Water Magician – Home / Search Movies & TV / Sight & Sound Magazine / Sight & Sound Articles / Features
Alexander Jacobi welcomes a rare screening of Mizoguchi’s 1933 The Silent Water Wizard – his fourth surviving film, and his first signature work – with a rare ‘banshee’ narration.
Water Magician
To many cinephiles in the West, Mizoguchi Kenji is still best known for his grim but serene late-period films, Ugetsu Monogatari (1953) and Sansho Dayu (1954). However, these works are the culmination of a rich and varied career that went back to the still life. Indeed, one of Mizoguchi’s silent films, Passion of a Female Teacher (1926), was shown in Europe shortly after its original release – a rare example of a Japanese film reaching the West before the breakthrough of Rashomon after the war (1950).
Water Magician ? By Kailin90 On Deviantart
Unfortunately, like most of the director’s pre-recorded releases, this film has been lost. But Mizoguchi’s silence that has survived is The Water Magician (1933), which is being shown this weekend at a special event at the Barbican, which will be accompanied by the music ‘Hakoto’ and comments directly in Nishi.
The Water Wizard is the fourth of Mizoguchi’s surviving films, but it is the first one that feels like it: the first, in the words of Marc LaFano, “in which you can clearly see what the Mizoguchi world is like now in its untainted purity and darkness.” The story of an artist’s struggle to ensure that the man she loves becomes a lawyer is based on a late nineteenth-century novel by Izumi Kyoka, adapted for the stage as Shinpa (‘New School’) – a melodramatic form of theatre. which differs from traditional kabuki in its use of contemporary settings and the vernacular.
By 1933, this ‘New School’ had died out, but Mizoguchi revived it brilliantly through the realism of his setting and his direction. At the same time, she brought new energy to the subject of Shinfa, leaving the story of a strong woman’s sacrifice for a weak man with extraordinary emotional strength and a sharp feminist stance. The theme will return to Mizoguchi’s later work in “Osen Falls” (1935) and “The Story of the Late Chrysanthemums” (1939).
Mizoguchi sets his tragic story against the backdrop of rural Japan, vividly detailing life and work among a group of itinerant artists. Although his serious approach was not yet fully developed in 1933, the film already reveals the director’s skill with the camera, including early signs of the good use of long exposures that made him the delight of Western critics such as André Bazin.
Water Mage By Sh3ikha On Deviantart
Irie Takako Irie Takako’s performance as the “Water Magician” Taki no Shiraito is one of the best, showing the power and charm she had as a leading actress of the year. 1930. (Western audiences may know her best as an older woman, playing the priest’s wife in Akira Kurosawa’s Senjuro (1962)). His lover, Kinya, is movingly played by Okada Tokihiko, a famous actor whose career was cut short by his untimely death from tuberculosis a year after Mizoguchi’s film was made.
The opportunity to see this mizoguchi in London was rare. But this weekend’s screening [October 24, 2010] offers a rare opportunity to see Japanese silent films with direct narration, as was the practice in the 1920s and 1930s.
Japanese silent cinema is known for the unique institution of the banshi or storyteller, who would stand next to the screen to provide commentary on the action. The banshee will provide the voices of the characters, describe the events and situations and emphasize the moral and emotional content of the film. The popularity of the institution was such that Japanese audiences often went to the cinema to see their favorite Banshee rather than their favorite movie stars, and sound’s arrival in Japan was delayed by its popularity and influence. A fact that helps explain why films like The Water Wizard remained silent until 1933.
Today some banshees still practice the profession in Japan, notably Sawato Midori, who was trained by Matsuda Shunsui, a silent film buff who kept copies of The Water Wizard. But as far as we know, this Sunday’s broadcast is the first time British audiences have had the chance to watch a Japanese still with female voiceover. Viewers who don’t understand Japanese will be happy to know that Tomoko Komura will do her commentary in English.
Water Mage By Bachzim
The film will also benefit from the music of Melissa Holding on the koto, the Japanese zither whose plaintive soundtrack complements the subtlety of Mizoguchi’s direction. In general, this opportunity to see the work of the master of cinema in traditional – and rare – tools should not be missed. If you would like to receive the additional items you selected to qualify for this offer, close this window and add those items to your cart.
Something that has been used before. See seller’s listing for full details and description of defects. See all terms definitions that open in a new window or tab
* Estimated delivery date – opens in a new window or tab that includes the seller’s delivery time, zip code source, destination and time of receipt and depends on the selected delivery service and receipt of payment. Delivery times may vary, especially during peak seasons.
See Return Policy opens in a new tab or window for more information. You are covered by a refund that opens in a new tab or window if you receive an item that is not as described in the listing.
Digital Art The Water Magician By Faeriewarrior
Qualifying purchases can enjoy interest free if paid in full within 6 months on purchases of $99 or more. Other services may also be available.
Interest will be charged to your account from the date of purchase if the amount is not paid in full within 6 months. A minimum monthly payment is required. Subject to credit approval. See terms – for PayPal credit, will open in a new window or later
Sprinkler magician, magician water, water dice magician, online magician, magician water tank, water brownie magician, magician walking on water, water magician yugioh, the water magician, magician, corporate magician, magician in water tank