Karry Best movie of this year hands down!

Acensbart Excellent but underrated film

Casey Duggan It’s sentimental, ridiculously long and only occasionally funny

Dana An old-fashioned movie made with new-fashioned finesse.

WILLIAM FLANIGAN Viewed on DVD. Restoration = ten (10) stars; subtitles = nine (9) stars; cinematography = five (5) stars; score = four (4) stars. Director Kinji Mizoguchi's gripping depiction of what life probably was like (or pretty close to it) for women who lived in late 17th Century Japan. The photo play combines traditional tales and historic depictions with the imaginations of its creators. What emerges, at least from the Director's perspective, is a far from pretty picture for all women living at all levels of society. As the title implies, this is essentially a one-character film whose life phases involve all levels of the female cultural food chain. Actress Kinuyo Tanaka delivers a Tour De Force performance by playing eight interconnected roles representing each life phase. Blank verse is sung to provide voice overs that connect scenes. But sometimes this technique seems to be just the Director trying to drive his point home to audiences who (in his mind) may be too slow witted to follow the drama streams. This approach becomes very stale very fast. The film's music (it's too disjointed to be labeled a "score") is certainly unique, but also, unfortunately, grates on the modern ear and is often annoying. It can become a less-than-welcomed distraction to a scene (in all fairness, it would appear that the composer might have been trying to duplicate what may have been the music from the era the film addresses). Cinematography (narrow screen, black and white) and lighting are a bit on the dark side with scenes often appearing in somewhat fuzzy gray and white vice more sharply-focused black and white. Rather than creating some sort of "visual mood," scenes can be just plain hard to discern. Nearly all above-the-line talent is credited in subtitles during the opening credits! Congratulations to the Criterion Label for a small, but significant contribution to the film's restoration process. This level of subtitling is a very rare occurrence in the restoration of classical and in the release of modern Japanese films on video disc as well as for modern films shown in theaters. In all cases, producers seem to be sending this message to non-native Japanese: a large portion of the movie's cast and crew are not important (which, of course, is nonsense!) and have been ignored in this cheap translation. A movie worth re-watching from time to time (especially if you are deep diving Japan's ancient cultures). WILLIAM FLANIGAN, PhD.

lreynaert 'Life of O Haru' is a very characteristic movie for Kenji Mizoguchi with its theme of forbidden love, its criticism of social conventions and its realistic and incisive description of the fate of women, the behavior of males and the effect of being sincere in a society, here a feudal one.In this feudal society, love (sexual intercourse) between a member of the nobility and a commoner is a transgression of the barrier between the social classes. When it is discovered, like in this movie, it is disastrous for the lover, the girl and her family. A real nightmare begins for the girl O Haru. Her beauty and sincerity are exploited to the bone, by brothel keepers, by those who need a male heir to ensure the continuation of the political and social power of a clan or by males (also a member of her family) in a position of 'strength '.The choice of the scenes, of which some are extremely painful, and the angles of the shots illustrate masterfully the balance of power in a society run by absolute power (the shogun), a world without feelings and mercy. As always with K. Mizoguchi, his direction of the actors is admirable; not one false note. This movie is a true masterpiece. A must see.

Chris Barry I finally saw Life of Oharu at the Ontario Cinematheque in Toronto last night and what an amazing film it was.I don't know why I held out on Mizoguchi for so long. I think it's because I watched a lot of Ozu in the day and expected more of the same heavily restrained, obliquely symbolic style which is often as alienating as it is inventive. I couldn't have been further off the mark. Mizoguchi's style is fluid and assured like Hitchcock and Bresson. He also injects a warmth of spirit and shows a genuine interest in storytelling which is often absent in much of Ozu's ouevre.The Story of Oharu is a treatise on how women are economically exploited in a patriarchal society. This is probably one of the greatest 'women's films' ever made. It ranks above 'Breaking The Waves' and Sirk's 'Imitation of Life'. No small feat!! If you like stories that actually say something about the world in which we live, I would strongly recommend this film. It's a masterpiece of world cinema. I am definitely going to see more Mizoguchi.

alan-459 A great film, but why do all the reference books etc. insist that Oharu's lover Katsunosuke is played by Toshiro Mifune? It's a completely different actor! Mifune's face appears superimposed on a statue at the beginning, but that's the only appearance he makes! Not even the Japan experts like Donald Richie seem to have picked this up.Apart from that, the great Kinuyo Tanaka puts in a heartrending performance as the eponymous Oharu, in what must be the most passionately feminist film ever made (Mizoguchi and Dreyer are the two great feminist directors). There are also a couple of intensely comic scenes, not what one expects from Mizoguchi.But I'm still waiting for an explanation about Mifune, and who the actor is who plays Katsunosuke!