MUBI

D:\Watching the final sequence of Mizoguchi’s final film, all I could think of was how it’s like his final statement to his audience, telling us “take a look at how messed up life is, I’m outta here,” finishing his career with a bang. I was finding it difficult sitting comfortably in my chair when the most uncomfortable scenes lay before me, like when the prostitutes beg on the streets for a partner (and to watch your own mother do it!). And that electronic music used surprised me, you’d never expect to hear that in a film like this, making some scenes seem even more uncomfortable. What also surprised me was how sexual it was, I couldn’t help but think how bold Mizoguchi was incorporating those images/statues or that scene of offering your own dad a quickie. But the biggest whoa-that’s-surprising factor in all of this was the lovely lovely Machiko Kyo. I had only seen her in Face of Another, but seeing her in her younger years playing the handful Mickey was a delight. All the individual prostitutes suffer through their own problems which are very sad and moving just as you’d expect from any Mizoguchi, and even rewatching bits of this and the ending I felt it necessary to bump it an extra star.