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Staring: Rentarô Mikuni, Michiyo Aratama, Misako Watanabe, Kenjiro Ishiyama, Ranko Akagi
Director: Masaki Kobayashi
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Product Details
Aspect Ratio: 2.35:1
Audience Rating: Unrated
Binding: DVD
Brand: Image Entertainment
EAN: 9780780023550
Format: Anamorphic, Color, DVD, Subtitled, Widescreen, NTSC
ISBN: 0780023552
Label: Criterion
Manufacturer: Criterion
Number Of Items: 1
Publisher: Criterion
Region Code: 1
Release Date: 2000-10-10
Running Time: 125
Studio: Criterion
Theatrical Release Date: 1965-11-22

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Editorial Review
Description
Winner of the Special Jury Prize at Cannes, Kwaidan features four nightmarish tales in which terror thrives and demons lurk. Adapted from traditional Japanese ghost stories, this lavish, widescreen production drew extensively on Kobayashi's own training as a student of painting and fine arts. Criterion is proud to present Kwaidan in a new ravishing color transfer.

Amazon.com
A masterpiece of filmmaking artifice and mood-setting atmosphere, Kwaidan consists of four ghost stories adapted from the fiction of Greek-born Lafcadio Hearn (a.k.a. Yakumo Koizumi, 1850-1904), who assimilated into Japanese culture so thoroughly that his writings reveal no evidence of Western influence. So it is that these four cinematic interpretations--perhaps more accurately described as tales of spectral visitation--are sublimely Japanese in tone and texture, created entirely in a studio with frequently stunning results. There are painterly images here that remain the most beautiful and haunting in all of Japanese cinema, presented with the purity of silent film, sparsely accompanied by post-synchronized sounds and music (by Toru Takemitsu) that enhance the otherworldly effect of director Masaki Kobayashi's meticulous imagery. When viewed in a receptive frame of mind, Kwaidan can be intensely hypnotic.

Each of the four stories find their protagonists confronted by spirits that compel them to (respectively) make amends for past mistakes, maintain vows of silence, satisfy the yearnings of the undead, or capture phantoms that remain frightfully elusive. As each tale progresses, their supernatural elements grow increasingly intense and distant from the confines of reality. With careful use of glorious color and wide-screen composition, Kwaidan exists in a netherworld that is both real and imagined, its characters never quite sure they can trust what they've seen and heard. Vastly different from the more overt shocks of Western horror, the film casts a supernatural spell that remains timelessly effective. --Jeff Shannon

Customer Reviews

JUST A FORSAKEN CRITERION EDITION... REFUSE TO TAKE., 2009-04-16
Poor image quality was put onto a US theatrical cut of KOBAYASHI's masterpiece. What a shame! I'd rather believe Criterion didn't release this. In my opinion, MoC has released the best edition so far. Full-length director's cut, with brand new image restoration, although the trailer was lost, does it matter?

Art-house Snobs Love This Stuff, 2009-02-04
Kwaidan is an anthology of four horror stories (The Black Hair, The Woman of the Snow, Hoichi the Earless, In a Cup of Tea) that have inexplicably garnered the praises of many fans of Japanese cinema, thus earning itself an 8/10 average rating on IMDb. Unfortunately, the film simply doesn't deserve the high rating, and it most definitely does not deserve 164 minutes of anyone's time.

As a horror feature, Kwaidan fails miserably. Quite literally, there is not one scene in any of the short films that is even marginally disturbing. In fact, the attempted horror was so badly executed that it came off as comedic. (1) The Black Hair spends 95% of its running time with the rather boring life of a man who leaves his wife for money and prestige, only to end with an incredibly stupid resolution - a wig that twitches on the ground, making the man grow old quickly. (2) The Woman of the Snow started off promising, but then ended horribly with the ghost deciding not to kill the man, even though the entire story was based on that commitment. (3) Hoichi the Earless had one scene that was a bit gruesome, but the title of the film gave it away about an hour or so before it happened, thus diminishing its impact to almost nothing. (4) In a Cup of Tea employed the worst horror elements I've seen in some time. A man sees a man's smiling face in his cup of tea. Oooh, I'm scared. If anyone is looking for a few chills, stay far, far away from this one.

The lack of horror is not compensated in the least with interesting dialogue or dramatic elements. The acting is not very good, and almost no interesting narrative occurs in the films 164 minutes. When one tries to find some kind of point or moral to these stories, one finds that there is very little actual content to warrant an objective conclusion. The filmmakers seemed intent on creating the most superficial, meaningless plot lines and characters possible. The motives for the supernatural entities are usually ambiguous. In addition, Kwaidan was just plain boring. And no, I don't mean slow-paced; I mean boring. Tokyo Story was slow-paced, but interesting. Cure was slow-paced, but interesting. I could list another 50 deliberately-paced films that move slower than molasses in January, but were still riveting. Kwaidan is just boring.

There's almost nothing in this film that's noteworthy, but the exception to this is its cinematography. The special effects were used well to create an otherworldly atmosphere, especially in The Woman of the Snow. Of course, this is just window-dressing to an otherwise shallow, below-average film that is in the end not very entertaining at all.

What annoys me the most is when defenders of this film claim that it is far superior to Asian horror films made during the past decade. Such a claim is totally misguided. Kwaidan has NONE of the masterful storytelling found in A Tale of Two Sisters (2003), NONE of the impending doom-like atmosphere of Kairo (2001), NONE of the creepiness or cleverness of Ju-on: The Grudge 2 (2003 theatrical), NONE of the interesting concepts found in Cure (1997), and NONE of the psychological contributions seen in Audition (1999), just to name a few. Basically, Kwaidan has NOTHING memorable whatsoever, while the Asian horror films of the past decade have just about EVERYTHING except the convenient luxury of being made before 1970 - a time that Kwaidan lovers consider their Garden of Eden, where every movie was a "work of art" or a "masterpiece." Give me a break.

I ponder at the reasoning behind the high rating here. Then I remembered: it's a boring Japanese film made in 1964. That's just about enough to impress any art house snob, or anyone who wants to feel "cultured" by liking a really bad horror film from the 60s.

Ugetsu it isn't, 2009-07-23
All of the story lines are too predictable and overdone if not over"acted"...this is far off from the Japanese classic, Ugetsu. The beauty of the cinematography in this movie is symbolic and spirited, sometimes surreal, but cannot compare to that of the past masters.

Kudos for Kwaidan, 2009-02-16
Haunting sets and sound effects for this series of Japanese tales of fantasy and horror. Memorable and worthy of the awards won.

Kwaidan - Gorgeous Horror Film, 2010-01-29
For those looking for cheap jump scares and gory special effects creatures, steer clear of Kwaidan. You will be as disappointed as you will be confused. Kwaidan is a horror movie in the classic storytelling tradition. The horror is in the atmosphere and in the imagination of the viewer not in the jump cut or special effect. The film is simply gorgeous! It's more like a moving picture scroll than a film. Kwaidan has a dream-like quality that takes you into the realm of the subconscious world of fairy tale.

Kwaidan consists of four short stories.

Black Hair - is about a selfish samurai who abandons his poor wife to get position and a wealthy wife. He grows tired of her and his new life and longs for his old wife. Their reunion is bittersweet and ghoulish.

The Snow Woman - the beginning is just surreal with an imaginative painted backdrop from which the eyes of the snow spirit appear. It feels like stepping into one of those hoary old forests of fairy tales. Yuki Onna is the snow woman who freezes her victims. She represents the beauty and cruelty of winter. In this tale she lets a young woodsman live so long as he never tells his tale of their meeting.

Hoichi the Earless - this is my favorite story! It tells of a blind biwa player who unknowingly plays for the ghosts of a defeated samurai clan. The battle scenes are beautiful and sad. The colors, the imaginary, and the sound of the biwa combine to make this story a masterpiece in every respect. To protect Hoichi from these restless forlorn spirits, he is covered in Buddhist texts from head to toe all save his ears...

In a Tea Cup - this is a strange story that never really gets explained as the viewer will discover at the end. A samurai retainer to quench his thirst drinks from a tea cup from which the image of strange smiling man appears. Later the samurai is visited by this strange samurai and his retainers.

If you like movies and you like good old fashion ghost storytelling then Kwaidan is for you. Just the set pieces alone are worth watching the film for.

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