Feature Film | Drama | Japan | Japanese | 2h4m
Dir: Mizoguchi Kenji | Scr: Yahiro Fuji & Yoda Yoshikata | Story: Mori Ogai | Ph: Miyagawa Kazuo | Prod: Nagata Masaichi | Mus: Hayasaka Fumio, Mochizuki Tamekichi, & Odera Kanahichi | Ed: Miyata Mitsuzō | PD: Ito Kisaku & Nakajima Shozaburo | Cast: Tanaka Kinuyo, Hanayagi Yoshiaki, Kagawa Kyōko, Shindō Eitarō, Kōno Akitake, Shimizu Masao, Mitsuda Ken, Okuni Kazukimi, Kosono Yōko, Tachibana Noriko, Sugai Ichirō, Omi Teruko, Kato Masahiko, Enami Keiko
Several years after being cast out for his progressive views, a humanitarian governor’s family sets off in search of him. Unfortunately, not long into their journey, they are set upon and kidnapped by bandits, with his wife sold into prostitution and his son and daughter into slavery (at the home of a ruthless bailiff). Though, through years of pain and suffering, they become somewhat hardened to their situation, they never abandon their patriarch’s teachings nor give up on the hope of one day being reunited as a family. Never the less, their chances of escaping their bondage seem bleak, in Mizoguchi’s tremendously affecting feudal drama. Beautifully paced with delicate direction and heart-breaking performances, Sansho Dayu is something of a masterwork and undoubtedly one of the greatest films of its kind.
