Hailed by critics as one of the best films ever made, Sansho the Bailiff delivers a compelling story of injustice and suffering made even more remarkable by its extraordinary imagery. Mizoguchi photographs misty country sides in a visual poem of timeless beauty. One critic has commented that no director “has treated the supernatural with such delicacy and respect, with such subtle force of suggestion.” The haunting images create an atmosphere in which film comes as close as it can to the pity and terror of classic Greek tragedy. When an idealistic governor disobeys the reigning feudal lord, he is cast into exile, his wife and children left to fend for themselves and eventually wrenched apart. Under Mizoguchi’s dazzling direction, this classic Japanese story has become one of cinema’s greatest masterpieces, a monumental, empathetic expression of human resilience in the face of evil. The acting is so passionate that it is hard to believe the actors are professionals. Won the Venice Film Festival’s Golden Lion. -“What can you say about a film that may well be Mizoguchi's masterpiece, and one of the greatest films ever made? What can you say about a film that is Mizoguchi's simplest work, the simplicity arrived at through comprehensive and absolute mastery of filmmaking in all its aspects? A film oft praised as including possibly the single most beautiful shot in all of cinema….” Critic After Dark -“A film of breathtaking visual beauty, its impulses follow an esthetic program that is also a moral progression, and that emerges, with subtle lucidity, only from the greatest art.” New York Times -“Perhaps Kenji Mizoguchi’s greatest achievement—visually mesmerizing.” The Movie Guide -“Sansho The Bailiff traces an epic journey-over land and sea, through space and time. One of the greatest of all films.” Roger Ebert, Chicago Sun-Times -“Told with the stark simplicity of a fairy tale, Sansho demonstrates how compassion can overcome the forces of hatred and oppression, and shows how trying it is to remain decent and humane in an inhospitable world. Tragedy and transcendence are equally present, and their coexistence produces one of the most profoundly moving final scenes in film history.” The Onion

Website: http://www.okcu.edu/film-lit/Default.asp?for=OCUFI&pg=FilmSerDet&FilmSerDet=2007

Categories: Fairs & Festivals