A Story from Chikamatsu (free film screening)

A Story from Chikamatsu

近松物語

Tuesday Feb 10, 6:00PM (ET)

Doors open 5:30PM | Film Screening | In-Person |

Directed by MIZOGUCHI Kenji • 1954 • 102 minutes • Presented in Japanese with English subtitles •

One of a string of late-career masterworks made by MIZOGUCHI Kenji in the first half of the 1950s, A Story from Chikamatsu (a.k.a. The Crucified Lovers) is an exquisitely moving tale of forbidden love struggling to survive in the face of persecution. Adapted from CHIKAMATSU Monzaemon's 1715 bunraku play, the film traces the injustices that befall a Kyoto scroll maker’s wife and his apprentice after each is unfairly accused of wrongdoing. Bound by fate in an illicit, star-crossed romance, they go on the run in search of refuge from the punishment prescribed them.

Shot in gorgeous, painterly style by master cinematographer MIYAGAWA Kazuo, this delicately delivered indictment of societal oppression was heralded by KUROSAWA Akira as a “great masterpiece that could only have been made by Mizoguchi.”

©Janus Films

After the film, we will screen a 10-minute interview with the lead actress KAGAWA Kyoko, directed by recipient Marty Gross, who will join us for a brief conversation on his experiences working with the distributor The Criterion Collection on producing & conducting interviews with Japanese filmmakers.

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Host or Publisher The Japan Foundation, Toronto