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Staring:
Rentaro Mikuni,
Michiyo Aratama,
Misako Watanabe,
Tatsuya Nakadai,
Keiko Kishi
Average Customer Rating:  
List Price: $29.95
Our Price: $17.60
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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 Discs: 1
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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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
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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.
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.
A Ghostly Treasure, 2010-08-23
I've written it before, but will state it again: Nobody can do a Vampire/Ghost story like Asians. Their blending of terrifying images with what can only be described as "High Art" is unparalleled. KWAIDAN is a masterpiece of Japanese horror & cinema. I'm not sure if the viewer requires an appreciation of Asian art & story telling to fully appreciate what a gem this film is, but I suspect anyone open to cultural fusion will "get it."
The 4 stories in the movie are a great sampler of the Japanese horror genre. Filmed in 1964, I think it is way more interesting than THE GRUDGE today (and I liked THE GRUDGE.) The use of color & abstract sets is stunning. KWAIDAN references to traditional Asian theatre like Noh & Kabuki. There is a scene with a woman who is a Snow Vampire that is absolutely striking in its elemental beauty. Her face is completly dead white, framed by long raven black hair, soft blue spot lighting & her dark, penetrating eyes. She is phantastically gorgeous (they say an Asian woman is the Anima for a Caucasian man & after seeing this woman I can well believe it.) This story was lifted & transplanted in one of the TALES FROM THE DARKSIDE, THE MOVIE (first one I think.) In that rendition the Snow Woman is a gargoyle.
Another story opens with a highly stylized sea battle, pitting one noble Samari family against another. One family is completely wiped out, the wife having drowned herself & daughter when seeing her husband's forces defeated. They have all become ghosts & haunt the cemetery where their ashes are buried, marked by stone monuments. They design to have a blind boy visit them by night because he sings the story of their battle so well. He doesn't realize that they are ghosts. At dawn they fade back into their respective monuments. It's wonderful.
I can definitely recommend putchasing this one--or renting it, of course.
 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.
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?
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