THE STORY OF THE LAST CHRYSANTHEMUMS (1939)

The shallowness of men and the sacrificial nature of women.

Tokyo, 1888.  Kikunosuke Onoue is a pampered douchebag.  He's the adopted son of one of Japan's greatest Kabuki actors and although he can't act to save his dick from falling off he's still very popular thanks to his famous father.  Also, instead of trying to hone his craft he goes out partying all the time.  One evening his family's maid, Otoku, tells him that he sucks and that everybody makes fun of him behind his back.  Kikunosuke's pride is hurt, but he is so "happy" about Otoku's honesty that he falls in love and wants to marry her!  His parents are horrified that he would try to disgrace the family name with such a scandal and after an argument Kikunosuke leaves town to make it on his own.  Now living with Otoku he still sucks at acting (but not as much) and they are dirt poor.  He also slaps her around.  Five years go by and Kikunosuke is still a dick, but he's gotten better at acting and is now ready to make his triumphant return to Tokyo.  Unfortunately, things don't turn out so well for Otoku.

I'm a fan of Kenji Mizoguchi (UGETSU is one of the greatest things I've ever seen), but THE STORY OF THE LAST CHRYSANTHEMUMS did nothing for me.  Maybe I'm too grumpy, but Kikunosuke's immature dickishness was too much for me.  The dude was just as insufferable at the end of the film as he was at the beginning!  Maybe that's the point, but I still don't have to like it.

Maybe I'll revisit this film in a few years when I'm more mature and wiser but as of right now, while I appreciated the craftsmanship that went in to the making of the film (although I didn't care for the 100% use of wide shots), I didn't care for it overall.

THE CRUCIFIED LOVERS (1954)

Set in 1700's Japan. Osan is the wife of a wealthy businessman. Her "weak-willed" brother desperately needs some money within three days or he's going to be thrown in prison. Osan knows that her ruthless husband will never give her the money so instead she asks his trusted employee Mohei to steal it for her. Mohei agrees, but when he's caught things quickly go from bad to worse when Osan and Mohei are falsely accused of being lovers, which is punishable by public crucifixion!!! To complicate matters, the husband's business rivals want the story of the lovers to be true (or at least believed to be true) so that he'll be exiled.

I enjoyed THE CRUCIFIED LOVERS...the direction by Kenji Mizoguchi was good and the cinematography by Kazuo (RASHOMON, YOJIMBO) Miyagawa was very nice...but the story was too slow and the ending disappointing. I really wanted there to be a bigger sense of desperation in the two lovers on the run.  Also, it seemed to me, that neither Mohei or Osan really tried to escape.  Everything they did was self-defeating and they seemed resigned to their fate right from the moment they took off.  The best part of the film was the first 20 minutes when it was showing the hectic running of the business and the secret household dramas, then the lovers go on the run and the story runs out of steam.  Still, it's worth a watch for fans of classic Japanese Cinema.