Victory of Women
(Josei no Shori)

Screening on Film
Directed by Kenji Mizoguchi.
With Kinuyo Tanaka, Michiko Kuwano, Mitsuko Miura.
Japan, 1946, 35mm, black & white, 84 min.
Japanese with English subtitles.

Mizoguchi’s most politically outspoken film is clearly branded as a product of the US occupation by its insistent, ardent call for democratic reform and, most especially, for the empowerment of women. Mizoguchi’s only work with Ozu screenwriter Kogo Noda, Victory of Women features Kinuyo Tanaka as the embodiment of the possible new order, a lawyer fighting doggedly for a more just legal system and trying to rid Japan of its draconian penal system.

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Alain Kassanda,
2026 McMillan-Stewart Fellow