Transition Through Movement Within Sisters of Gion
 
   Mizoguchi Kenji's film, Sisters of Gion, can be
viewed as an examination of two cultures as
exemplified by the two sisters, Umekichi and Omocha.
Umekichi fills the role of traditional Japanese
culture. Obligation and honor are important to her,
even to the point of sacrificing herself yet she
understands the position she places herself in.
Umekichi is filmed with a relatively stationary camera
throughout the film and is seen more in terms of
"being". Omocha shows the emergence of Western thought
in Japan. Her character is always in a state of action
and is filmed accordingly. It is through his use of
form and structure that Mizoguchi is able to convey
his message of duality. Mizoguchi's use of the more
traditional modes of Western cinema, although used
sparingly, not only helps to support his characters'
positions, but also serves as a device to propel the
narrative. The limited use of close-ups and
shot-reverse-shots serve to highlight Omocha's
attitude while Umekichi's presence on screen is marked
by the absence of Western stylization. Transitional
shots within the film comprise the films exterior
scenes and literally show the characters in transit
from one scene to the next. This is done with minimal
camera movement, although most of the camera movement
in the film occurs within the scenes of characters in
transit. The unfolding of the plot occurs in interiors
and the camera moves for the most part with economy
and space in mind.
     Umekichi and Omocha are prostitutes in the Gion
district of Tokyo. They are geisha without patrons,
struggling to provide for themselves, when Umekichi
invites a bankrupt merchant to stay with her. Omocha
has nothing but contempt for the men who dominate and
use women for pleasure while the women receive nothing
in return. She begins manipulating men in order to
gain successful patrons for she and Umekichi. Omocha
believes that relations between men and women are a
contest and she is determined not to lose. Her western
style of dress is representative of her modern ideals.
She wants power over not only herself but over anyone
standing in her way of success. Mizoguchi not only
uses style of dress to symbolize Western influence
through Omocha, but he reserves formally one of
Western cinema's most standardized techniques for
Omocha: the close-up. Three times throughout the film
Omocha is seen in close-up and all three times are
significant to the film. The first time the device is
used is when Omocha is supposed to escort the drunken
Mr. Jurakudo to his home. She instead uses the
opportunity to try to secure the businessman as a
patron for her sister. The transitional scene shows
the two in a taxi driving at night. Both Omocha and
Jurakudo are centered in the frame and facing the
camera. Both characters are shown in medium close-up.
This scene is important because it foreshadows the
scene toward the end of the film in which Omocha is
once again riding in a taxi. In the second taxi scene,
the consequences of Omocha's manipulations become
clear. She has taken for granted the feelings of one
of her suitors and he punishes her by kidnapping her
and throwing her out of the moving taxi. This
particular scene not only reveals Omocha and her
abductors in close-ups but in shot-reverse-shot. Burch
suggests that this typically Western technique was
used more out of necessity due to the confines of the
taxi than for any bowing to Western standards of
cinema. "The sequence in the automobile during
Omocha's kidnapping is shot entirely in close-up, and
is dramatically remarkable; Mizoguchi succeeds in
singularizing the sequence in such a way as to
'justify' what is undoubtedly another concession to
practical circumstances (how do you shoot long shots
inside a car?)" (Noel Burch, To the Distant Observer:
Form and Meaning in Japanese Cinema. P228). The scene
is the climax of the film and whether for practical
purposes or not, the close-ups emphasize the reality
that Omocha has been trapped by her own game.
      The third close-up of Omocha comes at the end of
the film when she and Umekichi are in Omocha's
hospital room. Umekichi, after telling Omocha that her
injuries were a result of her actions, discovers that
despite her own obligation and loyalty to Furosawa, he
has left her. Both modes of thought are destined
toward failure. The camera closes in on Omocha as she
curses the life she and Umekichi are forced to live.
     While Omocha is the more dynamic of the two
sisters in the film, the scenes of transit involve all
of the characters in the film at least once. Beginning
with Furosawa walking down an alley after leaving the
auctioning off of his bankrupt business. The camera
tracks and pans as he enters the dark alley. As he
enters a patch of bright light, the camera movement
stops. The film cuts to his facing peering through a
curtain. He enters Umekichi and Omocha's house. This
is the first example of an exterior transitional scene
in the film. Mizoguchi uses the walk down the alley or
street many more times in the film. These scenes are
important because they lead the characters not only to
different locations but are the impetus to the actions
within the film. The next transitional scene with
similar movement occurs after Umekichi has invited
Furosawa to stay with her. Omocha begins her discourse
on men and her plan to gain dominance over them. The
conversation continues after the camera cuts to the
sisters walking in a temple yard. It is the only time
the sisters are shown together in an exterior scene,
filmed in natural lighting. It is significant because
it is the last scene before the two are separated by
their ideologies. The camera tracks them from the side
as they make their way from left to right. Once Omocha
is stopped by another woman and informed of a possible
suitor, her plan is set in motion and she breaks away
from her sister. The scene is filmed in a long take
and the next two scenes with Omocha, at the madam's
house and with Kimura, her suitor, are marked by the
amount of cuts used in them.
     Mizoguchi uses interior scenes differently than
exterior scenes. Camera movement is used but distance
within the frame is maintained. The characters are
filmed with the medium long shot and longer takes are
predominant. The transitional scenes are those that
lead to the action in the film but the interior scenes
are where the action unfolds: Omocha gains the favor
of Jurakudo for her sister, rids Umekichi of Furosawa,
and gains a patron for herself. Mizoguchi relies on
movement in these scenes to inform the viewer but the
movement is almost entirely relegated to the
characters within the frame. Instead of using Western
conventions, Mizoguchi allows for movement to be the
logical substitute or alternative to show the reaction
of his characters, thereby sustaining interest in the
narrative.
     There are scenes that are filmed without the use
of a transition in which the director simply cuts from
one location to another without an establishing shot.
These serve to clarify the plot within the diegesis
and are the threads that unravel Omocha's schemes. No
transitional scene precedes either the scene in which
Umekichi discovers that it was Omocha who asked
Furosawa to leave, or the scene of Kimura telling Mrs.
Kudo of her husband's infidelity.
     Although Mizoguchi does not rely on the Western
conventions of filmmaking to present his project,
Sisters of Gion is an example of his mastery of his
own style. There may not be a truly Japanese mode of
presenting cinema due to the Western development of
the art form, but Mizoguchi is able to achieve, unlike
his characters, Omocha and Umekichi, a balance of the
cultural styles of the West and of Japan while
maintaining his own artistic identity.