IMDb RATING
7.2/10
2.6K
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A young woman becomes a mistress of her boss in order to support her family.A young woman becomes a mistress of her boss in order to support her family.A young woman becomes a mistress of her boss in order to support her family.
Storyline
Did you know
- Quotes
Junzo Murai: You're a woman... Being taken to the police station... Getting thrown into jail... You've done shameful things. You ungrateful child!
Ayako Murai: How could you say that? I never expected that I'd be treated like this when I came home. This is ridiculous! I thought you would welcome me with open arms. If I'd have known this, I never would have come back.
- ConnectionsFeatured in Century of Cinema: Nihon eiga no hyaku nen (1995)
Featured review
Great Lead Performance
Osaka Elegy (1936)
** 1/2 (out of 4)
Good drama from Kenji Mizoguchi about a young Japanese woman (Isuzu Yamada) who agrees to become the mistress to her boss so that she can get money from him and pay-off her father's debt, which will also keep him from jail. As soon as the woman agrees to the new "terms" she finds her life spiraling out of control. OSAKA ELEGY is certainly a well-made film that contains some very good performances but in the end it was a tad bit too dry for my liking. I think the dryness comes from the fact that we're really not seeing anything overly original in regards to the story as several films, especially in America, were already dealing with this type of subject. I will admit that it's rather interesting seeing the story from a Japanese perspective and especially some of the earliest scenes where we see the difference in social standings. I really liked a few of the earlier scenes where we see the rich men pretty much laughing like villains you'd see in a silent Western. They've got the slimy grin and evil laugh because they know they have the money, which means they have the power. Yamada is certainly wonderful in the lead role as she has quite a bit to do here and pulls off all the emotions without a flaw. I especially liked the scenes where she shows the anger of her trying to do something to help her family but then she still has her ungrateful father coming down on her. The supporting performances were also good but there's no question that the picture belongs to Yamada.
** 1/2 (out of 4)
Good drama from Kenji Mizoguchi about a young Japanese woman (Isuzu Yamada) who agrees to become the mistress to her boss so that she can get money from him and pay-off her father's debt, which will also keep him from jail. As soon as the woman agrees to the new "terms" she finds her life spiraling out of control. OSAKA ELEGY is certainly a well-made film that contains some very good performances but in the end it was a tad bit too dry for my liking. I think the dryness comes from the fact that we're really not seeing anything overly original in regards to the story as several films, especially in America, were already dealing with this type of subject. I will admit that it's rather interesting seeing the story from a Japanese perspective and especially some of the earliest scenes where we see the difference in social standings. I really liked a few of the earlier scenes where we see the rich men pretty much laughing like villains you'd see in a silent Western. They've got the slimy grin and evil laugh because they know they have the money, which means they have the power. Yamada is certainly wonderful in the lead role as she has quite a bit to do here and pulls off all the emotions without a flaw. I especially liked the scenes where she shows the anger of her trying to do something to help her family but then she still has her ungrateful father coming down on her. The supporting performances were also good but there's no question that the picture belongs to Yamada.
helpful•22
- Michael_Elliott
- Dec 14, 2013
- How long is Osaka Elegy?Powered by Alexa
Details
- Release date
- Country of origin
- Language
- Also known as
- Naniwa Elegy
- Production company
- See more company credits at IMDbPro
- Runtime1 hour 30 minutes
- Color
- Sound mix
- Aspect ratio
- 1.37 : 1
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