My Love Has Been Burning (Kenji Mizoguchi; Japan, 1949)

Notable for the prophetic feminism of its subject, this story is set in the 1880s, a crucial period in the modernization of Japan when liberalism was nascent under the Meiji Restoration. With the blunt universality typical of Mizoguchi, the conflicts of the era are embodied in the struggles of a determined young woman (Kinuyo Tanaka) who leaves home to become involved in the political turmoil in Tokyo. The film ends with a hauntingly simple image of two women forming a mystical bond that both includes and transcends politics. Visually, the film demonstrates the dense, dark, and emotionally charged style characteristic of Mizoguchi’s immediate postwar work—“a detailed, living fresco of protest, street battles, intrigues, and the claims of the individual conscience” (John Gillett).

• Written by Yoshikata Yoda, Kaneto Shindo, based on a story by Kogo Noda. Photographed by Kohei Sugiyama, Tomotaro Nashiki. With Kinuyo Tanaka, Ichiro Sugai, Mitsuko Mito, Eitaro Ozawa. (96 mins, In Japanese with English subtitles, B&W, 35mm, From Harvard Film Archive, permission Janus Films/Criterion Collection)