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Tuesday, September 21, 2021

GION NO SHIMAI / SISTERS OF THE GION (1936)

Geisha sisters Omocha & Umekichi find themselves with an unwanted houseguest when longtime ‘patron’ of older sister Umekichi moves in after his fine arts/antiques shop goes bankrupt.  Cautiously welcomed by subservient, loyal, trusting Umekichi; less so by cool, calculating, mercenary younger sister Omocha who immediately starts plotting to get her sister a rich replacement patron, teasing a young kimono apprentice-tailor into fashioning a new outfit for Umekichi; a major expense they currently haven’t the money for.  This kills three birds with one stone: Umekichi can entice a new suitor; the apprentice will take the blame for non-payment; and Omocha can bat her lovely eyes under her expressive headdress at the young man’s rich boss.  Her justification: ‘I’m a Geisha; if I always told the truth I’d be out of business.’  And she’s right!  Omocha doesn’t come off as venal, merely as a realist; especially when we see how life is stacked against them.  This modest feature from Kenji Mizoguchi is, what else, a modest masterpiece*, fascinating in its multiplane/deep-focus staging & photography, and in the wealth of varied roles across class boundaries and in its sympathetic leaning toward unsympathetic actions.  Positively Renoir-esque in that everyone has their reasons, Mizoguchi is brutally cold-eyed, but never cold-hearted.

ATTENTION MUST BE PAID/DOUBLE-BILL/LINK: *Perhaps not as modest as it seems since the film may have lost up to 20 minutes of footage over the years.  OSAKA ELEGY/’36 made right before this is just as good and may have lost just as much footage.  https://maksquibs.blogspot.com/2012/08/naniwa-ereji-osaka-elegy-1936.html

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