Gion bayashi 1953

Vincent Canby, New York Times: Though the landscape of the film is restricted to a small, rather exotic quarter in Kyoto, "A Geisha" is far from esoteric. The scope is narrow and the focus is deep. Read more

Dave Kehr, Chicago Reader: One of the few Mizoguchi films of the 50s with a contemporary setting, it is no less eternal in its mise-en-scene than Ugetsu or Sansho the Bailiff. Read more

Richard Brody, New Yorker: A sardonic riff on the difference between postwar and prewar ideas is matched by an angry discussion on the gap between constitutionally guaranteed rights and brutal realities. Read more

Geoff Andrew, Time Out: A hymn to women's mutual supportiveness, acutely aware that selling one's body is very different from selling one's emotions, and that sometimes it's just too late to change things for oneself. Read more