Great Film overall

It's not great by any means, but it's a pretty good movie that didn't leave me filled with regret for investing time in it.

The film creates a perfect balance between action and depth of basic needs, in the midst of an infertile atmosphere.

I enjoyed watching this film and would recommend other to give it a try , (as I am) but this movie, although enjoyable to watch due to the better than average acting fails to add anything new to its storyline that is all too familiar to these types of movies.

Even the exquisite photography of this film cannot overshadow its unrelenting grimness. The story line is the most depressing of any non-Swedish film I've seen. It tells of the travails of a well-to-do family who are torn apart by fate. The moody score, which uses a combination of western and Japanese instruments, adds to its overall gloominess.

" Sansho the Bailiff" is definitely one of those movies you will remember for a long time, this was second movie i have watched from Kenji Mizoguchi, the first was "Ugetsu" which is also wonderful movie, but this one is masterpiece. I am fan of Japanese cinema for a long time now, especially of older movies, and in my opinion this is one of the best movies ever to came out from Japan. The most i like about this movie is a atmosphere, the camera, and emotions you feel and get.My favorite scene is ending scene when finally after so many years main character Zushio find his mother, and when they hug each other, finally he finds peace and personal heaven after so many years of pain and sorrow, and what i like about this movie is a message to stay human, to stay open to other people and their suffering. Also what i like about this movie is that is set in Heian period, other historical dramas are occasionally set at Edo period, we see how life for ordinary people in that period of Japanese history was harsh. I am recommending this movie to all people who still feel human in this unhuman world and remember "Without mercy, man is not a human being."

In medieval Japan a compassionate governor is sent into exile. His wife and children try to join him, but are separated, and the children grow up amid suffering and oppression.Others have pointed out that this film bears Mizoguchi's trademark interest in freedom, poverty and woman's place in society, and features beautiful images and long and complicated shots. If anything sums up Mizoguchi it is gynocentricity and long takes.Notice that film critic Anthony Lane wrote, "I have seen Sansho only once, a decade ago, emerging from the cinema a broken man but calm in my conviction that I had never seen anything better; I have not dared watch it again, reluctant to ruin the spell, but also because the human heart was not designed to weather such an ordeal." How do you follow that up?

Kenji Mizoguchi's adaptation of Mori Ogai's narration "Sansho Dayu" is a real treat for any film lover with a weakness for Eastern cinema and the renditions of Japanese historical drama tales. In the center of the fictitious story however is not the eponymous cruel Sansho the Bailiff, but two children who suffer under the reign of said slavemaster and have to find their passage through adolescence all by themselves, bereft of the guidance of their parents. In a way it's a coming of age movie, a fable of course as well, extremely strong on the emotional front, morally charged, full of tragedy, pathos, resolve and the power of the human spirit, which reminds us that there's always the glimmer of hope even though one may be surrounded by the bleakest darkness.Mizoguchi's films often appear simple and straightforward, more realistic than fancy on first glance, but they also leave a natural and elegant impression at the same time. What appears to be a contradiction in fact adds an innate mythical quality to these pictures (see also e.g. "Ugetsu Monogatari"), wonderfully brought to light here by Kazuo Miyagawa's inspired cinematography of "Rashomon" fame. Miyagawa manages to perfectly frame the action and to capture and express the sentiments and the intentions of the characters by simple camera movements or pans, so that with minimalistic means the film achieves the most evocative emotional result. This becomes especially apparent in luminously poetical scenes like the ending, which is on various levels absorbing and engaging, or that famous scene where we become witness of a self-sacrifice - an exquisite visual highlight, where the the text of the original cannot keep up with. In general the script - while staying close to Ogai's narration - enhances the narration even more at key points, so that the viewer can't help but feel utter sympathy with the protagonists, and the resolution becomes heartfelt to say the least. In short: Alongside Ozu's and Kurosawa's masterpieces Mizoguchi's "Sansho the Bailiff" is one of the classic Japanese films one definitely should check out.