Japan

Kenji Mizoguchi

89 films · 1923 to 1956
Born 16 May 1898, Asakusa, Tokyo, Japan · Died 24 August 1956

Kenji Mizoguchi was a Japanese filmmaker who directed roughly one hundred films during his career between 1923 and 1956. His most acclaimed works include The Story of the Last Chrysanthemums (1939), The Life of Oharu (1952), Ugetsu (1953), and Sansho the Bailiff (1954), with the latter three all being awarded at the Venice International Film Festival. A recurring theme of his films was the oppression of women in historical and contemporary Japan. Together with Akira Kurosawa and Yasujirō Ozu, Mizoguchi is seen as a representative of the "golden age" of Japanese cinema.

Biography adapted from Wikipedia, CC BY-SA.

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Kenji Mizoguchi

Photo: Public domain, Wikimedia Commons.

Defining films

Ugetsu
Ugetsu
1953
The Life of Oharu
The Life of Oharu
1952
The Story of the Last Chrysanthemum
The Story of the Last Chrysanthemum
1939
Tales of the Pale and Silvery Moon After the Rain
Tales of the Pale and Silvery Moon After the Rain
1953
Utamaro and His Five Women
Utamaro and His Five Women
1946
Sansho the Bailiff
Sansho the Bailiff
1954

Films by decade

More from Japan

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