While not as brilliant as Mizoguchi's previous film from that year Osaka Elegy (1936), Sisters of the Gion (1936) is far from a bad follow-up. Like its predecessor, the film examines the way women in Japanese society were often treated like second class citizens, restricted by the sexual double standard.
Isuzu Yamada and Yoko Umemura play two lower-class sisters who work as geisha. Yamada's character is outspoken in her discontentment and views men as "enemies." She decides to fleece her clients for all they've got so she can get by. Umemura's character is more traditional and submissive. An optimist, she tries her best to be kind to the men she works for. In the end, neither sister's approach lands them any happiness; in fact, you could say they end up worse than ever.
Like Osaka Elegy, the film's conclusion is ambiguous and harrowing, with no resolution offered. More than Osaka Elegy, Sisters of the Gion is an angry film, though it does possess enough humor and compassion to keep it from being merely that. It may not be Mizoguchi's best film, but it is worth your time.
Isuzu Yamada and Yoko Umemura play two lower-class sisters who work as geisha. Yamada's character is outspoken in her discontentment and views men as "enemies." She decides to fleece her clients for all they've got so she can get by. Umemura's character is more traditional and submissive. An optimist, she tries her best to be kind to the men she works for. In the end, neither sister's approach lands them any happiness; in fact, you could say they end up worse than ever.
Like Osaka Elegy, the film's conclusion is ambiguous and harrowing, with no resolution offered. More than Osaka Elegy, Sisters of the Gion is an angry film, though it does possess enough humor and compassion to keep it from being merely that. It may not be Mizoguchi's best film, but it is worth your time.