the audience applauded

Boring, long, and too preachy.

This is a must-see and one of the best documentaries - and films - of this year.

The storyline feels a little thin and moth-eaten in parts but this sequel is plenty of fun.

A family torn apart during the oppression of medieval Japan struggles to survive and reunite in this powerful film by Kenji Mizoguchi. What makes "Sansho The Bailiff" so powerful is the bond between the brother and sister who were sold as slave workers at an early age, and the hardships they endure over the years. The mother was sold separately as a prostitute and longs for the return of her children. Though, the distance between them is large, they are bonded by love and an everlasting drive to reunite. I would be lying if I said this is not a dark film. This is a very dark film but underneath the darkness lies a perpetual beauty. I was genuinely in awe of the cinematography of this film. This is definitely one of the finest looking films ever. From beginning to end, every single frame is a work of art and brings color to the black and white. One scene that comes to mind is the mother, son, daughter and servant making a shelter underneath a tree. The way the scene plays out as the camera follows the children back and forth while they happily gather brush for the fire is one of the only lighthearted moments in the film. They are unaware of where they are going but they have each other, for now. Japan is quite a magnificent land and since this film is a period piece, it was mostly shot on location and the sets/props to be as faithful to the original source as they could. I found 'Sansho' to be very sincere in that respect. The performances are all extremely good and seemed reminiscent of classical theatre, which gave it a very genuine feel. I would not be surprised if all of the actors were classically trained theatre actors. Yoshiaki Hanayagi (who plays the son "Zuchio") is the main hero of the story and he shines in the role. After a decade of living under the rule of Sansho the bailiff, Zuchio becomes complacent in his role as a slave and in his own words decides "it is better to get on the bailiff's good side than try to escape and become a beggar or bandit at best." much to the dismay of his younger sister Anju, who urges him to remember their dream of freedom and reunion. These differing perspectives lead to conflict among the pair, which is depicted in such a way that we understand both sides and never lose faith in Zuchio realizing his destiny. Kenji Mizoguchi definitely has a style of his own and utilizes it to bring to life powerful human stories. The music was composed by the great Fumio Harayake, who also worked on "Ugetsu" and many other classics. His score for "Sansho" perfectly accompanies the films atmosphere and enhances the emotions evoked. Mixed with the wonderful cinematography and brilliant storytelling, you are left with a masterful film all the way around and I recommend it to everyone who appreciates good cinema in general. I lost track of time during the 2 hour run length because the story had me so involved and caring about what happens next. This film exceeded my expectations - breathtaking and visually stunning - what a wonderful film! The ending will leave you in tears. 10/10 ps - The title may be misleading. "Sansho The Bailiff" is not actually about Sansho the bailiff. He is an important figure and the film's main "villain" so to speak, but it is ultimately about the separated family.

Drawing on a traditional tale and a 1915 novella by Mori Ogai, Mizoguchi's Sansho the Bailiff is a historical drama concerning the cruel misfortune befalling the wife and children of a humane provincial governor exiled in ancient Japan. Few films can match the feeling for the beauty of nature, the painterly eye and captivating silvery luminosity. The great cinematographer Miyagawa Kazuo does a magnificent job. With his preference for long takes, Mizoguchi is renowned for serene fluid camera moves (masterly yet unobtrusive tracking and crane shots are a trademark), but he also knew when stillness was required, as in the central, heart-rending scene i'll call Anju's ripples. There's more impact in her few ripples than a Hollywood tidal wave.Water features strongly in the film. Mizoguchi was not one to blatantly point up symbolism, but here water is involved with separation, beauty, purity, self-sacrifice, danger, aching longing, suffering, continuity, and at the end the eternal. Water is counterpointed by fire, male balanced with female. Sansho the Bailiff was the third consecutive Mizoguchi film to win a major prize at Venice (the Silver Lion), in a vintage year. Mizoguchi was an extremely driven, competitive director. It was the success of Kurosawa's Rashomon at Venice in 1951 that spurred him on to the heights of his string of late masterpieces. International recognition came late for him- he died of leukaemia in 1956, at the age of 58- but his epitaph rightly bears the words "the world's greatest film director." I doubt any film matches Sansho the Bailiff's sense of the aching pain of family separation, of longing to be reunited. Mizo was strong on issues of identity. Here we have Zushio's name changed more than once, and other repetitions of scenes and motifs: wood being chopped by the children then- a crucial moment- as adults. Providing an ironic sense of justice, Sansho is exiled, just as the governor had been exiled. The film makes striking use of sounds and song, carried and echoing across time and space. With its message that "without mercy man is like a beast", it's a film full of compassion and humanity. The film has clear links with Mizo's own life: the main female characters, sister Anju (Kagawa Kyoko) and mother Tamaki (Tanaka Kinuyo) are paragons like Mizo's own mother and sister. Female suffering in an oppressive patriarchal world is often central in his films. Here the main character may be Zushio and the title character also male, but my feelings go out more for sister Anju. Mizo's mother died in his teens and there may be something of his own yearning in Zushio's search. On the other hand, Mizo thought none too highly of his dad, whereas in the film the father is also a paragon of virtue and wisdom to be guarded and passed on. But then, the tyrant Sansho himself- memorably played by Shindo Eitaro- may stand for the father Mizo despised as ripe (or rotten) for overthrow. Sansho's own son rejects his ways and turns to Buddhism.Mizoguchi aimed high and often behaved tyrannically on set but although something of an aesthete his films are not mannered or pretentious. He aimed for balance between realism and heightened emotion, giving discreet dignity and distance to emotions without blunt manipulation. Melodrama in his hands reaches a sublime level of refinement. He avoids self-serving diversions that will harm the narrative: there is an underlying integrity. He has his own distinct style without fitting so neatly the auteur model as, say, Ozu and Bresson. In Sansho the Bailiff the average shot length is shorter than the earlier extremes of Story of the Late Chrysanthemums (1939) and Loyal 47 Ronin (1941), and gone is Mizoguchi's abhorrence of close-up evident in Straits of Love and Hate (1937): though still used quite sparingly, emotional connection between viewer and characters is strengthened.The film stresses family unity and an idealised patriarchal wisdom- in competition with a brutal version of male power. Mizo supports the overthrow of tyranny and the revolt by the enslaved. His sympathies are with the underdogs and dispossessed. He was consistently opposed to injustice, as recognised by the leftist Yoda (whose torture by the establishment in the 30s may add relevance to Sansho's brutal tortures), and in the film gives Sansho a tougher fate than does Mori Ogai, though without resorting to vengeful sadism. Mizo was often authoritarian, petulant and even abusive, and for all his concentration on the suffering of women he was very far from saint-like in his own dealings with them. Yet the humane qualities that shine through films like Sansho the Bailiff are clearly genuine.The power of the wonderful ending, often described as transcendental, may also be partly indebted to the Buddhism which Mizo developed late in life. Sansho the Bailiff has been picked by one organisation among the top 100 spiritual films, but the Vatican missed it and Mizo out of their 45 recommendations.Mizoguchi and Yoda made several changes to the original sources, for the purposes of greater realism and social message. The siblings' age seniority is reversed, their young adulthood rather than simply childhood is portrayed and miraculous occurrences of a fairy-tale like story are ditched. The film also provides a reason for the governor's exile, to reinforce solidarity with the people in the face of unjust authority. Mizoguchi no doubt rightly jettisoned the miraculous cure of Tamaki's blindness in Mori Ogai's novella. Some consider the film too harrowing and pessimistic. For me it finds a poignant balance between suffering and beauty, cruelty and love, imprisonment and freedom, pain and redemption, loss and comfort, aesthetic value effectively joined with political anger. A film to love and cherish, the exquisite peak of cinema.

Sansho the Bailiff is a film that feels like it's all themes, archetypes and story structure and the content and characters are near interchangeable. However, this is a blessing and a curse. Despite being based on a traditional story, the cinematic structure feels way ahead of its time and the kind of layered stuff we see in the best contemporary cinema. It all clicks into place but I can't help but wish the characters were more well developed. It's only after the half way mark where we finally land on a protagonist to take us to the end. Nevertheless, the sorrowful emotion and the themes of oppression still poke through sharply and it's message of being an honourable man retains its power. Perhaps it's one of the ultimate films that show the protagonist winning, but at what cost. Mizoguchi is definitely a great filmmaker, his style is very controlled and cinematic, but with this and Ugetsu, I can't help but feel his films don't hit me as hard as they could do.8/10

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.