Kenji Mizoguchi

[Michael Kerpan]

I like just about everything about Chikamatsu Monogatari -- it catches (to a considerable degree) the tone of Saikaku's story (really more his story than Chikamatsu's play based on it) -- a mix of tragedy and rather black humor. It is the most authentically traditionally Japanese of Mizoguchi's major films. And it was Kurosawa's favorite, for what that's worth.