Kwaidan (1964)

Kwaidan (Kaidan)
Directed by Misaki Kobayashi
Written by Yoko Mizuki from a novel by Lafcadio Hearn
1964/Japan
Bungei/Ninjin Club/Toho Company/Toyo Kogyo Kabushiki Kaiga
Repeat viewing/Netflix rental

[box] “Oh, very good,’ interrupted Snape, his lip curling. ‘Yes, it is easy to see that nearly six years of magical education have not been wasted on you, Potter. ‘Ghosts are transparent.” ― J.K. Rowling, Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince[/box]

Misaki Kobayashi delivers some of the most beautiful and spooky ghost stories ever.

The movie is an anthology of four different stories.  The first, “The Black Hair”, concerns an unemployed samurai who deserts his beautiful wife in favor of the wealth and fame provided by a royal marriage in another town.  Years later he looks up his first and only true love.

In “The Woman in the Snow”,  a ghostly maiden spares the life of a young man stranded in a blizzard.  In return, she makes him promise never to repeat the story.  Ten years later, he forgets his vow.

“Hoichi, the Earless” is the longest and most memorable segment.  It begins by depicting the tragedy when a samurai clan loses a sea battle.  Centuries later, the ghosts of the losing side seek to relive their defeat by luring a blind biwa player to recite the story.  It is all he and his friends can do to escape their clutches.  The final story is “A Cup of Tea”, an unfinished tale in which a samurai official is driven mad by the image he sees in a tea cup.

This film is just gorgeous.  The stories are told in a very theatrical, kabuki style with fantastic settings and costumes.  The sea battle in “Hoichi” is especially striking with stylized scenes of the struggle alternating with images from a scroll painting.  The narratives are measured and deliberate.  Those preferring action-packed horror should stay away.  Highly recommended to others.

I can’t believe the editors of 1001 Movies You Must See Before You Die totally dissed Kobayashi (Harakiri, Samurai Rebellion, The Human Condition), one of Japan’s really great filmmakers.

Kwaidan was an Academy-Award nominee for Best Foreign Language Film.

color and print quality much superior on DVD