avik-basu1889 When reviewing Kenji Mizoguchi's 'Sisters of the Gion', the first and foremost thing that I have to talk about is the film's portrayal of exploited women and their sorry plight. For a film made in 1936, the film is astonishingly progressive. Mizoguchi leaves no stone unturned in showing the viewer how tough the life of a geisha was. The men whom we see engage with the sisters Omocha and Umekichi, though played by different actors are made to look very similar appearance wise and I think that was a specific choice on the part of Mizoguchi. Mizoguchi's approach to telling this story has a distinct boldness to it with a hopelessness simmering underneath. The protagonist Omocha is not a submissive character whose pain and suffering is supposed to convey the message. Instead, she is a feisty pragmatic rebel who played the game the way it is without being obstructed by any sense of morality. The feminist message is supposed to be conveyed by the fact that even fighting the system isn't enough to escape the exploitation and the abuse. These women would still continue to be treated as commodities.What struck me about Mizoguchi's direction and visual style is his meticulous use of space in a particular frame. He sits on a frame, there is very minimal editing and he uses tracking shots quite a bit. He uses the 'frame within a frame' composition(also found in Renoir's films) quite a bit by placing characters in the background while others being in the foreground and pretty much each and every one of these visual choices serves a thematic purpose, be it conveying the difference in mindsets of Omocha and Umekichi or showing a man being lured in by Omocha's manipulation,etc. Another thing I noticed is Mizoguchi's reluctance in using too many close-ups. The close-ups in the film are used very sparsely and economically. Due to its runtime, the film is a little light on character development or backstory, but the nuanced nature of using visuals to tell a story really impressed me. It is clear in its agenda and Mizoguchi is bold enough to express his ideas with conviction.

gavin6942 Umekichi, a geisha in the Gion district of Kyoto, feels obliged to help her lover Furusawa when he asks to stay with her after becoming bankrupt and leaving his wife. However her younger sister Omocha tells her she is wasting her time and money on a loser.Here we have another film by Mizogucki looking at "fallen women", much like "Street of Shame" twenty years later, and to some degree "Osaka Elegy". But we also have a tale of the old and the new -- looking to the West and also sticking with tradition. This is especially interesting given the radical shift in Japanese culture after World War II.I have not seen the remake and thus cannot compare them, but how do you top the work of Mizoguchi? You simply cannot.

MartinHafer "Sisters of Gion" is a Japanese film directed by Kenji Mizoguchi. It apparently must be very well thought of, as it's part of a set of Mizoguchi films in a DVD set from the artsy Criterion Collection. While I could see the artistry of the cinematography, I wasn't super-impressed by the story. It left me a bit flat.When the film begins, it looks a bit like a Yasujirô Ozu film because the camera in set at a level about that of a person sitting on the floor. And, like Ozu, the camera lens does not move back or forth.--it's a stationary box. But, unlike Ozu, while the cameraman does not move the camera, it does move on a track--making for an incredibly interesting opening shot. In fact, the film is full of interesting shots--with unusual angles, composition and depth. It's almost like the camera is a tiny one that is peeking into rooms--and it's very nice--probably the nicest looking Japanese cinematography from this era that I have seen.Now the story of "Sisters of Gion" ("Gion No Shimai") is not particularly enjoyable--mostly because the folks in it aren't particularly likable and the story is only mildly interesting--except, perhaps, to someone wanting insight into the role of women in 1930s Japan. This aspect of the film is unusual--how one woman embraces power and her sister embraces conventionality and kindness. It's obvious the film was not meant as a feel-good film but a sad portait of the lives of women in the lower classes.A man has just lost his business and moves in with the geisha he used to sponsor. You might have felt sorry for him, but in the process he left his family and seemed very self-involved. This geisha he goes to is a very nice and dutiful woman, as she is under no obligation to take him in but she does. However, her younger sister, also a geisha, is rather conniving and VERY practical. She will get a wealthy sponsor one way or another. This, ultimately, leads to a rather interesting relationship with Mr. Kimura--but you'll have to see that for yourself. I'd say that the acting, camera-work and direction were good. But I just didn't care a lot for the characters or their problems--though the story was darkly compelling and provocative.

Howard Schumann Considered to be one of the best pre-war films by the acclaimed Japanese director Kenji Mizoguchi, Sisters of the Gion is a story of two sisters, both Geisha girls in the Gion section of Kyoto, who have very different attitudes toward men. Umekichi (Yoko Umemura) is traditional and loyal to her patrons while her sister Omocha (Isuzu Yamada) is a pragmatist who uses men to her advantage even if it means deception and lies. Ultimately it seems to make no difference as both girls are trapped in an existence that provides little satisfaction. Running just over an hour, this is a lovely film that presents a fascinating portrait of Japanese life before the war showing streets that look like narrow passageways, elevated tatami rooms used for drinking tea and smoking pipes, and buildings no higher than two stories. In the film, Umekichi is devoted to a bankrupt businessman, Shimbei Furusawa (Benkei Shiganoya) who comes to live with them after an argument with his wife. Omocha is unhappy with this arrangement, telling Umekichi she should have no use for a man who doesn't support them. She convinces an antique dealer Jurakuso (Fumio Okura) to give her money to pay off Furusawa so that Jurakuso can become Umekichi's patron, but she ends up pocketing half of the money herself. On hearing that he is in love with her, Omocha persuades Kimura (Taizo Fukami), a textile clerk, to steal the company's materials to enable her sister to wear an acceptable kimono for a party of wealthy patrons. The destiny of the two sisters reaches its inevitable conclusion when the store clerk is fired and exacts his revenge on Omocha, and when Furusawa suddenly leaves Umekichi to become a manager of a rayon company. While Mizoguchi's film is a protest against the specific conditions of women in pre-war Japan, Sisters of the Gion strikes a universal chord in its compelling depiction of the sad results of treating human beings as marketable commodities.