STREET OF SHAME (1956)

赤線地帯

dir: Kenji Mizoguchi

Daiei (Tokyo Studio)

March 18, 1956

86 minutes Black & White

Machiko Kyo as Mickey

Ayako Wakao as Yasumi

Michiyo Kogure as Hanae

Aiko Mimasu as Yumeko

Daiei Studio movie, a part of the short-lived ‘Akasen’ genre (or ‘red light films), it follows the lives and issues revolving around a small group of prostitutes working in Tokyo's Yoshiwara district. 

Flashy new girl Mickey (Michiko Kyo) is an early version of the ‘delinquent girl’ - indifferent to everything. The popular, young and cute Yasumi (Ayako Wakao) is also smart and saving for her future. Hansae (Michiyo Kogure) has a sick husband and a baby she has to try and make money and care for. Aging Yumeko (Aiko Mimasu) wants to get out of the business and live with her grown son…. we see the good, the bad, the harsh, the desperation; all of it, as director Kenji Mizoguchi’s interweaves each woman's story along. 

It takes place as the country is considering a ban on prostitution, and the daily political struggle in conversation and on the radio plays a part in the story as well.

I began to wonder… is it an ANTI-prostitution movie, because all of it is truthful…. or is it a PRO-prostitution movie, because… all of it is truthful. It’s hard to tell sometimes, but ultimately it’s the last few frames of the movie that maybe gives us the final hint.

THIS is how you make a movie about a controversial subject, show more than one side and yet never preach… great art, and wonderful film.