I watched the restored films "The Story of the Rainy Moon" and "The Story of the Remnant Chrysanthemum" released at the Shanghai Film Festival, which were filmed by Kenji Mizoguchi in the 1950s and 1930s respectively.
First of all, I would like to praise the organizing committee. The restoration work of the picture and soundtrack is very good. It can withstand the huge screen of the SFC theater. The viewing experience is good. It is really touching to see such an old and good film. If you don’t feel good about the subtitle work, the first part didn’t appear with Chinese subtitles until about 20 minutes, and the second part can be said to have almost no Chinese subtitles (there will be no Chinese subtitles for a while, and it doesn’t match the English subtitles), and the English subtitles are often the same as Japanese subtitles. The lines don't match (fortunately I understand Japanese or I'd be blind).
Watching the two together, I really like the director. Although it is a new filming of an old fable in the form of a routine, there is always a kind of compassion for women in his narrative. The shots are mainly medium and long, and the pictures are extremely beautiful. What the two films have in common are cowardly and fickle men, strong and wise women, and fickle life. It can be said that the values passed on are very "Japanese". However, Mizoguchi's bland and calm way of telling stories seems to be a third eye overlooking the story, with a sense of participation but no standpoint. Some people say he is encouraging Yamato Nadeko-style women who sacrifice themselves to make men, but I don't think so. The director obviously sees through a certain corruption in the bones of men. In his opinion, women are perfect and have stronger minds than men. If a woman chooses to assist a man, it may be a gift from God in his opinion. Therefore, it is not a patriarchal requirement that women be subordinate to men, but a pleading gesture to ask women not to give up cowardly men, the feeling of "help them".
Maybe because I've seen "Strange Tales from a Liaozhai", the ghostly life fable "The Story of the Rainy Moon" is not too new to me. I prefer "The Story of the Dead Chrysanthemum" because it condenses the director's many considerations on love vs. career, daily vs. art, aristocracy vs. commoners, father-son vs. husband and wife, male vs. female, and it is more profound. At the end of the show, I heard the audience discussing the ending that also lingered in my mind, that is, the heroine lying on the sickbed listened to the noisy sound of the flower boat carrying the successful heroine outside the window and died with laughter, a tragedy. Beauty blooms in extreme contrast, perhaps the director's favorite aesthetic. In addition, Mizoguchi really values the heroine very much. In my impression, there is no big head close-up at all. She always takes pictures of her beautiful posture and behavior from a distance, and makes her speak slowly. Even the haggard appearance before her death is beautiful.
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