Isuzu Yamada was sold to a brothel as a young girl and now works for a cruel and shady antiques dealer as a come-on in a deal. He is trying to swindle some monks, who need to rebuild their temple, out of some valuable statues. She has taken under her wing the very humble Daijirô Natsukawa, a would-be medical student. She wants him to be a great man and turns in her employers and pays for the boy's tuition.... but where is she to get money to let him complete his studies?
Kenji's Mizoguchi's film of a woman's dedication in an unthinking man's world is a slow and often harrowing movie, with many an elaborate set. It is very open in its attitudes towards its characters; Natsukawa is so humble, he is a wet rag; their employers are monsters; Nastukawa is an orphan with a blind grandmother to complete the air of pathos.
Mizoguchi uses camera movement in an interesting manner to mark the passage of the plot: the early scenes contain many pans, from one scene to the next, frequently zip cuts. As the movie progresses, however, the pans become slower, and cuts begin to dominate. It's just one of the techniques of silent movie-making that he would bring into the sound era.
Kenji's Mizoguchi's film of a woman's dedication in an unthinking man's world is a slow and often harrowing movie, with many an elaborate set. It is very open in its attitudes towards its characters; Natsukawa is so humble, he is a wet rag; their employers are monsters; Nastukawa is an orphan with a blind grandmother to complete the air of pathos.
Mizoguchi uses camera movement in an interesting manner to mark the passage of the plot: the early scenes contain many pans, from one scene to the next, frequently zip cuts. As the movie progresses, however, the pans become slower, and cuts begin to dominate. It's just one of the techniques of silent movie-making that he would bring into the sound era.