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Street of Shame

Akasen chitai (Street of Shame)

1956

Kenji Mizoguchi

Machiko Kyô, Aiko Mimasu, Ayako Wakao, Michiyo Kogure ...

7.9

2,442

Drama Five prostitutes work at Dreamland, in Tokyo's Yoshiwara district. As the Diet considers a ban on prostitution, the women's daily dramas play out. Each has dreams and motivations. Hanae is married, her husband unemployed; they have a young child. Yumeko, a widow, uses her earnings to raise and support her son, who's now old enough to work and care for her. The aging Yorie has a man who wants to marry her. Yasumi saves money diligently ... [+]

	Author	Review
United States	Richard Brody The New Yorker	"Mizoguchi is one of the very greatest political filmmakers; his characters’ passions and sufferings are anchored, both visually and textually, in the historical moment that they exemplify"	POS
United States	Bosley Crowther The New York Times	"It is old-fashioned, sentimental and generally diffuse (...) Miss Kyo is vivid in appearance, but her character is thin."	NEU
United Kingdom	Time Out	"A grim but profoundly moving study of a group of prostitutes (...) Mizoguchi's focus on the plight of his women characters is as intent and heart-rending as ever."	POS
United States	Dave Kehr Chicago Reader	"Well worth seeing, if only as a challenge"	NEU
United States	David Denby The New Yorker	"Of all the films about prostitution, Kenji Mizoguchi’s 'Street of Shame' (...) is perhaps the greatest (...) The scenes are terse, definitive, heartbreaking"	POS

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