Boudu Saved From Drowning

	Rating: 4 out of 5 Original Title: Boudu Sauvé des Eaux Release Date: 1932 Director: Jean Renoir Netflix Link IMDb Link

If you are willing to put up with the less than stellar transfer, Boudu Saved from Drowning is magic. Funny and controversial, it stands the test of time. The titular character is a fairly unlikable chap who does everything wrong; he disrespects the generosity of the man who saved him partly because he didn’t want to be saved and partly because he simply doesn’t know any better. When you live outside, it’s only natural to spit on the floor. Boudu is one part comedy, one part study of human nature and two parts social commentary on class structure. The cast is excellent, the dialog is clever and the cinematography is interesting. Watching it today, you can see how much influence this film had, including, but not limited to, the remake of it; Down and Out in Beverly Hills. Boudu is worth watching for fans of French cinema.

The Wages of Fear

	Rating: 5 out of 5 Original Title: Le salaire de la peur Release Date: 1953 Director: Henri-Georges Clouzot Netflix Link IMDb Link

A fabulous critique of humanity as viewed through testosterone-colored glasses. In a remote and desolate region of South America, when an American oil well erupts in flame, the company hires four penniless and stranded men to drive several tons of nitroglycerin to arrest the fire. None of the four are courageous; they are all in it for the money and the freedom it will provide from this poor and hopeless town in which they find themselves trapped. Yet, they become heroic by way of their desperation. The story itself seems rather farcical yet, Clouzot manages to infuse every inch of it with social commentary and tension. From the endless boredom of their days before the fire to the vivid depiction of sheer agony as the plucky drivers slowly inch towards their goal. Don’t let Wages of Fear’s austere and sluggish beginning fool you. Once it gets going, there’s no stopping it, much like the trucks themselves.

Street of Shame

	Rating: 4 out of 5 Original Title: Akasen chitai Release Date: 1956 Director: Kenji Mizoguchi Netflix Link IMDb Link

The final film in Mizoguchi’s Fallen Women series shares the same theme as the others; women in precarious predicaments trying to survive by any means necessary. Street of Shame centers around one particular brothel just as a fight over the legality of prostitution is happening in post-war Japan. The battle as to whether prostitution empowers women or degrades them wages on. Several prostitutes and their individual stories are showcased with heartbreaking frankness. Street of Shame is just as tragic and brutal as the other films in this series and, just like the preceding films, it is not the best of Mizoguchi. But they are all worth watching for a pre- and post-war peek into morality in Japan.

Women of the Night

	Rating: 4 out of 5 Original Title: Yoru no onnatach Release Date: 1948 Director: Kenji Mizoguchi Netflix Link IMDb Link

The third film in Mizoguchi’s Fallen Women series is very similar to the first two. Nearly identical themes of women in peril doing what they feel they have to do in order to survive. Plus, trickery, betrayal and even more evil men whose seemingly sole purpose is to extort women. Women of the Night obviously has a post-war slant lacking in the first two films in the series. Complete with bombed-out buildings and the social degradation that the lower classes succumbed to in a post-war world. Women of the Night actually reminds me a bit of Seijun Suzuki’s Gate of Flesh with its war-tattered sets and female on female violence. Even though, in my opinion, the heavy-handed ending hits you over the head with morality, for what it is, Women of the Night is just as good a story of ruination and redemption as the other films in this series.

Sisters of Gion

	Rating: 4 out of 5 Original Title: Gion no shimai Release Date: 1936 Director: Kenji Mizoguchi Netflix Link IMDb Link

As with most of Mizoguchi’s films, women are at the forefront of this narrative. Sisters of Gion is about two sisters, both geisha, trying to get out of dire financial straights. While the older sister is preoccupied with love, the younger sister is a wholly manipulative character whose world begins to crumble because of her actions. Neither sister is particularly sympathetic and, for that matter, neither are any of the men surrounding them. This is a bitter film which will leave you questioning. Shot in the same deep-contrast black and white as Osaka Elegy, if you are a fan of Mizoguchi, it’s worth seeing, just don’t expect a Cinderella story.

Osaka Elegy

	Rating: 4 out of 5 Original Title: Naniwa ereji Release Date: 1936 Director: Kenji Mizoguchi Netflix Link IMDb Link

Osaka Elegy is considered Kenji Mizoguchi’s first masterwork eventually leading to his reputation as one of Japan’s most revered directors. For 1936, it contains some pretty provocative themes including adultery and prostitution. This incisive melodrama tells the story of an average girl forced into some precarious circumstances which spiral out of control and, eventually, cast her out of her world. Full of lecherous old men, an ungrateful family and very few choices, Ayako’s future is grim, at best. Osaka Elegy doesn’t quite have the mesmerizing imagery of Mizogushi’s later films like Ugetsu but its sparse black and white seems more fitting to tell this harsh story.

Twenty-Four Eyes

	boRating: 4 out of 5 Original Title: Nijushi no hitomi Release Date: 1954 Director: Keisuke Kinoshita Netflix Link IMDb Linkttom

Some viewers will think that this movie is an overly dramatic tearjerker. And, seeing it now, over 50 years after its initial release in a country in which the filmmaker never intended it to be seen, they may be right. But, if you put Twenty-Four Eyes in context, it is a reminder of all the hardships and sacrifices made by those who lived and survived through the tough times of the pre-war and WW2 eras. If you can somehow infuse the Japanese mentality of never surrender and everything for the country to your own post-war American ideals, you’ll understand why it is such an important and beloved film in Japan, even to this day. Twenty-Four Eyes is the heart-tugging story of an ultimate mother figure and her ill-fated students. It is a tearjerker and makes no pretenses about it. For a little bit of insight into the lower classes of Japan during and before the war, you can’t do much better than Twenty-Four Eyes.

Sansho the Bailiff

	Rating: 5 out of 5 Original Title: Sanshô dayû Release Date: 1954 Director: Kenji Mizoguchi Netflix Link IMDb Link

Like Ugetsu, Sansho The Bailiff is a Japanese folk tale come to life. The original story for this film was passed on through Japanese oral history for generations. It is a timeless story of justice and compassion in a world of slavery and class inequality. Expressive camera work, haunting visuals, excellent performances and a heartbreaking story all lend this film a sense of grand scale and immortality. It’s as if the story you are watching is not just an actor’s representation but, is actually a peek inside the world of ancient Japan. Sansho The Bailiff explains why Kenji Mizoguchi is considered one of the most respected directors in Japanese cinema. I highly recommend Ugetsu as well.

Ugetsu

	Rating: 5 out of 5 Original Title: Ugetsu monogatari Release Date: 1953 Director: Kenji Mizoguchi Netflix Link IMDb Link

Beautiful and timeless, Ugetsu is one of the most amazing classic Japanese films around. Rivaling Kurosawa in elegance and subtlety, it blends fantasy with reality like an Aesop’s Fable or Grimm Fairy Tale come to life. Ugetsu is based on the Japanese folklore novel Tales of Moonlight and Rain by Ueda Akinari. It is a warning about how easily greed and desire can overcome the human spirit. This is the beautifully restored and translated version by the Criterion Collection. If you like Ugetsu, watch Sansho the Bailiff also by Kenji Mizoguchi.

When a Woman Ascends the Stairs

	Rating: 4 out of 5 Original Title: Onna ga kaidan wo agaru toki Release Date: 1960 Director: Mikio Naruse Netflix Link IMDb Link

When a Woman Ascends the Stairs is a beautiful, dark drama in rich black and white which provides a glimpse into the after-hours bar scene in post-WWII Tokyo’s Ginza district. It is a cynical story about a bar hostess, Keiko, also known as Mama, who is about to turn 30 which puts her over the desired age. Her options as a woman are limited to either getting married or opening a bar of her own. When a Woman Ascends the Stairs has an interesting viewpoint on a little-known facet of post-war Japan. The courage and integrity that Mama shows in order to navigate the Japanese male-dominated society make her a memorable character.