Japanese cinema continues to be a struggle for me–there’s an acting style I don’t know enough to describe, but it leaves me feeling emotionless, which is a particularly difficult feat to achieve with a story this melodramatic. This movie tells the story of Kiku, the son of a famous actor, who has the privilege of a famous name without the talent that goes with it. His brother’s nurse (different caste) is the only one willing to talk straight about his talent, which leads them to a life of toil and sacrifice in the midst of a romance that must go unrequited if Kiku is to find career success. Otoku pays the ultimate sacrifice–this movie is desperately tragic.

I’ll admit I watched a print of the movie that really shows its age, so perhaps it wasn’t as immersive an experience as I might have hoped. But the sadness of the story didn’t come through for me: partly due to the nonexpressive acting, and partly due to Mizoguchi’s insistence on framing ALL shots from the same middle distance. I don’t think there was a single close-up here, or an instance where the camera moved in a way to elicit an emotional reaction. I know this is Mizoguchi’s thing, and I know I’ve read some eloquent analyses of the brilliance of his mise-en-scene. It just leaves me cold.