If you loved Sansho the Bailiff, try The Story of the Last Chrysanthemum
A bridge between a film you've already seen and one most people haven't. The Story of the Last Chrysanthemum has roughly 3.3× fewer votes than Sansho the Bailiff — it's a deeper cut, not a mainstream recommendation. Here's what they share, and what the second one does that the first one doesn't.
What they share
Both films are directed by Kenji Mizoguchi, and they both carry the bittersweet, foreign gem mood tags, and they sit in Drama territory. If that's the register that drew you to Sansho the Bailiff, the second film will land in a comparable space — through a different lens.
What The Story of the Last Chrysanthemum is
Mizoguchi does not exactly traffic in light comedy. A male Kabuki actor, pampered as the adopted son of his famous father, realizes his acclaim is unearned. Spurned, he runs off with a woman from his household to make his own name in Osaka. It's a melodrama that is indeed very long.
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