View Larger Image |
Kwaidan - Criterion Collection Actors: Rentaro Mikuni, Michiyo Aratama Director: Masaki Kobayashi Number of Items: 1 Picture Format: Anamorphic Widescreen Format: Color, Widescreen Audience Rating: NR (Not Rated) Running Time: 164 minutes Studio: Criterion Collection Aspect Ratio: 2.35:1 Region Code: 1 Product Group: DVD Release Date: 2000-10-10 Buy from Amazon |
 "The best Japansese film written by a westerner!"This review is for the Criterion Collection DVD of the film. When seeing this film, one will be shocked that is based on the book written by an Irish/Greek man who lived in Japan for only the last 15 years of his life. The film has 4 seperate stories. Black Hair is about a man who divorces his wife for a richer woman. Woman of the Snow is about 2 woodcutters who get stranded during a blizzard. A snow vampire later finds them and kills the older man and spares the life of the other on a condition that he tells no one about what happened. Hoichi the Earless is about a blind young man who has a talent for reciting songs about a real life 12th century battle between the Heike and Genji clans. The ghosts of those killed in the battle summon him to their place of rest to perform for them. In a Cup of Tea is about a man who sees another man's reflection in his tea. The DVD only has the theatrical trailer for a special feature. The second episode is my favorite. "The most beautiful film i ever saw"I remember seeing this movie on halloween night of 2002 on IFC when they were playing the most beautiful and bizarre films ever made, after watching a lot of classic american horror films, i was already bored of watching them, because i already knew what was going to happen. I remember it was around 8 pm, noone home i was on the computer typing something and figure it wouldnt be worth sitting down watching these movie, until this movie the first of the six movies they were playing. The credits alone at the beginning of the film and the music made me want to watch it and discover what this fascinating piece of art was, i wouldnt even consider it a film, its more of 4 storys of art. So beautiful, i read somewhere that it was the first color japanese film in Japan and thats the reason why there is so much color. Something this beautiful can only be watch on a good dvd at night to see this dazzling piece. If you like this movie, check out the movie others the director did, i seen them all and they are very good. "Fascinating!"I just loved this movie after I finished watching it. That old-japanese-movie-style was perfect, showing and reiterating over and over again the great devotion that the Japaneses have to their culture. This movie was mainly based by two things: 1- The typical Asain superstition 2- The more than enthyusiastic and amazing stories of the samurais. From this movie, my favorite story was the last one, which was about a blind man who was offering his services to the temple, since he knew how to play excellently the japanese instrument, which I completely forgot its name. A ghost, an antique warrior from one of the first battles between two important clans, came to visit Oichi (who was the blind man) by being so that he could tell the history of that battle to warrior's queen, who was ghost as well... For many nights, Oichi went to sing the battle to the queen. Until one night, that the priest, that Oishi was working for, discovers that Oichi was singing for the ghosts... Finally, a helper from the priest writes the sacred text all over Oichi's body. Alas, the helper forgets to write it on Oichi's ears, so when the warrior came to visit Oishi one last time, he was able to see his ears, so he decided to cut them off...and Oichi finally becomes, Oichi the Earless. The great screenplay for each of the stories was just sublime! Very well-done, full of details... A must-see even if you aren't a lover of Asian movies!  "Tepid filmaking / drawn-out stories / not scary"This is one of those tried and true Criterion titles of yore, and let me tell you, it's a shaggy dog of a movie -- each one of these stories has the same frickin punchline -- it's.......a ghost! Whoooo! Although the premise for a couple of the stories is moderately eerie, their denoument is so obvious that one can only ask --- why is this movie so long? I know, it seems too good to be true, an epic widescreen Japanese horror film from the early 60s all styled out... and, it is too good to be true. The exceedingly outdated "special effects" are downright laughable, and everything has the look of the Toho backlot. The supernatural elements of Rashomon are much more intruiging than this entire film. I'm selling this one-discer.  "Organic Color!!!"The photography in this film is alive! The sets and costumes are vibrant and brilliantly hued and the cinematography captures it in all its painted glory! But besides that...the stories in this film are all interesting, with some very original ideas. They are four Japanese ghost stories, each one with either a surprise ending or a surreal plot twist that made me want to watch the next one. Some of the stories are genuinely creepy, while others are not so much creepy, but more along the lines of folklore, like tales form The Brothers Grim with an Eastern flavor. While I've read critical reviews hailing this as a masterpiece of traditional Japanese story-telling, I don't completely agree. There is plenty here to marvel at, and much of it does seem perfect for the time it was made(1965), but in the end it is a collection of ghost stories, well-made and thoughtfully produced, with memorable scenes that linger long after the film ends. This is a solid edition to my DVD collection, and it is easy to recommend. |
