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Good start, but then it gets ruined

The film makes a home in your brain and the only cure is to see it again.

A movie that not only functions as a solid scarefest but a razor-sharp satire.

All of these films share one commonality, that being a kind of emotional center that humanizes a cast of monsters.

Based on the writings of Lafcadio Hearn, who studied Japanese folklore and supernatural tales to form his novel Kwaidan: Stories and Studies of Strange Things, Kwaidan tells four stories, all varying in length, tone, and quality. The first, The Black Hair, depicts a samurai who abandons his loving wife in search of a rise in the social hierarchy, marrying into wealth after displaying his fine gift for archery on horseback. Spending years in deep regret, he returns back to his first wife only to find her physically the same, yet entirely different. The second, The Woman of the Snow, is a very simplistic tale of a man's encounter with the Yuki-onna, a pale woman with blue lips who lives in the snow, who warns the man that she would kill him if he told anyone about her.The stand-out segment is undoubtedly the third, Hoichi the Earless, a sweeping epic (in a portmanteau context) tale of a blind musician, Hoichi (Katsuo Nakamura), who's rendition of The Tale of the Heike (a multi-layered account of the long-standing conflict between the Taira and Minamoto clans in 12th century Japan), has gained him renown. The ghost of a warrior that perished during the decisive Battle of Dan-no- ura approaches Hoichi, informing him that his lord has demanded his presence in order to hear his legendary performance. After frequently disappearing during the night, Hoichi is followed and is seen to be playing to a graveyard full of ghosts. The fourth, which is the shortest, is the unfinished story In a Cup of Tea.Winner of the Grand Jury Prize at Cannes and nominated for the Best Foreign Language Film at the 1965 Academy Awards, Kwaidan is a masterwork of visual splendour, using bold explosions of colour, Expressionist sets, and dream-like, almost fairytale lighting. Hoichi the Earless begins with a beautiful re-telling of the Battle of Dan-no- ura, with lavish red and orange back-drops juxtaposed with the microscopically detailed artwork from the period, making it seem almost like a painting come to life, all with the sound of Hoichi's beautiful rendition of The Tale of the Heike. This comes straight after the rather gloomy Woman of the Snow, which uses blue lighting amidst a snowy terrain to create the most haunting of the tales on show.Yet Kwaidan is much more than visual elegance. It is deeply rooted in Japanese folk-lore, bringing to mind the Western tales of the Brothers Grimm, back when fairy-tales had a darker tone and social context. It is almost like lying in bed on a thunderous night reading ghost stories by candle-light. Director Makasi Kobayashi (director of The Human Condition trilogy (1959-1961) and Harakiri (1962)) seems especially fascinated and enchanted by these tales, giving each story its own visual style and colour scheme, and even dedicating the final segment to the many unfinished Japanese stories that end abruptly, shrouded in mystery, and ponders the fate of its author.Running at three hours, Kwaidan never feels strained or tired, and doesn't waste a second of its running time to create something you could easily freeze-frame and hang on your wall. Hoichi the Earless could have been a masterpiece on its own, and is the most fondly remembered of the quartet (the image of Hoichi screaming, clutching his butchered head has become iconic amongst fans of more obscure, art-house 'horror'). The final story does end the film on a sadly quite anti-climactic note however, being by far the poorest of the stories, telling a slightly silly, un-involving twenty-minute story about the reflection of a mysterious man in a cup of tea that appears later to a confused samurai. It jars with what came before, slightly ruining what is a nigh-on perfect trilogy of beautifully rendered films.www.the-wrath-of-blog.blogspot.com

KWAIDAN is a Japanese anthology of four ghost stories, each based on an original story by Lafcadio Hearn originally written at the turn of the 20th century (I've read some of those stories, and they're well worth checking out if you're a literature fan, by the way). The initial story explores the fate of a man who leaves his loving wife, only to end up regretting his decision. I found this story to be a bit overlong – there's only so long you can drag out something when nothing's happening – but lovely to look at and exceptionally spooky, along the same lines as a similar '60s classic, ONIBABA.The second story tells the tale of a vengeful snow spirit and is equally spooky, with some great hand-painted sky backdrops. Again, it's overlong, and the ending is something of a letdown, but the tale works as a whole and contributes to the icy atmosphere of the production. The third story is where things start to lose steam. It starts off promisingly enough, with a fine depiction of an epic sea battle, but then it goes absolutely nowhere with the plotting. The story is dragged out for a full hour – sometimes whole dialogues are repeated – until the admittedly decent climax.The final story, about a haunted cup of tea, works far more effectively than it sounds. It's of a far better length (read: shorter) and all the more effective because of that. Sadly, despite this film's beauty and visual artistry it does end up being way too long (at over three hours) and just too slow-moving for my taste, so I didn't enjoy it as much as I'd hoped. Certainly not a patch on ONIBABA: now that was a great movie!

This movie is absolutely excellent and I would say it is essential for anyone who is into horror movies. It captures the true essence of kwaidan - the ghost horror stories. The modern Japanese horror cinema builds over principles of kwaidan, but these stories are the true roots. To ignore them is like to watch modern horror movies and to ignore the medieval legends. In many cases you will find the modern bloodfests are pure butcher dreams without any emotions or purpose.The true essence of the kwaidan is a STORY. The horror builds over supernatural consequences of guilt, wrong life decisions and sin. Especially the very first story, the story of samurai who left the woman who loved him, is something that will be similar to many people who have been abandoned or decided to abandon other who loved them only to regret it later. The haunting from such betrayal may not be supernatural - many people have committed suicide or drunk themselves to death because of guilt. Sometimes you really cannot understand the real value of something until you have lost it. This story is very very powerful one! The second story is another story about the love, but with a very unusual twist. There are similar European legends to that but not a single one comes with the final twist - even when the main hero fails the test, even when he betrays the supernatural being, the being is still bound to him by the means of their children. Most of the European stories would end in tragedy or would lead to the second chance, but there is completely different and maybe yet more powerful outcome.The third story is probably most unusual by Western standards, even if it is based on real events. In West tradition if you behave badly to ghosts, they will punish you. If you favor them, they will reward you. There we are faced with something really strange - even if you favor the ghosts, your life can be still in grave danger.The last story feels almost unfinished, it is most strange and probably is the weakest one. I would definitely rearrange the stories so the more powerful would be the very last.But anyway, this movie excels on so many levels! The art level with painted backgrounds is simply amazing and makes the movie worth watching alone. The sound seems to be minimalistic, mostly it is just sound based on some sort of wooden instruments, string instruments and some flutes, yet it is absolutely spot on and again, you may enjoy the movie just because of that.If you are fan of Japanese cinema or you do love horror stories you really should see this one. It is definitely extraordinary movie that you will remember for a long time. I wish there would more movies like this one!

I thought this was interesting, even if I didn't really love it and I certainly don't think it is any kind of masterpiece. But interesting, sure. It reminded me of "Black Narcissus" (especially when you think of the final 20 minutes of that film!) in how it brings the artificial to life cinematically. Although here, in line with Kobayashi's style, this is a much more quiet and subdued film and its artificialness is played much more self-aware. I imagine viewers who are really interested in audacious and elaborate sets will go bonkers over this. Made up of four short stories, this is a film more of atmosphere and mood, images and sounds. The stories themselves are pretty simplistic, like Japanese folk-lore passed down from generation to generation, so you aren't going to get any complex story-telling out of this. But the filmmaking on display is rather grand. Kobayashi seems to know how to bring things to life, even in the most quiet ways. The slowly moving and zooming camera, the often changing lighting, the extremely minimal but very effective use of music and sound. The dialog is sparse and aside from the occasional narration, it's a work of images and sound blending together. I wasn't a big fan of the last section (although the ending was interesting), but I liked the other sections just fine. Kobayashi's films are usually deliberately paced, but this one is rather glacial, so let that be a warning. There is very little emphasis placed on character or even story. That said it remains quite intriguing for most of the time. I wouldn't say I would was ever scared, but definitely eerie at times. The sharp cracking noises as the camera slowly follows the samurai through the house in the first story. The howling wind and chilling lighting and atmosphere of the second story. The third one was the most drawn out, and really not scary at all, but I thought it had some great sequences -- in particular I loved the visualization of the painting, which was weird but mesmerizing at the same time. All in all, it's a bit of a mixed bag -- at times quite eerie and effective, at times a bit too artificial, and at times a bit dull -- but mostly it is an interesting viewing experience, with tremendous design and style. Long in the tooth, but worth it for one viewing at least. Given that it is told in 4 separate stories, you can even break it up, if you want.