Die Schwestern von Gion

Umekichi, a geisha in the Gion district of Kyoto, feels obliged to help her lover Furusawa when he asks to stay with her after becoming bankrupt and leaving his wife. However her younger sister Omocha tells her she is wasting her time and money on a loser.

Here we have another film by Mizogucki looking at "fallen women", much like "Street of Shame" twenty years later, and to some degree "Osaka Elegy". But we also have a tale of the old and the new -- looking to the West and also sticking with tradition. This is especially interesting given the radical shift in Japanese culture after World War II.

I have not seen the remake and thus cannot compare them, but how do you top the work of Mizoguchi? You simply cannot.

"Sisters of Gion" is a Japanese film directed by Kenji Mizoguchi. It apparently must be very well thought of, as it's part of a set of Mizoguchi films in a DVD set from the artsy Criterion Collection. While I could see the artistry of the cinematography, I wasn't super-impressed by the story. It left me a bit flat.

When the film begins, it looks a bit like a Yasujirô Ozu film because the camera in set at a level about that of a person sitting on the floor. And, like Ozu, the camera lens does not move back or forth.--it's a stationary box. But, unlike Ozu, while the cameraman does not move the camera, it does move on a track--making for an incredibly interesting opening shot. In fact, the film is full of interesting shots--with unusual angles, composition and depth. It's almost like the camera is a tiny one that is peeking into rooms--and it's very nice--probably the nicest looking Japanese cinematography from this era that I have seen.

Now the story of "Sisters of Gion" ("Gion No Shimai") is not particularly enjoyable--mostly because the folks in it aren't particularly likable and the story is only mildly interesting--except, perhaps, to someone wanting insight into the role of women in 1930s Japan. This aspect of the film is unusual--how one woman embraces power and her sister embraces conventionality and kindness. It's obvious the film was not meant as a feel-good film but a sad portait of the lives of women in the lower classes.

A man has just lost his business and moves in with the geisha he used to sponsor. You might have felt sorry for him, but in the process he left his family and seemed very self-involved. This geisha he goes to is a very nice and dutiful woman, as she is under no obligation to take him in but she does. However, her younger sister, also a geisha, is rather conniving and VERY practical. She will get a wealthy sponsor one way or another. This, ultimately, leads to a rather interesting relationship with Mr. Kimura--but you'll have to see that for yourself. I'd say that the acting, camera-work and direction were good. But I just didn't care a lot for the characters or their problems--though the story was darkly compelling and provocative.

The characters in Sisters of Gion are trapped, but like many women in a Japan of that era, which was... well, for a while up until 1936 and beyond. Particularly that of the Geisha, whose lives would have to revolve around men who would want them to "do things" for them; not simply sexual, though there was that, but just to take care of them, and buy things for them, etc. So in this story, Mizoguchi has a character, Omocha (Isuzu Yamada) who looks at her lot and life and doesn't like it, and tries to tell her much more submissive sister Umekichi the same. So she spends most of this story swindling a guy with a kimono mostly at the expense of a lower-rung guy who is staying with them, Furusawa, who lost his business. Not so much cause she's a bad person (she isn't) but just as the guy and who he's with kind of deserve it.

The story moves along at a fairly good pace, especially considering how short it is at 69 minutes (though according to IMDb the version available through the Eclipse DVD series is the shortened cut, a few times it does show), and it's pretty good... not great, mind you, but good. Some, or I should say most, of the dialog is a little too on-the-nose about the points it wants to make, even near the end when Mizoguchi really gains momentum with his story and the male-female dynamics of this society. And yet by the end it is powerful and moving, in some part because of how strongly he directs the film; those shots that kind of take deep focus looking down an alleyway that is kind of narrow, closing in on the characters, or how long he stays on a shot (he was all about the long takes too), almost like there's no escape for these girls.

So, do come for the feminism on display, which could be seen as overwrought or dated but only because it's 1936 and for its time is powerful - and stay for some elegant direction, some wonderful acting (watch the scene where Omocha has the guy over who is there on official matters, kind of to scold him for how she treated his employee, but then softens up when she serves Sake), and a couple of moments of good music, however sparse. 7.5/10

When reviewing Kenji Mizoguchi's 'Sisters of the Gion', the first and foremost thing that I have to talk about is the film's portrayal of exploited women and their sorry plight. For a film made in 1936, the film is astonishingly progressive. Mizoguchi leaves no stone unturned in showing the viewer how tough the life of a geisha was. The men whom we see engage with the sisters Omocha and Umekichi, though played by different actors are made to look very similar appearance wise and I think that was a specific choice on the part of Mizoguchi. Mizoguchi's approach to telling this story has a distinct boldness to it with a hopelessness simmering underneath. The protagonist Omocha is not a submissive character whose pain and suffering is supposed to convey the message. Instead, she is a feisty pragmatic rebel who played the game the way it is without being obstructed by any sense of morality. The feminist message is supposed to be conveyed by the fact that even fighting the system isn't enough to escape the exploitation and the abuse. These women would still continue to be treated as commodities.

What struck me about Mizoguchi's direction and visual style is his meticulous use of space in a particular frame. He sits on a frame, there is very minimal editing and he uses tracking shots quite a bit. He uses the 'frame within a frame' composition(also found in Renoir's films) quite a bit by placing characters in the background while others being in the foreground and pretty much each and every one of these visual choices serves a thematic purpose, be it conveying the difference in mindsets of Omocha and Umekichi or showing a man being lured in by Omocha's manipulation,etc. Another thing I noticed is Mizoguchi's reluctance in using too many close-ups. The close-ups in the film are used very sparsely and economically.

Due to its runtime, the film is a little light on character development or backstory, but the nuanced nature of using visuals to tell a story really impressed me. It is clear in its agenda and Mizoguchi is bold enough to express his ideas with conviction.

In the early days of film writing "Sisters" was often cited as one of the great films EVER; it is probably right that this quiet, measured film is now not viewed as such.

Still, I found it held my interest easily and was effecting. The acting is admirable, and the sadness of the women's plight are expressed without sentiment. Well worth seeing; 8 out of 10.