Le héros sacrilège

Kyoto, 12th century. Japan is experiencing a historical period of disastrous and vast social and political disorder. Power is divided between two emperors, the corrupt nobles of the court and the religious party. Armed clashes are constant throughout the country.

In this climate of instability and uncertainty we witness how historical events envelop and upset the Taira Clan, in particular the family that leads it.

Mizoguchi skillfully alternates a broader, historical and political vision with a more intimate and dramatic one regarding the film's protagonists.

Direction attentive to detail, refined but also fluid and not pompous.

There are various scenes that remain in the memory and strike for their drama and feelings.

I recommend watching this film even if in my opinion there is not the psychological penetration of the characters that occurs in other previous works by the Japanese author and some moments of the story are treated too quickly and briefly.

So I have very little to say about Taira Clan Saga. It is dreadfully paced and very unengaging, though it looks nice and the acting is good. It has inspired a rant, however, which I'll lay out in lieu of a revieu.

This film was directed by Kenji Mizoguchi. He's made some very good films, including Sansho the Bailiff (my personal favourite).

Now, I've been writing for Collider for a while now. I did an article recently on great Japanese directors who aren't Akira Kurosawa or Hayao Miyazaki. I got to shout out any 10 great filmmakers, many of whom aren't household names outside the West.

And some guy gave me grief for not including Mizoguchi. He was on my shortlist of 15-20 directors. I'm only allowed to write about 10 entries per most lists. People have to be cut, and Mizoguchi was cut.

"But was I wrong to cut him?" I thought. It inspired me to watch a deep cut like Taira Clan Saga. It wasn't very good. I feel even more confident in my list.

To anyone offended: it wasn't hard, from personal experience, to find a freelance movie writing job. Apply for one and talk about Mizoguchi to your heart's content. Or... blogs still technically exist. No one reads them because it's not 2005 anymore, but you can still put your Mizoguchi admiration out onto the internet for "all" to see.

If you don't want to do any of those things, shut up and be thankful that there even is an article about brilliant yet underappreicated Japanese directors at all. Of course there's more than 10 great ones. But I picked my 10 because I couldn't pick more than 10. Deal with it and be happy that anyone on a Western-centric site like Collider is talking about Yoji Yamada, for example!

*Gob from Arrested Development voice* "COME ON!"

It has two sets of Emperors! Pirates! Samurai battling berserk Buddhist warrior monks! Courtly intrigue! Imperial bastards! Pirates! in spectacular Daiei Color! (that's how the credit reads) directed by Kenji Mizoguchi!

Hot dog! Or whatever the Japanese say. It's one of those sprawling historical epics set in 12th Century Japan, when every clan had its own funny hat, and samurai were struggling to become respectable as the oldest son of the leader of the Taira clan discovers he may actually be the son of an earlier emperor .... or maybe a crazy warrior monk, it's hard to tell the difference.

It's an expert mixture of Book-of-the-Month Epic, so much so that I half expected to see a credit for James Clavell or James Michener, but given that the Japanese actually invented the novel, it's hardly surprising they would try something like this, given they had Mizoguchi working for them -- it's based on a novel published in 1950. Kazuo Miyagawa's color camerawork is dazzling and constantly moving about, but given the sumptuous costumes and sets -- it looks like they used every scrap of silk in Japan for this one -- it's well done.

A quite different Mizoguchi film we have right here, but it entertained me all the way through and the cinematography is top-notch; the camera-work and scenes are outstanding as usual. The film starts slow and takes a while to unfold, but once the story is unfolded and everything is cleared up, it hooked me. The only thing lacking might be the ending, which leaves things quite incomplete and it kind of left me wanting for more, but I believe it was intended to end in this manner. Perhaps they were planning to produce a sequel or something of the sort, although I am not anywhere sure about it, so do not take my opinion for granted.

All I can say is that this film is worth watching; it will not disappoint any Mizoguchi fan.

Quite different from most Mizoguchi - there isn't a female protagonist here - TAIRA CLAN SAGA (aka 'Shin Heike Monogatari') is a vivid period spectacle, perhaps most similar to his earlier masterpiece THE 47 RONIN. Working closer to Kurosawa territory, TAIRA CLAN SAGA depicts the tension between the corrupt court and the military class. Ethics, honor and loyalty are central themes, and Mizo's graceful style underscores this in classic fashion. While not quite the equal of Mizo's celebrated string of early-50s masterpieces, this is still a great film - very rarely seen in the US, and very much deserving of restoration and a wider audience. Fans of Kurosawa, Inagaki or Kobayashi's period epics would do well to seek this out.