Ugetsu 4K Ultra HD Review

Estimated reading time: 7 minutes

Historical Roots & Artistic Vision

Mizoguchi Kenji’s Ugetsu (1953) transcends its origins as an adaptation of Ueda Akinari’s 18th-century ghost stories, weaving a tapestry of human folly against the backdrop of 16th-century Japan’s Sengoku period. Awarded the Silver Lion at Venice for its visionary direction, the film marries ethereal folklore with stark historical realism, drawing on Noh theater’s stylized melancholy and the moral rigor of samurai ethos. Mizoguchi’s meticulous recreation of feudal Japan—its war-torn villages, mist-shrouded landscapes, and spectral estates—serves as both setting and metaphor, immersing viewers in a world where ambition and delusion collide. 

A Fractured Quest for Glory

Two men, bound by kinship and shared desperation, embark on divergent paths: Genjūrō (Masayuki Mori), a potter lured by wealth, and Tobei (Ozawa Sakae), a farmer obsessed with samurai valor. As civil war ravages their village, they abandon their wives to chase dreams of grandeur. Genjūrō’s craftsmanship attracts Lady Wakasa (Machiko Kyō), an enigmatic noblewoman whose haunting allure masks a tragic secret, while Tobei dons scavenged armor to fabricate a warrior’s identity. Their journeys, steeped in hubris, unravel in parallel—one seduced by spectral luxury, the other by the hollow pageantry of war—leaving their wives to endure abandonment, violence, and despair. 

The Supernatural as Mirror to Human Frailty

Mizoguchi masterfully blurs the line between the tangible and the uncanny. Lady Wakasa’s ghostly estate becomes a liminal space where desire and death intertwine, her ethereal presence reflecting Genjūrō’s moral decay. Meanwhile, Tobei’s comedic ascent to “glory” starkly contrasts the visceral suffering of his wife, Ohama (Mitsuko Mito), whose resilience underscores the film’s gendered critique. The supernatural here is not mere spectacle but a lens through which Mizoguchi exposes the fragility of masculine ambition, juxtaposing fleeting triumphs with irreversible consequences. 

Cinematic Poetry & Moral Gravity

Renowned for its lyrical long takes and painterly composition, Ugetsu unfolds like a scroll of unfolding tragedy. Mizoguchi’s camera glides through chaos and stillness alike, framing characters against vast, indifferent landscapes—a visual metaphor for their insignificance in war’s machinery. The director’s aversion to close-ups amplifies the emotional distance, forcing audiences to confront the collective cost of individualism. Yet, within this austere aesthetic lies profound tenderness, particularly in the performances: Kyō’s chilling vulnerability as Wakasa, Mori’s gradual unraveling, and Kinuyo Tanaka’s silent anguish as Genjūrō’s wife, Miyagi, anchor the film’s existential dread. 

Legacy: A Masterpiece of Subversion

Though Mizoguchi was already a titan of Japanese cinema, Ugetsu cemented his reputation as a poet of human frailty. Its influence reverberated through the works of Kurosawa Akira and later auteurs, who admired its seamless fusion of myth and social critique. The film’s “happy” resolution—a reunion steeped in spectral ambiguity—subverts traditional closure, leaving audiences to grapple with the scars of war and the futility of escape. More than a ghost story, Ugetsu endures as a meditation on the illusions that sustain and destroy us, a timeless reminder that the pursuit of grandeur often eclipses the humanity it seeks to elevate.

The Video

This 4K Ultra HD disc release of Ugetsu from Criterion Collection is from the same 4K restoration originally released by Criterion on Blu-ray. The 4K digital restoration was supervised by Miyajima Masahiro and Martin Scorsese. The 4K transfer was undertaken from a 35mm fine-grain positive and a 35mm duplicate negative at Cineric, Inc. by The Film Foundation and Kadokawa Corporation with funding from The Hollywood Foreign Press Association. It is given a 1.37:1 HEVC 2160p (4K UHD) SDR encodement on 4K disc. The difference between the Blu-ray and 4K are not night and day, but the 4K disc does have a slightly more refined grain structure.

The Audio

The audio for this 4K release is also the same as the previous Blu-ray release. The original monaural soundtrack was remastered from a 35mm optical soundtrack print and restored by Audio Mechanics in Burbank, California. The sound is a little boxy, but it is intelligible and clean with minimal hiss and pops. It is presented in a LPCM 1.0 track.

The Supplements

The disappointing thing here is that Criterion offers absolutely nothing new in this release, not even new artwork. Everything included here was previously released in the Blu-ray edition of Ugetsu from Criterion Collection.

• 72-page book featuring an essay by film critic Phillip Lopate and three short stories that inspired the film.
• Commentary featuring filmmaker, critic, and festival programmer with a special interest in East Asian cinemas, Tony Rayns, recorded in New York City in June 2005.
• Interviews:
  • Masahiro Shinoda (1.78:1; 1080i up-scaled; 00:14:09) – The director of such classics as Pale Flower (1964), Samurai Spy (1965), and Double Suicide (1969), considers Ugetsu one of cinema’s crowning achievements. This interview took place in Tokyo in May 2005.
  • Tokuzo Tanaka (1.78:1; 1080i up-scaled; 00:20:13) – The first assistant director on Ugetsu, Tokuzo Tanaka would go on to direct several films in the famous Zatoichi series, starring Shintaro Katsu. This interview with him talking about his work with director Kenji Mizoguchi took place in Tokyo in May 2005.
  • Kazuo Miyagawa (1.33:1; 1080i up-scaled; 00:10:32) – One of cinematography’s finest talents, Kazuo Miyagawa shot a number of Japan’s most celebrated films, including Akira Kurosawa’s Rashomon (1950); Kenji Mizoguchi’s Ugetsu (1953), Sansho the Bailiff (1954), and Street of Shame (1956); and Yasujiro Ozu’s Floating Weeds (1959). This interview was recorded in 1992 for the Criterion Collection laserdisc release.
• Trailers:
  • Japanese Trailer
  • Spanish Trailer (incomplete)
• Kenji Mizoguchi: The Life of a Film Director (1.33:1; 1080p/24; 02:29:54) – This 1975 documentary offers an extraordinary look at Kenji Mizoguchi’s thirty-year filmmaking career, from his beginnings in the silent era to his international success with late masterpieces such as Ugetsu and Sancho the Bailiff. Director Kaneto Shindo (The Naked island, Onibaba) presents dozens of interviews with Mizoguchi’s friends and collaborators, including his muse Kinuyo Tanaka, cinematographer Kazuo Miyagawa, and longtime producer Masaichi Nagata.

The Final Assessment

This release ups the ante for the home video release of this classic Japanese film, never looking better, but it is not necessarily a required upgrade for anyone who already owns the Blu-ray release from Criterion.

Ugetsu is out on 4K Ultra HD + Blu-ray April 1, 2025 from Criterion Collection

• Rating Certificate: Not Rated
• Studios & Distributors: Daiei Studios
• Director: Kenji Mizoguchi
• Written By: Hisakazu Tsuji | Akinari Ueda | Matsutarô Kawaguchi
• Run Time: 97 Mins.
• Aspect Ratio: 1.37:1
• Video Format: HEVC 2160p (4K UHD)
• HDR Format: SDR
• Primary Audio: Japanese LPCM 1.0
• Subtitles: English
• Street Date 1 April 2025