Buddha nodded according to The famous artist simply lives: eats, drinks, visits courtesans, draws everyone in whom he feels passion. Admiration and condemnation go equally to his work. Emotional rises are replaced by attacks of apathy. The feelings of the people with whom his fate confronts leave an imprint not only on the finest rice paper, thanks to the brush in Utamaro's talented hand, but also in his heart. A simple biography makes a strong impression. Whatever you want, you'll find an explanation. My version is the amazing harmony with which the picture is inscribed in the space-time framework, does not allow the viewer to remain indifferent.
Personality
Mizoguchi preferred to shoot on topics familiar to him firsthand. This film was no exception. “Utamaro and his five women” is a kind of analogue of the Fukuram doll (the prototype of the nesting doll). Under the biography of the artist hides the autobiography of the director, under the personality of Utamaro it is easy to see Mizoguchi himself. The director came to the cinema as a subverter of the theatrical convention that prevailed on the screen, wanting to reflect in the frame not symbols, but facts. The artist criticized the traditional technique of the Kano family precisely for the lack of authentic life in their drawings, achieving portrait resemblance to his models, while engravings of the dominant school of painting could only be distinguished by personal coats of arms on clothes or other clues. One was known as a regular in the red-light district, while the other also visits "jolly women" every day. Mizoguchi had the same respect for female prisoners and so-called decent women, remembering the self-sacrifice of his sister, who was destined to become a geisha so that he could do what he loved. And Utamaro didn't make the difference either; it didn't matter whether he was drawing a brothel inhabitant or a noble lady, what mattered was the inner light he could recognize in each of them. How Japanese is it to say nothing, to say everything, to disguise the message. National poetry has been based on this rule for centuries.
The Way
The basis of the painting was the primacy of beauty. Watching the procession of geisha, forced due to the inconvenient design of antique shoes, when walking far to throw your foot to the side, so as not to step on the edge of clothing, gradually you begin to see in their coordinated movements a special rhythm and captivating, and remember the principle of "sabi" - the charm of antiquity. Considering the modest, not catchy, but comfortable decoration of the house Utamaro, think of the principle of "wabi" - utilitarian perfection. Peeping along with the artist for fishing half-naked girls who do not know that anyone sees them, you begin to realize the meaning of the principle of “shibui” – the attraction of naturalness. Contemplating the victim, spread on the floor (one of the famous images of the director), you understand that the one that was the most beautiful recently, in an instant ceased to exist. And the principle of "yugen" - the fragility of beauty, which only the Japanese have learned to appreciate, becomes your knowledge.
Home
In Japan, no art exists by itself, one takes inspiration from the other. Famous directors very often built the frame in accordance with their favorite type of fine art. Kurosawa was obviously influenced by drawings on paper screens of bebu, on Ichikawa - ukio-e engravings, while Mizoguchi, being a supporter of the idea that the large is seen from a distance, borrowed the manner of image from horizontal scrolls of emaki unfolded from left to right. The premises in the film are shown mostly from above, as in drawings. The footage is so long, the camera moves so slowly that what happens on the screen seems endless. All key events take place on common plans. Only occasionally does the operator snatch large figures, as if making a cast in which the engraving is guessed, paying tribute to Utamaro. The technique "one scene - one frame" later, in the more famous works of the director, will be brought to perfection, here it is more interesting as an idea. The vast majority of episodes are filled with movement, the characters are always busy with something, not a minute is devoted to contemplation, as is the case with Ozu, known for a large number of frames without people, where there is no action at all. This reflects the personal attitude of the director to being, and to his role in art. He is a humble observer, limited to fixing the seething life on film. Mizoguchi is generally very consistent in technical terms. Everything that is used here is in his other paintings. Except that in “Utamaro” there was no unification of reality and unreality, as in the ingenious “Tales of a misty moon after the rain”. But there are still eight years to go.
The world
This is the first feature-length film made by Mizoguchi during the occupation of Japan by the Americans, which became the creative person’s response to the events. Without condemning directly, the director only by the title of the picture, referring to the fateful engraving of the artist “Hideyoshi and the Five Concubines” expressed his attitude to the seizure of the territory. Utamaro was forced to spend 50 days in prison with his hands tied. Where he saw only splendor, the ruling shogun saw satire on his person. The artist in real life, having experienced a huge shock with the loss of the opportunity to create, died very soon after he was released from arrest, while on-screen Utamaro, on the contrary, begins to paint with even greater fervor after the incident. Choosing a similar name and correcting the fate of the hero, Mizoguchi drew parallels with his homeland, hinting that the country of the rising sun will take its course, sooner or later freed from restrictions.
Filmed in a restrained manner by simple means, the film in an incredible way covers the immense, telling at the same time about creators and their creations, about the eternal and vain, about man and the universe, about the indivisibility of love and art. Without noticing this, one suddenly plunges into the sensual experience of the eternal and elusive beauty that exists around us and in ourselves, enjoys it, saddens its short duration, bows before it, approaching a special state of “mono-no-avare” – understanding the charm of things and realizing the truth of what one sees.