'Ugetsu': A classic for all

The Japanese movie "Ugetsu" played as the second to last installment of this semester's City Lights film series. The series screens films free to the public 7 p.m. every Friday in Ballantine Hall, Room 013. \nBased on two stories by Akinara Ueda, this landmark film centers on the lives of two peasants in war-torn, 16th century Japan. Directed by Kenji Mizoguchi, "Ugetsu" (1953) stands as a classic of Japanese cinema, and is a must see for fans of foreign or classic cinema. \nThe two male characters suffer from the follies of ambition. Tobei (Sakae Ozawa) is a bumbling fool who dreams of becoming a great samurai warrior. At first his ambitions are merely comic. After the successful sale of wares in a neighboring city, he begs a powerful samurai clan for admittance, prostrating himself on his knees, donned in peasant clothes. His rejection only spurns him on. \nWhile more balanced and disciplined, Genjuro (Machiko Kyo) falls under the spell of the lovely Lady Kuwasa, who mysteriously appears in the town while he is selling his hand-crafted pottery. Neglecting his wife and child, he sets off in pursuit of fortune, getting tangled up in the supernatural on the way. \nNothing good can come of this. Genjuro's child actually seems more dead than alive after Genjuro leaves. Usually he's cradled in his mother's arms, and he never speaks. And Tobei's wife ends up in a saddening fight for survival. \nHaunting images and (at the time) innovative camera work are speckled throughout the picture. Director Mizoguchi even managed to make a shot of two sandals stuck in a muddy riverbank strangely moving. \nThe horror and chaos of feudal Japan is depicted through the restrained dignity of the characters, rather than an appeal to flashy battles. Excellent performances were given all around. Especially from the bereaved wife of Genjuro (Masayuki Mori). The actors maintained a controlled style that showed the stark world around them, and was still human enough to convey genuine hope, and compassion. \nOn Friday, Dec. 6, the City Lights series concludes the semester with a special double feature of Howard Hawks movies. At 7 p.m. "To Have and Have Not" plays, starring Lauren Bacall (her debut) and Humphrey Bogart. Based on the novel by Ernest Hemingway. At 9 p.m. you can see "The Big Sleep", based on the novel by Raymond Chandler, and again starring Bogart and Bacall.