Taking its title from an archaic Japanese word meaning "ghost story," this anthology adapts four folk tales. A penniless samurai marries for money with tragic results. A man stranded in a blizzard is saved by Yuki the Snow Maiden, but his rescue comes at a cost. Blind musician Hoichi is forced to perform for an audience of ghosts. An author relates the story of a samurai who sees another warrior's reflection in his teacup.
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Reviews
Good concept, poorly executed.
Unshakable, witty and deeply felt, the film will be paying emotional dividends for a long, long time.
Great movie. Not sure what people expected but I found it highly entertaining.
The plot isn't so bad, but the pace of storytelling is too slow which makes people bored. Certain moments are so obvious and unnecessary for the main plot. I would've fast-forwarded those moments if it was an online streaming. The ending looks like implying a sequel, not sure if this movie will get one
While not as personal as Kobayashi's Samurai Rebellion or Harakiri, Kwaidan is nevertheless an exceptional gem due to its impeccable visuals, hypnotizing slow pacing and stunning set design.It is a film that consists of four stories that are not connected to eachother by any means except for the fact that they are all eerily similar in their supernatural and unsettling nature. Some people claim this detracts from the relatability of the characters in the film, but this truly isn't really the case since in all four stories we have characters that are brilliantly developed due to the fact that despite the relatively short running time of each story, we get to know their character and their motivations from the start and also because of some great acting. ( Featuring performances from some of Japan's best Tatsuya Nakadai & Takashi Shimura, in separate stories. ) It is classified as horror primarily because of its supernatural and afterlife themes and unsettling atmosphere, but it doesn't rely on cheap jump scares to convey this unsettling feeling in the audience like a lot of modern horror movies do. It seeks to explore the fearful spiritual part in every human being and conveys this with its surreal imagery and eerie soundtrack, combined with fantastic make up and set design. It also still manages to set principles on right and wrong in a world so spiritual, and the first story 'The Black Hair' shows this best with our main character abandoning his wife due to financial reasons and finding out years later that this choice was not the most humane one to make, and it also shows us that there is no going back after the choice is made. It also shows us that the reason for these spirits being in the film is generally because of the delusion our main characters have, and we are often shown what THEY ( Main characters ) feel and think, and not what is truly happening, enhancing immersion into the characters significantly.However, Kwaidan's real strength is its cinematography and its absolutely stunningly beautiful images. It uses surreal imagery on the skies and beautiful uses of fog to signify the afterlife and the world of the spirits, and it uses normal shots of the skies to signify the human world. Its set design is incredible. Whether it be long grass in 'The Black Hair', the snow hut in 'Woman in the Snow', the incredible mansion or sea battle in 'Hoichi the Earless', every visual tells its story and every shot is such a piece of art that it is beautiful to look at. There have to be dozens of shots in this film that can be paused and captured as an incredible image. Kobayashi uses smooth flowing camera movements and pans that always seem so natural and dynamic because of his exceptional directorial skills. There is minimal dialogue because most of the story is already told by the imagery, and Kobayashi is never the director that insults the audience's intelligence by stating obvious things with his dialogue, and therefore every piece of dialogue seems necessary and relevant.Kwaidan might not be as emotionally powerful as Kobayashi's Human Condition trilogy, Harakiri or Samurai Rebellion, but it is one of the greatest visual experiences one could hope to get, and it is also a fantastic study on exploring the flaws in the human race due to its ability to show spirits as a form of delusion created by men to make up for their flaws.
FILM REVIEW - I am in LOVE with this film. Being an avid horror fan, I got to check on my classics too. Heard a lot of praises over this 1964 Japanese Horror Masterpiece from so many critics. Being selected as part of the Criterion Collection says a lot. KWAIDAN is a collection of ghost stories that is part allegory and folklore. Four tales are told that will make you see hair, snow, body art, and tea in a while other way. My favorite has to be THE WOMAN OF THE SNOW and HOICHI THE EARLESS. Although every story had some impressive cinematography, these two stand out with the snow storm scene and creepy stories. Fans of TALES FROM THE DARK SIDE, CREEPSHOW, HOUSE (1977), and Japanese classics will appreciate this jem. P.S.- If you have short attention spans, it will test your patience (it's 3 hours long).
Watched this one on Hulu's Criterion Collection...It was interesting enough, but seemed uneven, to me...Black Hair, the lead vignette, as others had mentioned, bogged down, IMO, with the Samurai horse archery scene, before reeling to its Gothic ending...Woman of the Snow was both interesting and beautifully filmed, with its watercolor panoramas, separating the outdoor scenes, SPOILER ALERT, its ending was not quite what I expected, with Yuki's mother instinct, apparently, not wanting to orphan her children.Hoichi the Earless, kicks off with a genuine, and reasonably accurate depiction (even down to the blackened teeth of the Heike!) of the Battle of Dan-no-ura, a pivotal sea battle (in the Samurai style, where ships were just platforms for infantry and archers) of the Genpei War of 1180-1185, that ushered in the first Shogunate, as the Genji (Minamoto) clan defeated the Heike (Tiara)Clan. Emperor Antoku, a 6 year old descendant of the Heike was drowned by his grandmother, who jumped into the Shimonoseki Strait with the child Emperor in her arms, rather than allow him to be captured by the Genji, following the mass suicide, by drowning, of many of the Heike clan, when defeat seemed inevitable...a brief cut that shows the Heike crabs, whose shells seem to have a warrior's face, significance is often lost on western audiences, unfamiliar with Japanese history and beliefs...After the battle, superstition held that the faces on the crabs reflected the spirits of the drowned Heike warriors, the "ghosts" that call Hoichi to play at Emperor Ankotu's court...my feeling is that the long setup, and brief epilogue, makes the "payoff" of this tale a little disappointing, but reading other accounts, there seems to be an extended version of this section, that highlights the Biwa playing, and ties ends up better, but, on the Hulu version, that I watched, the ending seems a bit abrupt...Also, IMO, Hoichi lacks the cinematic flair and beauty of the "Black Hair" and "Woman of the Snow"Finally, In a Cup of Tea, a story about telling an unfinished story, examining the consequences of drinking another's soul, that for reasons inexplicable (or incomprehensible to me), seems to reside in a cup of tea. As I speak none of the language, and had to depend on subtitles, I didn't completely understand this tale. It appeared, to me, more of a tale of madness and delusion, rather than a "supernatural" event as it wound down to its , shockingly, ironic conclusion, SPOILER ALERT! involving the author of the story...also, the visuals, lacked the boldness and beauty of the first two vignettes...This is the third film by Kobayashi I have seen, and would place it behind Seppuku (Harakiri) and Samurai Rebellion, as far as story telling, perhaps simply because they are more focused tales, rather than a collection of short stories, although, the Gothic horror of Black Hair, and the stunning outdoor scenes of Woman of the Snow, are superior to the other films mentioned, visually.In summary, Kaidan seems more an interesting experiment, that reminded this viewer of Twilight Zone or Night Gallery quality stories, with more attention to visuals than the aforementioned TV shows.
I really don't like classic Hollywood horror movies, with their slow build ups and loud music mostly because I have seen many horror movies and I can predict what is going to happen in most cases which takes out the suspense and I hate the loud music of those movie. But this one is an exception. It helped a lot that it was a Japanese movie so everything still felt fresh. It is very atmospheric and cinematography is amazing. Though I sometimes wished that they had a bigger budget so that they could shoot some scenes on location rather than in a studio, the film really escapes the limits of budget. There are many surreal scenes which you cannot imagine being any better with bigger budget.Kwaidan is collection of four stories and as is the case for many of this type of films, I loved the first two stories much more than the last two. Third story runs a little long and some scenes are redundant. It may have been good pacing by standards of 1964 but now it seemed a little slow. Still a very good movie overall with some really good atmosphere. They have made a very creative use of available resources and the movie is not even a bit dated.