The film Ugetsu produced by Mizoguchi is considered to be one of the greatest Japanese films ever mad. Mizoguchoi's film making career started in 1922 and extended well past the postwar period (which followed the primitive period). It was after the postwar period when Mizoguchi's did his best work. During the war he was forced to make government-policy films, so his creatively and style couldn't been seen to its fullest. Mizoguchi liked to focus on the condition of Japanese women, feudalism, and simple humanism in his films. Mizoguchi used his signature mastery of décor, the long take, and the moving camera to separate his films from other Japanese directors. He did this during a time of turmoil and change in his country. In his film Ugetsu, Mizoguchi uses all his focus points very well. The film is set in the sixteenth century during the feudal wars. The plot of the film is about two men that leave their wives, one for wealth and other for glory. During the men's journey they realize that their fake gains of wealth and glory are no substitute for real love they have with their wife's.
The film is mostly omniscient starting out with focusing on two families, then the husband and wife from each family split up and the film becomes focused on four characters. The two men in the story become entranced with their separate passions, one wants the mighty prestige of a Japanese samurai and the other wants the power of money and wealth. I believe the important part of the film is when the men reach their goals. Each of the men reaches their desires in a superficial manner. One man steals a head of a master samurai and claims he killed him; in turn he is given credit and awarded a noble samurai. The other man is approached by a ghost/spirit and gives him a spiritual paradise life that isn't real, only an illusion. On the other hand their wives are struggling to survive without them. Mizoguchi displays some powerful scenes of the women going through their struggles, scenes of rap, robbing, killing, and prostitution.
