Kwaidan (Criterion Collection) (2-DVD)
Bizarre, unearthly, terrifying - a nation's legend, an author's imagination, a director's creation manifest in the superlative - Kwaidan
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DVD Details
- Number of Discs: 2
- Rated: Not Rated
- Run Time: 3 hours, 3 minutes
- Video: Color
- Encoding: Region 1 (USA & Canada)
- Released: October 20, 2015
- Originally Released: 1964
- Label: Criterion Collection
Performers, Cast and Crew:
Starring | Rentarô Mikuni, Ganemon Nakamura, Katsuo Nakamura & Tatsuya Nakadai | |
Performer: | Michiyo Aratama & Keiko Kishi | |
Directed by | Masaki Kobayashi | |
Composition by | Tôru Takemitsu | |
Cinematography by | Yoshio Miyajima |
Major Awards:
Cannes 1965 -
Jury Prize: Not Applicable
Entertainment Reviews:
Rating: 5/5 --
A classic.
KPBS.org
The first episode builds an effective mood through its elliptical action and long, slow tracks through empty rooms, but this 1965 film soon levels off into academic stylization.
Full Review
Chicago Reader
Kwaidan is a psychological horror film for those who are seeking an utterly immersive experience.
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Senses of Cinema
What makes KWAIDAN singular is the combination of Kobayashi’s almost maddeningly patient, methodical approach to drama and his expressionistic experiments with color, sound, and theatrical artifice.
A.V. Club
It's not scary or particularly unsettling apart for a few exquisitely created images. It is, however, breathtakingly lovely, visually composed like a painting...
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Stream on Demand
Film is visually and physically stunning but its three tales of the supernatural are more intellectual than visceral.
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Variety
Rating: B --
A colorfully exotic offering but lacks the visceral power to explore the horror genre.
Full Review
Ozus' World Movie Reviews
Product Description:
Director Masaki Kobayashi invested five years of preparation before shooting this anthological adaptation of four tales of the supernatural by Lafcadio Hearn. The first, "Black Hair," stars Rentaro Mikuni as a poverty-stricken samurai who leaves his kind wife (Michiyo Aratama) to marry the daughter (Misako Watanabe) of a wealthy official. After years of misery with this woman he returns to his first wife to find a bitter surprise. In the second, "The Woman of the Snow," a woodcutter (Tatsuya Nakadai) and his brother take shelter from a snowstorm in a deserted hut. However, trouble arises when a strange woman (Keiko Kishi) appears. The third, "Hoichi the Earless," features a blind temple musician (Katsuo Nakamura), who is known for his mastery of the ballad of the Heike clan. A samurai ghost bids him sing the ballad at the Heike tomb, and Buddhist priests protect him by painting his body with a depiction of the sacred text. In the last tale, "In a Cup of Tea," a samurai (Ganemon Nakamura) famed for courage, has a recurring vision of the face of another samurai in his tea. Shot entirely on a soundstage to allow the director complete control of the film's palette, it's a stunning display of sensuous color, perfectly suited to these otherworldly tales of the macabre. Takemitsu's "musique concrete" score is eerily appropriate.