Legado del expresionismo alemán en la película de MizoguchiKenji Ugetsu-monogatari

In Japan, German expressionist cinema arrived around 1920, most notably The Cabinet of Dr. Caligari (released in Japan in 1921), which had a great impact on Japanese filmmakers at the time. However, this influence failed to leave a mark on the history of Japanese cinema.This was not due to the lack of quality of the works that came to Japan, but because the country was not yet ready to accept such an avant-garde, non-realistic style. For example, the famous filmmaker Mizoguchi Kenji tried to create a work in the style of Caligari titled Chi to rei (1923: Blood and Soul), but it turned out to be a total failure. After this bad experience, Mizoguchi never made expressionist films again. However, it is possible to find traces of this influence in some of his later works, such as in the use of the contrast between light and shadow, the symbolism of fog or grotesque human gestures. In this research, we will analyze how German expressionism influenced Mizoguchi's film The Pale Moon of August (1953: Ugetsu monogatari), comparing it with other German expressionist works such as Nosferatu (1922).