KWAIDAN - the greatly influential Japanese horror film
June 6th 2010 15:10
In a word - stunning. Masaki Kobayashi’s film Kwaidan is so ahead of it’s time, that since it’s release in 1965 it has been the pioneering piece for all other masterworks of Asian horror cinema and an influence on many other great films that have been mood pieces (Bram Stoker’s Dracula, Mishima: A Life In 4 Chapters).
Kwaidan consists of four ghost stories adapted from the fiction of Greek-born Lafcadio Hearn (a.k.a. Yakumo Koizumi), who assimilated into Japanese culture so completely, that his writings gave no indication of Western influence. These four cinematic adaptations run deeply in Japanese tone and texture capturing an ethereal and discomforting world of Japanese culture as these four tales explore human folly colliding with the world of dead souls and spectral visitations. Filmed all in a studio, complete with fake backdrops and a tendency for highly theatrical production design, these painterly images and their vivid colour and lighting remain the most beautiful and haunting in all of Japanese cinema. Envisioned in an elegantly sparse feel as well as giant scope, it’s post-sync sound, dead air and uncomfortably grating and disturbing music by Toru Takemitsu create an unsettling atmosphere like no other. Kwaidan, in all it’s glory is utterly eerie and positively hypnotic.
Starring my favourite Japanese actor Michiyo Aratama (Sword Of Doom, Samurai Assassin, The End Of Summer) as well as Rentarô Mikuni (Vengeance Is Mine, Burmese Harp, Zatoichi), each of these many actors are merely a tool Kobayashi uses, as he weaves them into the stitching of this finely crafted picture. Kwaidan runs at a modest three hours but feel shorter due to it’s broken up structure of 4 equally spellbinding sections, which remain heightened by it’s audaciously impressionistic imagery. Even though all stories are unrelated, the film requires to be watched in one sitting to fully absorb the affect of the film. Once seen the images stay with you, each are extremely stylised and while listed in the horror category, the film remains more haunting than scary, never interested in any of the scare tactics of the western world’s take on the genre. Unlike many other anthology films, each segment is directed by Kobayashi and he heavily incorporates and uses elements of theatre and opera to achieve his overall affect. This includes a bold use of make up, colour, and possibly the creepiest sound scape ever heard. Over all, this film is interested in the beauty of these apparitions, rather than the fright value of them.
The first story, ‘The Black Hair’ is an aptly titled name for Kwaidan’s beginning. An image of the back of a woman, with long black hair is a staple shot for Asian horror. The style of ‘The Black Hair’ remains the most serene of all the segments, echoing the earthly style of Mikio Naruse. A Samurai becomes restless with his wife and abandons her for one with more money. This establishes the film’s focus of themes on the human flaw. At first the film feels merely stylistic in design, it’s constant dead air, tame, slow and only interested in silence and quiet moments. This is where the Kwaidan unsuspectingly wraps you up into it’s way over the top, world of spectacle and creepiness. It’s perfection being sewn as it unfolds, getting under your skin while your guard is down and then finally builds to a more unsettling, eerie crescendo.
It’s this first story that warms you up to the iciness of the second. Like a cold unwanted hand brushing across you, the impact of story number two, ‘The Woman Of The Snow’ is immediate and revelatory, I can only imagine how audiences might have reacted to it in 1965. Once again dealing with the human error of a man giving up a secret he promised to keep. As this young man’s memory of an event fades over time, the spirit’s of the dead are close by, to remind him of what he swore he would never tell anyone.
Bizarrely painted images curse the sky, as the snowy night crafts a chilly tomb around it’s characters. Kwaidan is no longer holding back, it’s all about the unsettling mood which positively makes your skin crawl. The affect created by flawless lighting highlights the unease that you feel as a result of the imagery. The string based score resembles the sound of cracked nails scraping into a blackboard. The extreme use of colour and staginess of the sets somehow all add up to a film that uses it’s focus on artifice and theatre to create a haunting experience of the highest calibre.
The third story is the most over the top of all and is the centrepiece of Kwaidan. ‘Hoichi, The Earless’; every thing seems to lead up to this story and then move away from it. The production design of this segment approaches Mardi Gras level, it’s the most hypnotic and haunting of all. It will take everything out of the viewer and works to cement all the hype surrounding this legendary film. Hoichi is a blind monk who tells the tale of a great battle fought on the seas. The visual counterpoint to his narration is the most stagy of all, complete with ritualistic vignettes, seas of blood and painted wooden fires of hell. Hoichi narrates the tale in the form of an aria, his voice and the delivery of this aria is possibly the most frightening out of anything else in Kwaidan. Hoichi is a simple, timid man, but when he sings this aria he sounds positively possessed, we will hear this aria three time during this segment and the unsatisfied spirits will seek performance from Hoichi as tribute to them, in order to be finally put to rest.
The final and most brief, ‘In A Cup Of Tea’ attempts to rectify the fictionalisation of samurai history. The books read that there is man appearing in bowls of liquid, this has to be an untrue account, cause he has the face of the dead. The angry spirits inhabiting Kwaidan leave us with this; a samurai can slay the human form, but they cannot slay what is already dead, so then that means that the Samurai have no say over who lives or dies, only the spirits do. The dead cannot be killed. The final image in Kwaidan is mesmerising and stays with you. Very seldom has their been a film that uses such a bizarre and unique style to achieve it’s affect with such grand results. Let Kwaidan put you under it’s spell and it will be an experience unlike any other.
| 151 |
| Vote |
subscribe to this blog
Comment by Catherine Stebbins
Thoughts from a Cinephile
Thoughts from a TV Watcher
Comment by ShaunK
Screen Adventure
And the end of the day I think what makes Kwaidan such a memorable and legendary experience is how unique and distinctive it actually is.
Cant wait to hear what you thought of it.
Comment by The wonderful Peter Yang
The First Wonderful Peter Yang's Variety Blog
The New Wonderful Peter Yang's variety blog
Power Ranger Online
TV Online
Solar Energy Pannel
Stay healthy and loose weight
Comment by David O'Connell
20/20 Filmsight
Screen Fanatic
Comment by ShaunK
Screen Adventure
G'day David, I actually rented this from a block buster store in Sydney, if you look into Japanese film more you'll discover that it's a biggie right up there with Kenji Mizoguchi's Ugetsu and Kaneto Shindo's Onibaba. Considered one of the greats of all time and even garnered some accolades via Cannes Film Festival and the Academy Awards.
Comment by Bryn
Horrorphile
Comment by ShaunK
Screen Adventure
Comment by Bryn
Horrorphile
Comment by ShaunK
Screen Adventure
If doctor what is closer to you then just rent it there
Comment by Anonymous
Infognito
Screen Trek
QUOTE ME NO QUOTES!
I saw one of these Japanese horror films some time back, but didn't catch the start so not sure of the title, anyhoo, it involved a kid travelling away from her family at night, on a bus I think, a dream maybe, and encountering ghosts in water etc, bizarre and amazing, first time I had seen one of this genre.
cheers
fog
Comment by JohnDoe
Film & TV on DVD
Certainly an essential film that I am ashamed to have not taken the time to view.
Comment by ShaunK
Screen Adventure
JD - thank you, you words-smith you. No shame as I'm sure you have ten films I havn't seen for every one you havn't
Comment by Bryn
Horrorphile