26.6.10

kwaidan (1964)

AKA Kaidan. Ghost Stories.
"I've had enough of poverty."
Four tales of horror and suspense. First 'Black Hair': A poor samurai divorces his true love to marry into money. When the marriage is a disaster he returns to his first love, but somethings not right. Then we have, 'The Woman in the Snow': When a woodcutter is stranded in a snowstorm he meets an ice spirit who spares his life, but only as long as he never tells anyone...Third we have 'Hoichi the Earless'. Hoichi is a blind musician who sings so well he gets an imperial command to sing to the court. But the court is not as Hoichi thinks. Finally we have 'In a Cup of Tea': a writer tells of a man who sees a mysterious face reflected in his cup of tea.
A masterpiece of suspense, beautifully cinema-graphed stories unfurl at a leisurely pace, building the unease.

No comments:

Post a Comment