Is THIS the last swim of the year?

It probably should be, because this was in the big Seven Lake, and the waves were choppy and Frederick gave off "this is no longer fun" vibes.  But it's set to be another roaster tomorrow...

 

Film review: Ugetsu (1953)

Film number 47 in our box set is this little number, from the other (i.e., non-Kurosawa/Ozu) Japanese director, Kenji Mizoguchi. It's hard to say what's so great about it (many people have it rated very highly, Roger Ebert and Martin Scorsese among them), but it certainly holds you in its grip over its runtime.  It's very simply told, without showy cinematography, although each scene is certainly vivid, and some of the on-lake or lakeside scenes are exquisite.  There's no particularly witty dialogue or grand speeches either.  It has the feel of a fairy story, which is appropriate, because that's basically what it is.

There are four main (adult) characters, as well as a young boy (who seems to be represented by a dummy in several scenes, which is a little distracting), all of whom start out living simple lives in a small village, and [SPOILER] most of whom return to those lives sadder and wiser at the end. 

The main couple are Genjuro, a farmer who prefers pottery (and turns out to be very good at it) and his gentle wife Miyagi.  Then there are the village dreamer Tobei, who yearns to be a samurai but has zero qualifications for the job, and his apparently shrewish wife (but really, she has a lot to put up with) Ohana.  Genjuro, Miyagi and their young son Genichi are a very happy little clan, 

but everyone's life is threatened by the ongoing civil war.  (The setting is the period 1568-1600.) As the film begins, Genjuro is just packing up his cart to go and sell his ceramics in the nearby town.  Miyagi is apprehensive, he cheerful - war is good for business, he insists.  He sets off with Tobei tagging along, much to Ohana's annoyance.  Just after he leaves, the village wise man tells Miyagi that no good can come of fast money in evil times, but when Genjuro returns, it is with a surprising amount of money and a beautiful kimono, 

and it's hard to get the point across.  Tobei does not return, as he is still trying to become a samurai, only to show up that evening decidedly the worse for wear (judging by what happens to him later, he has been kicked around by actual samurai), to be berated afresh by Ohana.  Emboldened by his windfall, Genjuro becomes obsessed with making as much pottery as possible to sell, and becomes absent-minded and irritable, even pushing Genichi away, where previously he had been the apple of his eye.  But all seems to be lost when the war comes to their village before the crockery is ready.

The soldiers who swarm into town are merciless, abducting men for forced labor and assaulting the women, as well as picking the village clean of valuables and food.  Fortunately many of the villagers, including our protagonists, make it into a nearby mountain hideaway to wait out the raid.  However Genjuro can't keep away, because he is terrified that the fire in his kiln will go out and all those pots will be ruined, so he runs back into town early.  You might think this would be his downfall, but this is not yet the moment, and not only does he escape capture, but although the fire has gone out, his pots are finished.  Nonetheless, it's no longer safe, so all five now head to the lake to take a boat to a nearby town to sell the pots.  The scene on the lake is very ghostly, as Ohana sings a doleful song as she rows them across in impenetrable fog.  (She's rowing because she is a boatman's daughter, apparently.  

Also the "rowing" is that weird Japanese thing of swishing what looks like a rudder back and forth, so not as strenuous.)  However, in the middle of the lake they come across another boat with a dying man in it who warns them that the lake is swarming with pirates.  

Genjuro gets spooked for Miyagi and Genichi and insists on offloading them on the nearest shore, although Ohana insists on coming with her husband.  As it turns out, the three in the boat make it to the prosperous town and when next we see them, they are doing a roaring trade in the marketplace, while Miyagi and Genichi have a much more perilous journey.

However, things almost immediately go awry.  First, the stall is visited by a mysterious old woman and even more mysterious young woman, who pick out a range of items and ask for them to be delivered to "the Kutsuki mansion."  

Then Tobei spots some samurai and runs off after them, and Ohana chases after him.  She loses him, however, and somehow ends up out of town where she is set upon by a group of soldiers and sexually assaulted.  Tobei buys some armor and persists in his goal of attempting to be a samurai.  Meanwhile, Genjuro closes up shop for the day, asks his stall neighbor to watch his stuff until his partners return, and sets off for the mansion.  The mansion appears to contain only women, and appears rather dilapidated, although this seems to change.  One of the things this film does well is present to the viewer a different vista from that being seen by the protagonist, while also conveying what he sees.  (This is done particularly effectively at Genjuro's return to his village.)  So I think we see a slightly run down mansion at first that then appears more grand as Genjuro settles in.  And settle in he does, because he is ensnared into marrying the young woman, who is the daughter of the slain head of the Kutsuki clan.

At first he seems afraid, but very soon he is rolling around raving about how he's never known such pleasure. 

This keeps up until one day he is visiting the market and asks to buy some beautiful fabric from a vendor.  The vendor scoffs that no wife he could have would be grand enough for it to be worth paying what it cost, and eventually it emerges that he lives with the lady of Kutsuki mansion, whereupon the vendor goes very pale and says he doesn't want his money.  Genjuro starts home but crosses paths with a Buddhist priest who stops him and says he sees death in his face.  The priest deduces that he has been bewitched and could not live with himself unless he does something to help Genjuro.  We find out what it is when Genjuro returns and confesses that he has a wife and child already.  When the lady does not bat an eyelid at this and just decides that he should never leave the mansion from now on, he struggles, and his wife goes to hold him but finds she cannot touch him, because he has the priest "exorcised" him by writing Sanskrit symbols on his body.  

Genjuro grabs a sword and swings it around... and passes out.  Only to wake up in a field, being shaken by locals, who accuse him of stealing the sword from the temple, some time ago.  He says no, it was in Kutsuki mansion, and they scoff and point to some nearby overgrown ruins and say that was Kutsuki mansion, long demolished.  It turned out that all the inhabitants, not just the chief, were killed, but the older woman felt sorry for her lady dying without knowing love and brought her back from the land of the dead to find it.

MEANWHILE, Tobei has stumbled into good fortune.  In the midst of battle (where he's mostly hiding) he spies a soldier taking a general into a secluded spot, where the general tells the soldier to behead him.  This he does, and is carrying off the head, when Tobei stabs him from behind with his spear.  He brings the head to the leader of his particular branch, who rightly disbelieves that Tobei killed the general himself, but still grants him a horse and a retinue as reward.  Tobei is heading home in triumph when his men ask to stop at a brothel (where the courtesans have been calling out to them) and Tobei relents.  Of course, as you might guess, it's there that he comes across Ohana who has become a successful prostitute, 

even though she feels dishonored.  Tobei, to his credit, gives up all his trappings of success, hurling his precious armor into the river, to take Ohana back to their village.

MEANWHILE, alas, Miyaki comes across some starving soldiers on the road and is stabbed trying to save some of her food for Genichi. We see her stumbling on, trying to carry Genichi home...

Genjuro arrives back in the village to find his house appearing deserted.  In the scene I referred to earlier, he enters, sees it apparently long abandoned, but persists in calling out Miyagi's name, goes out the back door, comes round and re-enters, only to find Miyagi calmly cooking by the fire.  She gives him Saki and some stew and he is overjoyed, and cradles Genichi, and falls asleep next to him.  We see Miyagi start darning something and the scene fades as light starts to stream in the gaps between the boards of the walls.

Of course you can guess what's happened.  However, four of our initial five return to their village, now with renewed appreciation for the simple life, and Tobei becomes quite the farmer.

Amazingly affecting.  Usually, with a fairy tale, it's hard to get invested in the characters, especially such simple folk.  But this film draws you in and holds you rapt, and you feel like you've been holding your breath as the film ends.  Strangely powerful. 

Swimming? In October?? In Michigan???

You better believe it!  It's been up in the 80s and today it got up to at least 86 degrees F.  We've been having drought conditions, which sadly are said to severely impact the display of Fall colors, which ruins my favorite time of the year!  Oh well, at least we can have a dip, at the amazingly packed campground at Seven Lakes.  (I could've sworn it was usually closed for the season by now.  Maybe the extra business - it was more packed than at any time in the Summer - is because of the government shutdown affecting National Parks?  Unlikely, but possible.  It's funny to see all the Halloween stuff when it's so hot.  Reminds me of living in LA and seeing fake snow at Christmas on the shop windows as you swelter in your T-shirt and shorts.