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Kwaidan - Criterion Collection

starring: Rentaro Mikuni, Michiyo Aratama, Misako Watanabe, Tatsuya Nakadai, Keiko Kishi
directed by: Masaki Kobayashi

: Kwaidan - Criterion Collection
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Aspect Ratio: 2.35:1
Audience Rating: Unrated
Binding: DVD
Brand: Image Entertainment
EAN: 9780780023550
Format: Anamorphic, Color, DVD-Video, Subtitled, Widescreen, NTSC
ISBN: 0780023552
Label: Criterion
Manufacturer: Criterion
Number Of Items: 1
Picture Format: Anamorphic Widescreen
Publisher: Criterion
Region Code: 1
Release Date: October 10, 2000
Running Time: 125 minutes
Sales Rank: 18840
Studio: Criterion
Theatrical Release Date: November 22, 1965



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Editorial Review:

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



Customer Reviews
Average Rating: out of 5 stars

Rating: 5 out of 5 stars - Beautiful and eerie. Spellbinding. Theatrical.
I endorse most every review before this one. Read them. Or just get the movie. The more I watched, ... Read More


Rating: 4 out of 5 stars - Would Be Five Stars Except For The Last Story
I watched this film on TCM weeks ago and its is still with me. There are four stories of the supernatural ... Read More


Rating: 5 out of 5 stars - Not a film student? You will still love this movie!
This movie is best described as a Japanese Twilight Zone - but it is so much more. It is not a "horror" movie. ... Read More


Rating: 5 out of 5 stars - Immerse yourself in this haunting beauty
You know, it's sad. Horror films, actually any genre of films, just don't come close to this anymore. They pale ... Read More


Rating: 5 out of 5 stars - A Meticulously Crafted Masterpiece that will Endure in the Annals of Japanese cinema....Horror or otherwise!
When one thinks of Japanese horror in the U.S., there seems to be one stereo type that abound to most recent films. ... Read More

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Copyright ©2003, Mark Carey.