Kwaidan - Criterion Collection | 
 enlarge | Director: Masaki Kobayashi
Actors: Rentaro Mikuni, Michiyo Aratama, Misako Watanabe, Tatsuya Nakadai, Keiko Kishi
Studio: Criterion
Category: DVD
List Price: $29.95
Buy New: $20.81
You Save: $9.14 (31%)
New (26) Used (9) from $17.99
Rating:  57 reviews
Sales Rank: 17312
Format: Anamorphic, Color, Dvd-video, Subtitled, Widescreen, Ntsc
Languages: English (Original Language), Japanese (Original Language), English (Subtitled)
Rating: Unrated
Number Of Items: 1
Running Time: 125
Aspect Ratio: 2.35:1
DVD Layers: 2
DVD Sides: 1
Picture Format: Anamorphic Widescreen
Shipping Weight (lbs): 0.3
Dimensions (in): 7.5 x 5 x 0.6
MPN: PMIDKWA020D
ISBN: 0780023552
UPC: 037429152027
EAN: 9780780023550
ASIN: B00004W3HF
Theatrical Release Date: November 22, 1965
Release Date: October 10, 2000
Availability: Usually ships in 1-2 business days
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Product Description
A sensuous and arresting use of color set design and wide screen cinematography creates for heart-pounding ghost stories from masaki kobayashi one of japans most stylized filmmakers. Each lyrical vignette is intensely composed in the style of an ancient scroll painting. Studio: Image Entertainment Release Date: 10/10/2000 Starring: Rentaro Mikuni Katsuo Nakamura Run time: 161 minutes Rating: Nr Director: Masaki Kobayashi
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
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| Customer Reviews: Read 52 more reviews...
 Exquisite and haunting January 7, 2009
Kwaidan is an anthology of exquisite and haunting ghost stories. Each story takes the viewer into that state between waking life and dreams. There are boundaries but no walls to separate the two worlds. Leaving a treeline, crossing a stream, or stepping through a threshold, the phantoms readily follow the dreamer back into his wakeful and once ordinary life.
The Criterion edition of Kwaidan is excellent. The transfer is beautiful.
Beautiful and eerie. Spellbinding. Theatrical. November 1, 2008
I endorse most every review before this one. Read them. Or just get the movie. The more I watched, the more i liked. Hoichi the Earless was my favorite... the biwa chants were ... quite ... tearfully good... (musicians take note, especially western guitarists and vocalists on the wildness and pure differentness)
I could spend many sentences advocating, but suffice it to say, if you like artful cinema and/or theater this movie is worth watching. Even if you end up not liking it, it's worth it to see.
But every minute I watched, I liked it more and more.... At least rent it. Any "art" house type movie watcher will appreciate it.
Cannes Jury award winner and Oscar nominated for best foreign film (you aren't the only ones who liked it!!)
 Would Be Five Stars Except For The Last Story July 18, 2008
I watched this film on TCM weeks ago and its is still with me. There are four stories of the supernatural featured in the film, and the final tale doesn't come across as complete as the first three (apparently the fourth tale was left out of the film for the American theatrical release in the Sixties). The story pictured on the cover is absolutely brilliant. The sets, the mood, the sound design... This and IKIRU are perhaps my favorite all time Japanese titles.
Not a film student? You will still love this movie! May 24, 2008
1 out of 1 found this review helpful
This movie is best described as a Japanese Twilight Zone - but it is so much more. It is not a "horror" movie. It is a painting rendered on film. I am no art house film buff. I'm just an average joe who has started watching lots of Japanese movies. I didn't know what to expect when I first saw this film - but it slowly grew on me. It was so beautiful, and rich in sound and color. It is like a waking dream. Something about this film keeps haunting me. If you have any interest in Japanese or foreign film, this is a must see. Also, Criterion is simply the best in DVD, so the price is worth it.
Immerse yourself in this haunting beauty April 21, 2008
5 out of 5 found this review helpful
You know, it's sad. Horror films, actually any genre of films, just don't come close to this anymore. They pale in comparison with the surreal tone, the haunting atmosphere, the elaborate and eerie set designs, the hypnotic sound effects.
These four ghost stories don't try to bludgeon your senses with graphic violence. Instead they pull you in with their vivid imagery. They entrance you, they invite you to become so deeply involved with their spellbinding fashion. Submerge yourself in these gripping, seductive tales of the supernatural.
Cinema at its finest.
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