Street of Shame

Mizoguchi's final work is an urgent & heartfelt look at the Tokyo sex industry. His stance feels rooted in conservative values, argued with deep humane concern & sensitivity to cultural & socioeconomic realities. It feels like a culmination of an artist's career & a direct moral statement drawing on a lifetime of experience. Stripped bare of all poetry, naivety & idealism (or progressive vision) it could feel contrived or blunt if not for Mizoguchi's assertive poise. Peculiar avant-garde score.

Viewed October 8, 2016. It's heartwrenching, as usual; a series of crushing disappointments, agonies, quiet regrets. In general, every moment where Mizoguchi moves outside of the brothel to sketch in these characters' family lives. It's because the brothel itself is so suffocating, so much like a prison, that it's easy to forget that the world goes on around it, always on the precipice of hard times. A fitting end to Mizoguchi's career.

Needs a rewatch, but my recollection is that Mizoguchi's final film is among his best.

Wonderful character-focused piece that was both humanist and realist. Mizoguchi's careful treading to avoid drawing obvious moral lines both in the interpersonal and political realms really gave the film life and sensitivity. I wasn't that positive about the score and some of the acting from the lesser characters (Yumeko's son, e.g.), but it was truly excellent overall.

One of Japan's better prostitute films. Mizoguchi is pretty damn near feministic in his sympathy for his characters.

# 807

Well made, well acted and featuring a pretty depressing story but the big downside for me was that I found all the characters pretty unlikable and as I had no one I could get invested in I wasn't as interested in what happened to any of the characters as I would've been otherwise.

Although set in an entirely different milieu than Mizoguchi's other key works, SOS still focused on the trials and tribulations of women, so it was clearly a fitting swansong. The real shame is that perhaps he set too many films in feudal Japan when he was so adept in contemporary settings. There is an immediacy here that isn't found in his canon 'historical' works, and the shift away from period detail allowed him to zero in on the desperate struggle for survival. Borderline great.

In his last film, Mizoguchi depicts five women from Tokyo's red light district without sentimentality but with great compassion. Machiko Kyo gives a superb performance as the Americanized Mickey, but the four other actresses give fine performances as well, showing us how four very different women end up making their living as sex-workers. Mizoguchi condemns the economic and patriarchal system that create this life, but he shows the woman realistically too, with all their vanity and venality.

Well-made drama with good performances that strikes a balance between the competing aims of avoiding sentimentality while making a point, but to this viewer it never seems to get much past being an above-average example of a film of its type.

As many have noted the score in this film is so good. The first time you hear it it's a bit jarring (obviously) but i would honestly love to hear more. Shame I can't find it anywhere online. Not sure I 100% agree with the politics of the film but w/e

Tokyo, japonya, genel ev, hayat kadini, fuhus, orospu, fahise (Tokyo'da bir genel ev de calisan kadinlarin hikayelerini bulusturan film. Fuhusa karsi hazirlanan yasa tasarisinin gündemde oldugu dönemde bir genelev de yasananlari aktarmaktadir. Kadinlar geneleve borclandirilmistir. Kimi borc yüzünden kimi de caresizlikten burada calismaktadir. Biri oglunu buradan temin ettigi para ile büyütmüstür. Oglu ise geneleve onu bulmaya gelmistir. Digerinin asigi vardir ve onu kurtarmak ister. Birinin bebe

Mizoguchi's final film revisits one of his favorite themes: struggling women, specifically prostitutes. There is a feeling of repetition here, and it lacks the stunning emotional impact of his better films, but it may be his best work technically. It looks wonderful, and a lot of the camera setups are really interesting. The avant-garde music is an unusual touch as well, sparsely used but startling. The story is also briskly paced, managing to juggle a large cast without getting too confusing.

well, what have we here. a good japanese prostitution drama for once, directed with mizoguichi's typical sympathetic touch. he takes a solid anti-prostitution stance without being too conservative or condescending, and the strange score is amazing. perhaps my favourite mizoguchi to date.

Com Mizoguchi é uma porrada atrás da outra e aqui em seu último filme não é diferente, mais uma vez retratando mulheres envolvidas numa teia de sofrimento erigida sob a égide do patriarcado japonês é mais um filme de dilacerar o coração vindo do diretor e realmente muito crítico da condição social e psicológica que a prostituição traz à essas mulheres. Mais uma obra prima de Kenji se é que dá para chamar algum filme dele de não-obra-prima. DVD Versátil O Cinema de Mizoguchi

Love the music, and love Machiko Kyo.

Mizoguchi's compassionate approach to his characters, an assortment of distinct and desperate prostitutes, displays a delicacy that prevents their stories from ever becoming mired in pathos, despite their often heartbreaking nature. It's a wonderful swansong for the legendary director, imbued with life by the strong performances and idiosyncratic score against a largely static camera.

Very good drama with interesting, varied characters working at a brothel in Tokyo. This was commenting on an issue of the day, the banning of prostitution. It's a condemnation of a society that forces women into these situations and then villifies it. The score is typical Mizoguchi, with kind of a weird, discordant sci-fi vibe at times. Very good.

It's a shame you don't really hear Japanese music of this era outside of these films. It really is wonderful.