880-01 Onibaba = Demon woman / a Kindai Eiga Kyokai production ; produced by Hisao Itoya, Setsuo Noto, Tamotsu Minato ; original screenplay, Kaneto Shindo ; directed by Kaneto Shindo.
Publisher:
The Criterion Collection,
Copyright Date:
2021
Description:
1 videodisc (102 min.) : sound, black and white ; 4 3/4 in + 1 booklet (23 pages ; color illustrations ; 17 cm)
Nobuko Otowa, Kei Sato, Jitsuko Yoshimura, Jukichi Uno, Taiji Tonoyama. Originally produced as a motion picture in 1964. Special features: audio commnentary from 2001 featuring director Kaneto Shindo and actors Kei Sato and Jitsuko Yoshimura; interview from 2003 with Shindo; on-location footage shot by Kei Sato; trailer; plus: an essay by film critic Elena Lazic, a 2001 director's statement by Shindo, and a version of the Buddhist fable that inspired the film. Accompanying booklet (23 pages) includes: Cast and credits ; "Masks and Faces" / by Elena Lazic ; "A Mask with Flesh Scared a Wife" ; "Waving Susuki Fields" / by Kaneto Shindo ; About the transfer. Widescreen (2.39:1).
Summary:
Deep in the windswept marshes of war-torn medieval Japan, an impoverished older woman and her daughter-in-law murder lost samurai and sell their belongings for the most meager of sustenance. When a bedraggled neighbor returns from battle, lust, jealousy, and rage threaten to destroy the trio's tenuous existence before an ominous, ill-gotten demon mask seals their horrifying fate. Driven by primal emotions, dark eroticism, a frenzied score by Hikaru Hayashi, and stunning images both lyrical and macabre, the chilling folktale Onibaba by Kaneto Shindo conjures a nightmarish vision of humankind's deepest desires and impulses.
This resource is supported by the Institute of Museum and Library Services under the provisions of the Library Services and Technology Act as administered by State Library of Iowa.