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Kwaidan - Masters of Cinema series [1964]
![Kwaidan - Masters of Cinema series [1964]](http://ecx.images-amazon.com/images/I/41EMN17ZNZL._SL160_.jpg)
RRP: £19.99
Our Price: £12.99 (subject to change)
Editorial
Synopsis
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.
Simply stunning
Review date: 2008-06-09 Rating: 10 out of 10
Quite simply a visual feast, the attention to detail and the mood set by the back drops are remarkable. Simple and engaging tales very skillfuly told. Highly recomended.
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Reviews
Incredible!
Review date: 2008-05-14 Rating: 10 out of 10
The restoration is near flawless, and makes the Criterion look drab by comparison.
And we have 21 added minutes; A nice booklet synopsizing each story;
The sets and set designs are a wonder to behold......and many pretty long black-haired Japanese women.
You can see that THE GRUDGE et al are rip offs of this film.
Intellectual film covering mystic Japanese aspects
Review date: 2007-07-25 Rating: 10 out of 10
When I received the DVD from amazon.co.uk , I cherished hopes to experience the touch with the Japanese culture (music, lifestyle) and mystic things.
I did hope to remember the comments of the American professor, a good specialist of religion and anthropology who told about this movie for a large audience from Siauliai University after the private view with professors and students.
My expectations did not change...
I was surprised to find the small booklet with the text of the stories told in this film and additional comments on the film.
The film is interesting to watch and think about because it tells 4 interesting mystic stories covering Japanese life of the Middle ages and later periods.
The plots of the stories have the intrigue aspects and the moral teaching good things.
The soundtrack is interesting to listen, because the Japanese national instruments were used.
A good film, a must to have in your collection of DVD films...
Saw the original
Review date: 2006-12-18 Rating: 8 out of 10
I saw this movie when it first showed in the U.S. It is shot according to the Japanese principles of shibui--harmonious beauty, which contrasts with the "ghost" aspects of the simple stories. It is incredibly colorful (visually) and intense. "Hoichi the Earless" makes visible the trials of a reciter-singer of a medieval epic, who is called to the underworld to recite the history of the final battle between the Heike and the Genji before the assembled court of the losing Heike clan--and the movie shoots the images of tale the singer is recounting.
Japanese Folk & Ghost Tales
Review date: 2006-08-30 Rating: 6 out of 10
Kwaidan is a set of Japanese folk and ghost stories set in the era of the Samauri.
The backdrop to the sets are apparently hand-painted, and if that's true then they are spectacularly executed, with only one or two scenes betraying the fact that the landscape is other than as it seems. All the stories have a misty, fairie feel to them, both in scenery and style.
It's clearly folk-genre stuff, and as such the endings to some of the folk tales are clearly predictable yarns of what happens when promises are broken or someone has been treated unfairly.
But although not anything amazing, they are at least a memorable and enjoyable watch, and the DVD comes with a story book as well as an extra in a collectable-style box packaging.
Product Details/Specifications
Actor(s):
Rentaro Mikuni
Katsuo Nakamura
Creators:
Rentaro Mikuni (Primary Contributor)
Katsuo Nakamura (Primary Contributor)
Director(s):
Recording label: Eureka Entertainment Ltd
Manufacturer: Eureka Entertainment Ltd
EAN: 5060000402216
Binding: DVD
Number of items: 1
Format: Anamorphic, PAL, Subtitled,
Release date: 2006-05-29
Aspect ratio: 1.77:1
Audience rating: Parental Guidance
Region code: 2
Running time: 183 minutes
Theatrical release date: 1964
Language: English (Unknown)
Language: Japanese (Unknown)
Language: English (Subtitled)
Language: Japanese (Original Language)