@deanduncan63Saw Mizoguchi’s #5WomenAroundUtamaro, or #Utamaroandhis5Women. This won’t surprise anyone, but mis-en-scene! Off-screen space!
#Utamaro … 1940s’ constraints are nominally in place, but this film is still remarkably untrammeled on the subjects of sex & art …
… It beautifully describes some very powerful narrative/archetypal trajectories: pursuit, distraction & disappointment …
… elation, consternation, the Whirlwind. That climax (as it were)! That last shot!
#Utamaro… This Westerner finds it to be geographically distant, culturally elusive. I grasp at straws that are familiar to me: …
… echoes of la vie Bohème, of Smiles of a Summer Night, or Così fan tutte. Then, a sharp about-face: …
… suddenly it’s Rules of the Game. Suddenly it’s Medea! By the end, I’m finding Utamaro to be like nothing but its own estimable self …
… For all my ignorance & inadequacy, distance & remove are, in the end, quite utterly decimated. Wow!