Top Ranked Films of Kenji Mizoguchi

Kenji Mizoguchi
5 titles, 46th in points with 15,534

These are all the films of Mizoguchi's that made the top 1000 in our 2011 update of the Top Ranked 1000 Films on the Net, all polls.

1. Ugetsu (1953) #85
2. Sansho the Bailiff (1954) #240
3. Princess Yang Kwei Fei (Yokihi, 1955) #414
4. Story of the Late Chrysanthemums, The (1939) #617
5. Life of Oharu, The (1952) #635

Those just out of the top 1000
6. 47 Ronin, The (1962) #1237
7. Utamaro and His Five Women #1646

I found Ugetsu  [photo above] almost mesmerizing, one of the most unusual love stories in cinema, and beautifully shot. Sansho is also beautiful to see [photo below], but the story didn’t quite have the same magic for me. Mizoguchi is a true artist with film, shooting dreamy, ethereal black-and-white films that almost seem like a journey to a magical spot that is between reality and the psyche. I need to see the rest of his works, those I’ve seen make him one look like of the few true masters of cinema art.

See the full list of top ranked 100 directors here: Top Ranked 100 Directors, 2011 Edition