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Exquisitely designed and fastidiously ornate, Masaki Kobayashi's ambitious anthology operates less as a frightening example of horror and more as a meditative tribute to Japanese folklore. Read critic reviews
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Movie Info
Taking its title from an archaic Japanese word meaning "ghost story," this anthology adapts four folk tales. A penniless samurai (Rentarô Mikuni) marries for money with tragic results. A man stranded in a blizzard is saved by Yuki the Snow Maiden (Keiko Kishi), but his rescue comes at a cost. Blind musician Hoichi (Katsuo Nakamura) is forced to perform for an audience of ghosts. An author (Osamu Takizawa) relates the story of a samurai who sees another warrior's reflection in his teacup.
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Genre: Horror, Fantasy
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Original Language: Japanese
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Director: Masaki Kobayashi
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Producer: Shigeru Wakatsuki
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Writer: Yoko Mizuki
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Release Date (Theaters): original
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Release Date (Streaming):
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Runtime:
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Production Co: Toho Company Ltd.
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Critic Reviews for Kwaidan
Audience Reviews for Kwaidan
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As the title suggests, Masaki Kobayashi's "Kwaidan" is a collection of ghost stories: "The Black Hair" (approximately 35 minutes), "The Woman of the Snow" (41 minutes), "Hoichi the Earless" (71 minutes) and "In a Cup of Tea" (25 minutes). The film is more than the sum of its parts, because the grand impact of a three-hour epic overshadows individual segments that are long on atmosphere but a bit thin on plot. Really, one could summarize any of the premises in a sentence. Man dumps loving wife for woman from more prestigious family, has second thoughts and returns to first wife with unexpected results. Man saved from snowstorm death by mysterious woman, draws her wrath after breaking promise not to tell others. Blind man recruited to sing traditional ballads for a ghost army, has trouble backing out. Man magically sees another man's face in his tea, makes the mistake of wronging him. Simple tales, told with beautiful cinematography and sets. The film is entirely shot inside a studio -- even battle scenes on a lake -- and Kobayashi has great fun concocting impossible, painterly skies. Most memorably, "Woman of the Snow" even adds giant, ominous eyes hanging in the background.
eric b Super Reviewer -
Similar to <i>Ugetsu</i>. A chilling collection of Ghost Stories with haunting musical poignancy.
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Four supernatural Japanese folk tales: a samurai is haunted by regret when he leaves his poor wife for a rich one; a snow-spirit spares the life of a young man on one condition; ghosts demand a blind harpist perform for them; a man sees an apparition in a cup of water. Slow, beautiful, hypnotic, poetic; eye-popping sets and masterfully eerie music. A masterpiece.
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Spooky but not scary (it IS a PG rating) set of four Japanese ghost stories - Black Hair, The Woman In The Snow, Hoichi The Earless and In A Cup Of Tea - by Masaki Kobayashi. Beautifully fimed from the start, with brightly coloured inks spreading into water, and painted backdrops of sunsets and skies. Very slow too.. or mediative, depending on your point of view. Too slow for me.
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