Kwaidan = Kaidan / Toho Company, Ltd. ; a Ninjin Club production ; Janus Films ; produced by Shigeru Wakatsuki ; screenplay by Yoko Mizuki ; directed by Masaki Kobayashi.
Edition:
Two-DVD special edition ; DVD edition ; widescreen.
Publisher:
Criterion Collection,
Copyright Date:
2015
Description:
2 videodiscs (183 minutes) : sound, color ; 4 3/4 in.
Based on the writings of folklorist Lafcadio Hearn (aka: Yakumo Koizumi). "Original three-hour cut"--Container. Originally produced as a motion picture in 1965. Widescreen (2.35:1). Special features: Disc 1: Commentary (features film scholar Stephen Prince). Disc 2: Masaki Kobayashi (conversation between director Kobayashi and filmmaker Masahiro Shinoda about the making of the film in 1993); Kiyoshi Ogasawara (assistant director Ogasawara discusses working with director Kobayashi and the original version of the film); Lafcadio Hearn (English literature scholar Christopher Benfey, profiles Lafcadio Hearn who played a crucial role in popularizing Japanese folklore for Western audiences, his stories providing the basis for the film); Trailers. Insert includes an essay by critic Geoffrey O'Brien. Michiyo Aratama, Misako Watanabe, Rentarō Mikuni, Tatsuya Nakadai, Keiko Kishi, Katsuo Nakamura, Tetsurō Tanba, Kanʼemon Nakamura, Osamu Takizawa, Haruko Sugimura.
Contents:
Kurokami = Black hair -- Yuki-onna = Woman of the snow -- Mimi nashi Hoichi no hanashi = Hoichi, the earless -- Chawan no naka = In a cup of tea.
Summary:
Consists of four stories of the supernatural based on Japanese folk material. In The black hair, a poor young samurai leaves his first wife to marry a rich woman. When he is unhappy in his second marriage, he returns to his first wife, who at first appears unchanged from when he last saw her. In The woman of the snow, a woodcutter is spared by a mysterious ghost-like woman in the snow, but must promise never to tell anyone what he has seen. In Hoichi, the earless, a blind musician-monk named Hoichi is commanded by a gathering of ghosts to sing the saga of their ancient deeds. The head monk paints Hoichi's body with prayer verses to protect him, but unfortunately overlooks Hoichi's ears. In In a cup of tea, a writer wonders what would happen to a person who drinks another's soul and finds out.
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