Master Mizogushi placed on screen two different kind of look of the gueishas's world,although they are sisters,the older is more wise and understanding about his position,the younger is more cold having in the men just a way to get an easy money,handling according his will,actually she hates them,along the movie the viewers will see two side of the street in two human being whose the life hurt too hard,nice piece of art of study of human nature!!!Resume:First watch: 2018 / How many: 1 / Source: DVD / Rating: 7.25

I've just recently discovered Mizoguchi when I watched Ugetsu. That film stunned me and I felt haunted by it for several days. I would rank it among the great Japanese masterpieces such as Seven Samurai and Tokyo Story. This pre-war Mizoguchi has an incredible maturity and sophisticated characterization that surprised me. Most viewers will think that the younger sister is lying, conniving, and manipulative but on further reflection one realizes that most of the characters are deceptive and hypocritical in very self serving ways. It sounds serious and it is, but there are moments of humour as well. Plus, the mid-30's Kyoto setting is a fascinating time capsule. If you are a fan of Mizoguchi or Japanese films I highly recommend checking this movie out.

Considered to be one of the best pre-war films by the acclaimed Japanese director Kenji Mizoguchi, Sisters of the Gion is a story of two sisters, both Geisha girls in the Gion section of Kyoto, who have very different attitudes toward men. Umekichi (Yoko Umemura) is traditional and loyal to her patrons while her sister Omocha (Isuzu Yamada) is a pragmatist who uses men to her advantage even if it means deception and lies. Ultimately it seems to make no difference as both girls are trapped in an existence that provides little satisfaction. Running just over an hour, this is a lovely film that presents a fascinating portrait of Japanese life before the war showing streets that look like narrow passageways, elevated tatami rooms used for drinking tea and smoking pipes, and buildings no higher than two stories. In the film, Umekichi is devoted to a bankrupt businessman, Shimbei Furusawa (Benkei Shiganoya) who comes to live with them after an argument with his wife. Omocha is unhappy with this arrangement, telling Umekichi she should have no use for a man who doesn't support them. She convinces an antique dealer Jurakuso (Fumio Okura) to give her money to pay off Furusawa so that Jurakuso can become Umekichi's patron, but she ends up pocketing half of the money herself. On hearing that he is in love with her, Omocha persuades Kimura (Taizo Fukami), a textile clerk, to steal the company's materials to enable her sister to wear an acceptable kimono for a party of wealthy patrons. The destiny of the two sisters reaches its inevitable conclusion when the store clerk is fired and exacts his revenge on Omocha, and when Furusawa suddenly leaves Umekichi to become a manager of a rayon company. While Mizoguchi's film is a protest against the specific conditions of women in pre-war Japan, Sisters of the Gion strikes a universal chord in its compelling depiction of the sad results of treating human beings as marketable commodities.

A bust. As disinterested as I often am in Mizoguchi's films, Sisters of the Gion effectively knocked me unconscious. Some of the acting seemed decent, as did some of the direction. The opening shots were great. But then it slows down to a crawl that I just couldn't withstand. This is the first of his films that I was just not able to take. The couple of Mizoguchi films that I really like are Life of Oharu and Sansho the Bailiff (and Ugetsu's pretty good, as well), so if you haven't seen those ones, do so. 5/10.