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"[A]n exquisitely moving tale of forbidden love struggling to survive in the face of persecution. Based on a classic of eighteenth-century Japanese drama, the film traces the injustices that befall a Kyoto scroll maker's wife and his apprentice after each is unfairly accused of wrongdoing. Bound by fate in an illicit, star-crossed romance, they go on the run in search of refuge from the punishment prescribed them: death."--Container.

"An exquisitely moving tale of forbidden love struggling to survive in the face of persecution. Based on a classic of eighteenth-century Japanese drama, the film traces the injustices that befall a Kyoto scroll maker's wife and his apprentice after each is unfairly accused of wrongdoing. Bound by fate in an illicit, star-crossed romance, they go on the run in search of refuge from the punishment prescribed them: death"--Container.

"By the time he made Ugetsu, Kenji Mizoguchi was already an elder statesman of Japanese cinema, fiercely revered by Akira Kurosawa and other younger directors of a younger generation. And with this exquisite ghost story, a fatalistic wartime tragedy derived from stories by Akinari Ueda and Guy de Maupassant, he created a touchstone of his art, his long takes and sweeping camera guiding the viewer through a delirious narrative about two villagers whose pursuit of fame and fortune leads them far astray from their loyal wives. Moving between the terrestrial and the otherworldly, Ugetsu reveals essential truths about the ravages of war, the plight of women, and the pride of men"--Container.

"Returning to war-scarred Tokyo in 1948, Akemi manages to become a pupil of Shino, who operates a famous school of Japanese dancing, through lnokura, Shino's patron. Realizing her ambition to dance with a famous kabuki actor yet Shino is mercilessly criticized by the press while Akemi wins wide acclaim. Fame is now hers but she still must have financial support and with the help of lnokura she establishes a new school of dancing and becomes his mistress."--Edited summary from JFDB, November 9, 2018.

This heartrending masterpiece by Kenji Mizoguchi about the give-and-take between life and art marked the director's first use of the hypnotic long takes and eloquent camera movements that would come to define his films. The adopted son of legendary kabuki actor Kikunosuke, who is striving to achieve stardom by mastering female roles, turns to his infant brother's wet nurse for support and affection, and she soon gives up everything for her beloved's creative glory.

The adopted son of legendary kabuki actor Kikunosuke, who is striving to achieve stardom by mastering female roles, turns to his infant brother's wet nurse for support and affection, and she soon gives up everything for her beloved's creative glory.

• Disc
• 1. Ugetsu (97 min.)
• Disc.
• 2. Kenji Mizoguchi: the life of a film director (150 min.).

In sixteenth century Japan a village potter and his brother-in-law set out for the city to seek their fortunes in the spoils of war. Their neglected wives suffer the bitter consequences of their husbands' ambition as one is murdered by soldiers and the other is raped and becomes a prostitute.

When Kikunosuke, a mediocre actor from a famous Kabuki family, falls in love with a maid, he is cast out. The faithful Otoku supports her husband as he struggles to perfect his art. In the end, she is quite ill, yet willing to leave her husband so that he may take his rightful place at the head of the Kabuki community.