double-lives as daughters, mothers, wives, loan sharks, and dreamers. The series will also show rare titles which have scarcely shown in the United States, such as Song of Home, which contrasts two country boys: a coach driver who has never left his village and a student who returns from Tokyo with city-slicker affectations and Western jazz records.

Details: Mizoguchi, Museum of the Moving Image, 36-01 35th Avenue, Astoria, May 2nd through June 8th, movies show on Fridays, Saturdays and Sundays at various times, click here for schedule, most screenings are free with admission. All films are in Japanese with English subtitles.

Photos: Museum of the Moving Image