Ugetsu Monogatari

Masters of Japanese Cinema Ugetsu 1953 Rated: Approved Run Time: 96 mins Fantasy Presented in a manner as eerie as it is heartbreaking, this film is a gorgeous supernatural fable about the folly of men with dreams larger than their abilities, and the women who suffer as a result. In 16th century Japan, Genjuro (Masayuki Mori) is a potter who longs for wealth and luxury, while Tobei (Sakae Ozawa), a farmer, dreams of the glories of the samurai to the point of ignoring his wife (Mitsuko Mito). Though a war rages around them, they venture to town to sell their wares. Genjuro becomes bewitched by a beautiful woman (Machiko Kyo), while his wife (Kinuyo Tanaka) is murdered by a soldier; Tobei becomes a noted warrior, while his wife descends into prostitution after being raped while searching for her husband. (allmovie.com: Jonathan Crow)   We will be joined by Linda C. Ehrlich for a film introduction and an informal Q &A after this film. Linda C. Ehrlich—writer, teacher, editor-has published extensively about world cinema in Film Quarterly, Cinema Journal, Senses of Cinema, Film Criticism, Cinema Scope, Framework and Journal of Religion and Film, among others. She is the author of Cinematic Reveries (Peter Lang Publishers), Cinematic Landscapes, (co-edited with David Desser), and The Cinema of Víctor Erice: An Open Window (Scarecrow Press Filmmakers’Series (#72). Her taped commentary on The Spirit of the Beehive (El espíritu de la colmena) appears on the Criterion DVD of that film. Her full-length commentary on Kore-eda’s first film Maboroshi is forthcoming on a new blu-ray of that film (produced by Milestone Film and Video). Dr. Ehrlich has taught at the University of Tennessee/Knoxville, Case Western Reserve University/Cleveland, and on two Semester-at-Sea voyages. She has introduced films at the Guggenheim Museum/NY, Museum of Fine Arts/Boston, Cinematheque Ontario (Toronto), and other sites. Will call tickets may be picked up at The Cary Box Office beginning one hour prior to the movie.