Kenji Mizoguchi
1936
The first entry in Criterion Eclipse's four volume DVD box "Kenji Mizoguchi's Fallen Women" is a prewar social issues picture similar to those made in the States by Warner Brothers. In order to prevent her embezzling deadbeat-Dad (fish faced Akira Kurosawa regular Takashi Shimura) from being thrown in the clink, prim switchboard operator Ayako gives into her pervy boss's sexual advances, becoming his mistress. Unlike the aforementioned Warner Bros films this one retains a welcome element of subtlety and ambiguous character motivations. Ayako's sugar daddy is proved to be more than a simple manipulative fiend as we witness his badgering wife taunting his sexuality and pushing him towards adultery. Ayako herself seems to genuinely relish the fine apartment, clothes, and theater outings (Bunraku Puppet play!) bestowed upon her by her benefactors. Even Ayako's hunky "true love" interest shows himself to be a cowardly twerp when grilled by police. After saving her father, paying for her brother's schooling, and mending her ways, our heroine remains utterly shunned by a thoroughly hypocritical society, left to walk the nighttime streets alone in a trademark Mizoguchi shot.
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