Film Persona

  Jacques Tati's "Monsieur Hulot's Holiday" With his 1953 film " Monsieur Hulot's Holiday ," Jacques Tati premiered the iconic character of Monsieur Hulot for the first time in film. He would go on to continue this character in his subsequent films, like 1958's " Mon Oncle " and 1967's " Playtime ." Evocative of Charlie Chapin's tramp or the characters of Buster Keaton, Monsieur Hulot acts primarily as a visual gag comedian.  The film is mostly free of plot-driven dialogue, entirely visual gags throughout. Monsieur Hulot shows up to a seaside resort full of wealthy vacationers. Through his attempts to assimilate to the mass vacationers and their hobbies and behaviors, he ends up only causing chaos.  What Tati is able to accomplish with his Hulot character is using physical comedy and sight gags to visually demonstrate the bizarre way in which human beings behave. The specific point of focus for " Monsieur Hulot's ...

  Yasujiro Ozu's "The Flavor of Green Tea over Rice" Yasujiro Ozu seems to be continuing in the thematic thread of arranged marriages in Japan with 1952's " The Flavor of Green Tea over Rice ." He had dealt with this topic, which was a point of discussion in real domestic Japanese families, in his late 1940s, early 1950s films as a way of documenting the changing generational landscapes that were emerging in modern Japan. With " The Flavor of Green Tea over Rice ," he really issues a point of focus on the subject and dissects what it means to 'love' someone else and what it means to be in a marriage.  The film centers on a wealthy couple whose relationship has gone stale. Bitterness and resentment bubble to the surface of the wife especially. Their niece attempts to use this bitterness as a point to combat her own impending arranged marriage. A breaking point comes into play when the couple begin to squabble about the nature of their relati...

  Kenji Mizoguchi's "Ugetsu" After Kenji Mizoguchi released his 1952 film " The Life of Oharu " to global recognition, he was given far more creative freedom with his next project. This project, 1953's " Ugetsu " went on to even bigger global success, despite receiving a bit colder reception in his homeland of Japan. " Ugetsu " is unlike anything Mizoguchi had made before, although the marks of the master are still all over the piece.  " Ugetsu " centers on four people, two men and two women, in Japan's civil-war torn Azuchi-Momoyama period (16th century). One man's dream is to make beautiful pottery and the other is to become a glorious samurai. Both men vivaciously chase their dream, despite the chaos and terror of the civil war happening around them. In doing so, they both neglect their loyal and hardworking wives. The man wanting to become a samurai does so by stealing the head of a famous general and is rewarded wit...

  Kenji Mizoguchi's "The Life of Oharu" After watching Kenji Mizoguchi's 1952 film " The Life of Oharu ," I felt as though it was the thematic pinnacle of Mizoguchi's career (up until 1952). Mizoguchi certainly had a theme and subject matter that he stringently adhered to throughout his long filmmaking career. That being stories revolving around women and the struggles of women in Japan, more specifically. I felt as though that with " The Life of Oharu ," he was effectively able to construct a film that crystalized his entire body of work into a single, coherent piece. Aside from my own personal perspective, the film helped revitalize Mizoguchi's career from a global perspective.  " The Life of Oharu " centers on a late 17th century woman named Oharu, the daughter of a noble samurai. After falling in love and sleeping with a 'lower status" man, Oharu and her family are exiled from Kyoto. After becoming a concubine to a ki...