Movielogr
Kwaidan (1965)
Directed by Masaki Kobayashi
Twitter Facebook Google+Horror | Drama | Supernatural
Most recently watched by sensoria
Overview
Taking its title from an archaic Japanese word meaning “ghost story,” this anthology adapts four folk tales. A penniless samurai marries for money with tragic results. A man stranded in a blizzard is saved by Yuki the Snow Maiden, but his rescue comes at a cost. Blind musician Hoichi is forced to perform for an audience of ghosts. An author relates the story of a samurai who sees another warrior’s reflection in his teacup.
Length 183 minutes
Actors
Michiyo Aratama | Misako Watanabe | Rentarô Mikuni | Kenjiro Ishiyama | Ranko Akagi | Fumie Kitahara | Kappei Matsumoto | Yoshiko Ieda | Otome Tsukimiya | Kenzô Tanaka | Kiyoshi Nakano | Tatsuya Nakadai | Keiko Kishi | Yûko Mochizuki | Kin Sugai | Noriko Sengoku | Akiko Nomura | Torahiko Hamada | Jun Hamamura | Katsuo Nakamura | Tetsurō Tamba | Takashi Shimura | Yoichi Hayashi | Eiko Muramatsu | Kunie Tanaka | Kazuo Kitamura | Ichirô Nakatani | Masanori Tomotake | Tokue Hanazawa | Shizue Natsukawa | Shin Tatsuoka | Makiko Kitashiro | Masakazu Kuwayama | Mutsuhiko Tsurumaru | Akira Tani | Yôsuke Kondô | Kiyoshi Yamamoto | Kinji Omino | Atsuo Nakamura | Ginzô Sekiguchi | Akio Miyabe | Gen'ya Nagai | Toru Uchida | Hikaru Jinno | Toshio Fukuhara | Kirô Abe | Toshiro Yagi | Yuriko Abe | Yuri Satô | Kyôichi Satô | Nobuo Aikawa | Taiji Kodama | Nobuaki Maeda | Teruhiko Shibata | Haruo Kaji | Michio Gina | Seiji Tabe | Mitsuko Narita | Noriko Mikura | Aiko Nagayama | Michiko Nakahata | Kan'emon Nakamura | Osamu Takizawa | Haruko Sugimura | Noboru Nakaya | Seiji Miyaguchi | Kei Satō | Shigeru Kôyama | Jun Tazaki | Junkichi Orimoto | Akiji Kobayashi | Yoshirô Aoki | Isao Tamagawa | Hideyo Amamoto | Ganjirô Nakamura
Viewing History (seen 1 time)
| Date Viewed | Device | Format | Source | Rating |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 10/17/2013 | TV | DVD | Library | 7.5 stars |
| (Average) 7.5 stars |
Viewing Notes
Longtime blindspot that I’ve put off simply because this film is nearly 3 hours long (apparently there is a cut that is 183 minutes; the Criterion is the original JP release of 161 minutes). But this anthology of ghost stories and folklore is pretty damn good despite the length altho I don’t think the final segment is needed (or very good) compared to the front three segments.
I love the first two segments, Black Hair and Woman of the Snow. And both are a proper length for an anthology. The third segment, Hoichi the Earless, is very good but twice as long as the other segments. Maybe longer. Didn’t need to be to tell that story.
Another great thing about Kobayashi’s film is that he recruited a who’s who of Japanese actors. This is filled with so many popular actors of that time. There are a few missing faces likely absent due to their studio contracts.
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