Kwaidan (Masters of Cinema)

Star Review

Masaki Kobayashi’s Kwaidan (1964) – presented in its complete, 183-minute cut – offers four short adaptations of Lafcadio Hearn's Japanese folk tales involving ghosts. In stunning widescreen compositions and vivid colours (Kobayashi was trained as a painter), each segment is a highly stylized and deliberately artificial parable filmed on mammoth, hand-painted sets (constructed in an abandoned airport hangar). The film’s sounds were dubbed afterward, creating an unnerving sense of minimalism: each setting – whether a palace exterior, a cabin in the woods, or a chaotic samurai battle on the sea – coexists with a rigorous selection of sonic textures generating a haunting sense of otherworldliness.

The two initial stories are morality tales. The first depicts a man who leaves his wife to seek fame and fortune; when he returns many years later he encounters her in an unexpected state; the second concerns a horrific vision witnessed by a man lost in a snowstorm whose is sworn to eternal secrecy. The third portrays how a deceased clan of samurai seeks the skills of a young musician in order to aid their restful existence in the afterlife. The final tale is the most lively, a macabre story about a warrior who continually perceives another man's reflection whenever he peers into a bowl of liquid.

Unlike much of the cinematic horror that would follow (including today’s “J-Horror” cult films), Kwaidan excels at suggestion, atmosphere, and tragic literary themes of loyalty, integrity, and loss rather than shock tactics and gore. It’s a lovely, operatic vision that nevertheless whispers its disquieting tones in subtle and memorable ways.

Doug Cummings on 3rd May 2006

View all 26 of Doug Cummings’s reviews

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Film Description

Four nightmarish tales adapted from Lafcadio Hearn's classic Japanese ghost stories. This lavish, 'scope production drew extensively on Kobayashi's own training as a student of painting and fine arts. Its poetic expression is just about unmatched in Japanese cinema - breathtakingly photographed on handpainted sets and with an electronic soundtrack by avant-garde composer Toru Takemitsu, the tales are all of mortals caught by forces beyond their comprehension when the supernatural world intervenes in their lives. This is the complete 183-minute original Japanese cut.

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DVD Extras

• New progressive transfer of the complete 183-minute Japanese version
• A selection of original trailers
• Promotional material gallery
• New and improved optional English subtitles
• Special 72-page illustrated book with reprints of Lafcadio Hearn's original ghost stories
• a survey of the life and career of Masaki Kobayashi by Linda Hoaglund and a wide-ranging interview with the filmmaker ? the last he ever gave.

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