Sansho the Bailiff (1954)
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100% of critics liked it
(12 reviews) -
93% of users liked it
(3,678 ratings)
Kenji Mizoguchi's masterpiece opens in 11th-century Japan with an aristocratic woman Tamaki traveling through the woods with her daughter Anju, son Zushio, and maid. Through flashbacks, we learn that her husband, Taira no Masauji, was a local governor who was exiled because of his honesty and… More Kenji Mizoguchi's masterpiece opens in 11th-century Japan with an aristocratic woman Tamaki traveling through the woods with her daughter Anju, son Zushio, and maid. Through flashbacks, we learn that her husband, Taira no Masauji, was a local governor who was exiled because of his honesty and integrity. Before he leaves, he gives his son an amulet of Kannon, the goddess of mercy, and tells him, "Without mercy, man is like a beast. Men are created equal, everyone is entitled to happiness." On their journey to reunite with their husband/father, they are ambushed by kidnappers, who sell the mother as a prostitute and the two children as slaves to the corrupt Sansho (Eitaro Shindo). As adults, Zushio (Yoshiaki Hanayagi) and his sister Anju (Kyoko Kagawa) continue to toil as servants. Anju learns that her mother has become a courtesan on remote Sado-island. Though Zushio became Sansho's most trusted and most brutal aide; he manages to escape at Anju's behest. He finds sanctuary at a local monastery while Anju, looking to avoid the inevitably violent retribution, drowns herself in a lake. Seeking justice, Zushio petitions the Prime Minister, a desperate act that usually results in imprisonment or death. Yet his pleas prove more successful than he ever dreamed. When he finally has the power to thwart evil Sansho and reunify his family, he learns that he is tragically too late. ~ Jonathan Crow, Rovi
- Directed By
- Kenji Mizoguchi
- Genres
- Art House & International, Drama
- In Theaters
- Mar 31, 1954 Wide
- Studio
- Criterion Collection
Critic Reviews
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Eric Melin, Scene-Stealers.com
It illuminates the human condition and gives you plenty of time to think. It is the nature of nature to show no mercy, but mercy is inherent to the nature of human beings, even when it seems buried under loads of suffering.
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Sean Axmaker, Parallax View
Mizoguchi is the poet laureate of Japanese cinema, gracefully exploring the battered but resilient souls in the cruel worlds of Japan's feudal past and present.
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Chuck Bowen, Slant Magazine
This Blu-ray doesn't quite represent the Criterion Collection at its transformative best, but that's admittedly a tall order anyway. There's never any shame in double-dipping on a film as sublime and heart-wrenching as Sansho the Bailiff.
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Gabe Leibowitz, Film and Felt
A richly layered masterpiece, Sanshô the Bailiff deserves a spot near the highest pantheon of world cinema.
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Anton Bitel, Film4
...highlights Mizoguchi's own reputation as a "reckless consumer of prostitutes" who knew all too well the demi-mondes that he was portraying.
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Fresh (60% or more critics rated the movie positively)
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Cast
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Kinuyo Tanaka
as Tamaki
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Kyoko Kagawa
as Anju
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Eitaro Shindo
as Sansho
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Yoshiaki Hanayagi
as Zushio
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Ichiro Sugai
as Minister of Justice
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Ryosuke Kagawa
as Ritsushi Kumotake
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Akitake Kono
as Taro
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Kikue Mori
as Priestess
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Chieko Naniwa
as Ubatake
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Masao Shimizu
as Masauji Taira
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Masahiko Tsugawa
as Zushio as a Boy
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Ken Mitsuda
as Prime Minister Morozane Fujiwara