Kenji Mizoguchi (16 May 1898 – 24 August 1956) was a Japanese film director and screenwriter. His film Ugetsu (1953) won the Silver Lion at the Venice Film Festival, and appeared in the Sight & Sound Critics' Top Ten Poll in 1962 and 1972. Mizoguchi is renowned for his mastery of the long take and mise-en-scène. His films have an extraordinary force and purity. They shake and move the viewer by the power, refinement and compassion with which they confront human suffering.