Ugetsu Monogatari Analysis

Ugetsu Review My impression of Ugetsu Monogatari was an overall positive one. There was a lot of things done right such as the cinematography, set design, and acting; however, there was a definite issue with a certain plot element of the film and support character acting. I adjusted my review of this movie to account for the fact it is a black and white movie from 1950s Japan. Things like a much slower story telling pace and lack of great audio quality were ignored. Let’s move on to a summary of the film.
Ugetsu Monogatari (Tales of Moonlight and Rain) is an interesting story about the greed of man and how it leads to tragic demise. The story follows two couples in an era of war whose work is creating pottery. One of the Husbands, Genjurō, …show more content…
He lived around the 18th century and was famous for his supernatural stories. The supernatural aspect of this movie was very interesting and notably creepy. Japanese mythical creatures and ghosts can be some of the most frightful monsters, Lady Wakasa included. Sadly the plot seemed to actually be hampered by this inclusion of the unexplainable. Genjurō’s punishment for greed is him being charmed or abducted by this ghost, but that hardly seems a good fit for a man who wanted to get rich. Maybe it would have made more sense for him to become extremely wealthy and then somehow lose it all by either theft, gambling, or disaster. While the supernatural story was creepy and interesting, it’s just too disjointed. One second we have a perfectly normal story about the dangers of greed and the next we’re talking about being careful of ghosts. The only other time a ghost makes an appearance is when Genjurō finally returns home and sees his wife Miyagi; the twist being she had died previously. When Genjurō wakes up the next morning and sees his wife his missing, an old man comes by and breaks the bad news of her death. That moment was actually a good use of the supernatural in the story. It was a quick moment that helped convey the feelings of forgiveness that Miyagi had for her husband. Lady Wakasa as a plot point just didn’t fit into the otherwise non-supernatural theme of the story. Plot …show more content…
Kenji Mizoguchi, a master of this art, perfectly shows his talents in Ugetsu. Well known for his long takes, Mizoguchi doesn’t disappoint in this movie. Long takes allow for a more natural view of a scene as well as giving background action more time to be displayed. A really great long take happens near the end of the movie. Genjurō has just returned to an empty home after escaping Lady Wakasa, and the scene starts with Genjurō entering the house. The camera follows him as he walks the length of the house and out the back. When Genjurō reaches the outside of the house, he runs back to the front of the house from the outside, the camera still following him. However, as the camera follows his outside movement, we see the house is no longer empty, but instead has Miyagi inside cooking. This effect of completely changing the scene while still in a single take is incredibly surprising. This long take took advantage of people’s expectation of seeing a similar scene when the camera panned back, but only to completely fool the viewer. There are plenty of other well done long takes. Takes that follow the characters as they run through the town were nice because they allowed you a full view of what were very nice sets. There was never a moment of stillness, awkward silence, or unnecessary takes. The movement and actions in the scene could explain the story just as well as the dialog. Overall Cinematography earns