"Kwaidan" a masterpiece

David · #1 01-27-2005, 12:33 PM

What a masterly film! "Kwaidan" is like walking through an Old World museum: Kobayashi, the director, has the compositional eye & feel for color that you find in the Great Masters, like Rembrandt & Velasquez. There are scenes here that are literally among the most beautiful I've ever seen. The four episodes -- or tales -- are linked by a pervasive sense of cosmic dread & doom. In one or two of the tales, Mother Nature seems to be seeking redress for the wrongs of mankind. In the others, moral shortcomings presage spectral visitations, like Dickens's "A Christmas Carol." This film is regarded as a horror film only in its widest possible sense; this isn't slasher movie material filled with cheap shocks & bloodletting. These are tales (written by an American in the 19th century who went to live in Japan) more akin to the tales of Dickens, Saki ("The Open Window") & Poe ("Descent into the Maelstrom"). Each filmic tale is stately & lush, & virtually every scene is filmed on a soundstage. The music & sound were all post-synched, & add to the dreamlike atmosphere. It's a twilight world. (I think "Kwaidan" was enormously influential on Kurosawa's "Dreams" & even some of the later Tarkovsky films.)

If Ozu ("Tokyo Story") is the heart of Japanese cinema, Kobayashi is one of its greatest eyes. I recommend you add this to your NetFlix queue.

wondergirl9847 · #2 01-27-2005, 12:41 PM

Is this the one with the story of the guy in the blizzard? Dang, can't remember if that is the right movie or not. If it is, then, I've seen this one. VERY cool movie, that is, if this is the one I'm thinking of. LOL

ETA: I just went to IMDB and looked it up. I was thinking of the right one. The blizzard thing popped into my mind because it was updated in Tales from the Darkside, which I saw first and went, "Hey, that's where they got that story from!" when I saw Kwaidan. VERY cool movie because it's unique and interesting.

SuzeQuze · #3 01-27-2005, 12:51 PM

Sounds like a film Stevie would like. Is this film in English?

dissention · #4 01-27-2005, 02:33 PM

I saw Henry Rollins talking about it on his show on IFC and ordered it last night.

Criterion should be shot for their prices, though. I paid almost $40 for 3 Women and Short Cuts each.

SuzeQuze · #5 01-27-2005, 04:50 PM

Well I see it is in Japanese but according to IMDB there isn't a lot of dialog anyway. Subtitles don't bother me, I was just curious about the language it was in. I love movies that are visually stunning and I hope to get to see this one. Also, the tales seem really interesting, I love tales with supernatural and human nature themes.

Serrart · #6 01-27-2005, 06:14 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by SuzeQuze

Well I see it is in Japanese but according to IMDB there isn't a lot of dialog anyway. Subtitles don't bother me, I was just curious about the language it was in. I love movies that are visually stunning and I hope to get to see this one. Also, the tales seem really interesting, I love tales with supernatural and human nature themes.

If you love movies with strong visuals when it will be released in US (Spring I think), you should check 3 Iron (Binjip) by Kim Ki-Duk, there's almost no dialogue at all, but it's stunnigly beautiful, funny, sad, intense and passionate at the same time. He's an astonishing director even if some of his early movieas are quite violent, but he's trying all the genres. Another great movie by him is Spring, Summer, Fall, Winter... and Spring

Romy