Ugetsu

Regarded as the masterwork of Japan’s Golden Age of Film, UGETSU (1953), shortened from Ugetsu Monogatari—the title of Ueda Akinari’s 1776 book of the same name, is credited with simultaneously helping to popularize Japanese cinema in the West and influencing later Japanese film.

Younger directors like Akira Kurosawa fiercely revered director Kenji Mizoguchi, who made more than 100 films between 1923 and 1956.

In this exquisite ghost story, a fatalistic wartime tragedy derived from stories by Akinari Ueda and Guy de Maupassant, the viewer is guided 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, the film reveals essential truths about the ravages of war, the plight of women, and the pride of men.

Nearly always included in any top 50 list among critics, Roger Ebert called it “one of the greatest of all films,” a sentiment echoed by directors such as Andrei Tarkovsky and Martin Scorsese.

Presented in Japanese language with English subtitles.