Rua da Vergonha (1956)

The personal tales of various prostitutes who occupy a brothel.

Director:

Kenji Mizoguchi

Writers:

Masashige Narusawa, Yoshiko Shibaki (novel)

Stars:

Machiko Kyô, Aiko Mimasu, Ayako Wakao

2 wins & 1 nomination.

Cast

Cast overview, first billed only:
Machiko Kyô	...	Mickey
Ayako Wakao	...	Yasumi
Michiyo Kogure	...	Hanae
Aiko Mimasu	...	Yumeko
Kenji Sugawara	...	Eiko
Yasuko Kawakami	...	Shizuko
Eitarô Shindô	...	Kurazô Taya
Bontarô Miake	...	Nightwatchman
Haruo Tanaka
Sadako Sawamura	...	Tatsuko Taya
Daisuke Katô	...	President of Brothel Owners' Association
Hisao Toake	...	Shiomi
Jun Tatara	...	Yumeko's client
Osamu Maruyama	...	Sato Yasukichi
Hiroko Machida	...	Yorie

Storyline

Five prostitutes work at Dreamland, in Tokyo's Yoshiwara district. As the Diet considers a ban on prostitution, the women's daily dramas play out. Each has dreams and motivations. Hanae is married, her husband unemployed; they have a young child. Yumeko, a widow, uses her earnings to raise and support her son, who's now old enough to work and care for her. The aging Yorie has a man who wants to marry her. Yasumi saves money diligently to pay her debt and get out; she also has a suitor who wants to marry her, but she has other plans for him. Mickey seems the most devil-may-care, until her father comes from Kobe to bring her news of her family and ask her to come home.

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Plot Keywords:

prostitute | diet | brothel | prostitution | f rated | 

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Taglines:

Machiko Kyo - A Girl From Tokyo's Yoshiwara Area!

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Genres:

Drama

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Certificate:

M/12

Details

Country:

Japan

Language:

Japanese

Release Date:

29 July 1995 (Portugal)

Also Known As:

Rua da Vergonha

Filming Locations:

Yoshiwara, Asakusa, Tokyo, Japan

Box Office

Cumulative Worldwide Gross:

$7,549

Company Credits

Production Co:

Daiei Studios

Technical Specs

Runtime:

87 min

Sound Mix:

Mono (Westrex Recording System)

Color:

Black and White

Aspect Ratio:

1.37 : 1

Did You Know?

Trivia

Director Kenji Mizoguchi's final film. He died of leukemia only five months after its release at the age of 58.

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Connections

Referenced in Aru eiga-kantoku no shôgai (1975)

User Reviews

Interesting and engaging

This is the first film I have seen from Kenji Mizoguchi (1898-1956), a director who is considered with Ozu and Kurosawa as the best Japanese film directors ever (I love Ozu; I like some Kurosawa but think he is somewhat overrated).

This was Mizoguchi's last film: he is known mostly from his historical epics, but the theme here is somewhat topical, even taken from the newspapers of the day: the lives of prostitutes working on a brothel in Tokyo's red light district in light of a law being discussed in the Japanese parliament for the criminalization of prostitution (that particular law would come into force in 1958).

Mizoguchi shows us the harsh life of the prostitutes, without turning them into saints, as we saw them doing less than exemplary things, for example cheating on their clients. There is the new arrogant girl, Mickey (Machiko Kyo), another prostitute with a grown son who is ashamed of his mother but visits her to her embarrassment; another one has to care for a sick husband.

If the movie has a position in the issue is that prostitution should be legal. Prostitution is deeply rooted in Japanese culture, it is implied in the movie, and this law is being put forward only due to the pressures from Americans. The owner and the Madame of the brothel are hard-nosed but take reasonable care of the prostitutes. In this sense, the film sometimes seems a "message movie", even didactic in its position. Myself, I don't have a position on whether prostitution should be legal or not, but it would be interesting if Mizoguchi let at least one of the characters defend the other side of the issue.

The film has an odd musical score (especially for a movie from the 1950s), which is a sort of Theremin -based experimental score. I can't say it helps the movie.

Despite the misgivings I have mentioned, I did like the film, and found it interesting and engaging.