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Did you people see the same film I saw?

I cannot think of one single thing that I would change about this film. The acting is incomparable, the directing deft, and the writing poignantly brilliant.

There are moments in this movie where the great movie it could've been peek out... They're fleeting, here, but they're worth savoring, and they happen often enough to make it worth your while.

It is a whirlwind of delight --- attractive actors, stunning couture, spectacular sets and outrageous parties. It's a feast for the eyes. But what really makes this dramedy work is the acting.

The cinematography, the actors, the symbols. Everything is perfectly placed to create a tale of lust, obsession, and betrayal. At first, I wasn't sure if I liked this movie. But toward the middle, the more the plot spun into what seemed like a million different twists I hadn't seen coming, the more and more I trusted this film knew what it was doing. I won't give anything away. But fans of Junji Ito's Tomie would approve of this one. //Little light on the gore though. XD

I really love this film, for no better reason than to watch, eyes agape and heart throbbing, at the beautiful performance of Ayako Wakao as Mitsuko. Mitsuko is SO charming, seductive and sexy in this, that I almost pay no attention to the somewhat twisty plot of the movie. It has something to do with wily women working their wicked ways on each other and a couple of men in their lives. And it all ends up in a sort of crazy, tragic finale. But none of that really matters to me. What's important is to watch Mitsuko – truly one of the most charmingly seductive flirts to ever grace the screen.I marvel at every breathless syllable, every sly tilt of the head, every deceitful flicker of the eyes that this woman carries out. Perfection! Nice hair, too! She is so fluid and natural, that one never entertains the notion that this is an actress performing a role. I've had the opportunity to see Ms. Wakao in other films, where she can be much more cold and reserved, so this performance of hers in Manji was truly a pleasant surprise, and really, quite a gift to someone like me who appreciates a woman's charm and beauty – in spite of the fact that, in this film anyway, it's all for the most manipulative of reasons.I would add that there is excellent supporting work done by Kyoko Kishida (Sonoko) who plays opposite Mitsuko as the woman who falls irrevocably under her spell. Her final line at the end of the movie is so heart-wrenchingly memorable. (I couldn't help but think that it would have been great if they could have gotten Toshiro Mifune to play the part of her husband.) The DVD from which I viewed this (2002 release, letterbox format) is a very nice transfer but for one small segment where, for some strange reason, the colors nearly vanished and the picture went to a near-sepia tone. The movie was beautifully filmed - thankfully in color - and features nice use of color in areas such as costumes and set design. And I'll just add one more gratuitous nod to the beauty of Mitsuko: the use of color ensures that she looks ravishing in her print dresses. One other area of note: the very effective background music. At times it has a rather somber, foreboding element, somewhat resembling the slow, deliberate piano intro of Rachmaninoff's Piano Concerto No. 2.All in all a nicely done, memorable movie, but I'll always remember it for Mitsuko.

Another aesthetic triumph of obsession from the accomplished director of "Blind Beast" and "The Razor 2: The Snare" -- to name only two of his 60+ films.It is a tale of love gone mad, a visually sumptuous melodrama told in flashback by Kyoko Kashida, who plays a bored, cashed-up wife (Sonoko) who falls hard for the beautiful, manipulative, engaged Mitsuko (Ayako Wakao). Her fanatical love and jealousy create massive fissures in her marriage, even triggering unpredictable, outrageous changes in her husband Eijiro (Yasuke Kawazu).The soap opera-like machinations of what, for a time, is a quadrangle of love and possession, are fascinating to witness thanks to the solid, audacious screenplay from writer Kaneto Shindo, the director and writer of the classic "Onibaba".Some visual passages of the film -- bodies shot through rippling fabric, shadows dancing on flesh, restrained, delicate love scenes of steamy eroticism, the use of an elegant score -- made me think that the film probably influenced the look and tone of Hong Kong director Wong Kar Wai's "In The Mood For Love".The love of "Manji" is a doomed, impossible ideal that can not exist in harmony with anything else. Director Masumura adheres strictly to this viewpoint until the final, tragic revelation.

What do you get when you combine early-60's hairdo's and makeup, histrionic Japanese love triangles and forbidden lesbian passion? In this case, a wonderfully bonkers movie that deserves a larger cult audience.Any movie that features blood oaths, suicide pacts, taboo love affairs and a wife screaming "You don't love me enough! I need more love!" is one I'll want to see again and again. (Too bad it's so hard to come by in the U.S. -- the film screened recently at the American Cinematheque and Outfest in L.A., and at the San Francisco Gay/Lesbian Film Festival, but apparently only after much paperwork with Japan. Still, if you actually get a chance to see it, DO NOT MISS IT!