 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
|
||||||||||||
|
||||||||||||
|
|
||||||||||||
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
||||||
|
KWAIDAN
The Dolby Digital Japanese monaural soundtrack is free from distortion and other defects. However, the limited fidelity of the original recording make the track seem a bit thin sounding and occasionally slightly strident. However, with normal amplification, the track will sound just fine. Removable English subtitles are provided on the DVD. The basic interactive menus provide access to the standard scene selection and set up features as well as a theatrical trailer. |
This DVD review 
|
|
DVD
reviews are Copyright © 2001 THE CINEMA LASER and may not be copied
or reprinted without the written consent of the publisher. |
||
KWAIDAN
($30) is a haunting Japanese film of the supernatural that contains a
quartet of ghostly tales. However, unlike American ghost stories that
set out to scare the heck out of the viewer, the tales in KWAIDAN
create an eerie mood that is far more disturbing than it is frightening.
In the hands of director Masaki Kobayashi, KWAIDAN is like a piece
of fine art that has been delicately painted onto a canvas with bold colors
that stimulate the viewer's eye and draw them into the world he has created.
Although the stories in KWAIDAN are completely Japanese, they are
based upon the writings of Lafcadio Hearn, who was a European by birth.
In his lifetime, Hearn perfectly assimilated himself into the Japanese
culture and later, became a naturalized citizen of his adopted country.
The
first story is The Black Hair, which tells of an impoverished
samurai (Rentaro Mikuni), who divorces his loving wife (Michiyo Aratama)
to improve his station in life. Although the samurai become wealthy through
marriage, his second wife (Misako Watanabe) is a spoiled, vane creature
who he does not love. As the years pass, the samurai grows to regret his
selfish actions and longs for the love of his first wife. When he finally
returns to the home of his first wife, he finds the house in poor condition,
but his ex-wife is seemingly unchanged by their years apart. The samurai
begs forgiveness for his callous actions and his ever-loving ex-wife forgives
him for the mistakes of his youth. Happily, the samurai takes the woman
that he loves in his arms and vows to never leave her, all the time marveling
over her beautiful black hair that hasn't changed over time. Only in the
light of the following day does the samurai discover the true ramifications
of his youthful mistake.
The
Woman Of The Snow is the second, and my favorite tale in the film.
This dreamlike story opens in a forest, with a young woodcutter (Tatsuya
Nakadai) getting lost in a blinding snowstorm with an older companion.
The two take refuge in an old shack to wait out the storm. Over the course
of the night, a ghostly female apparition appears and sucks the life out
of old man, while the woodcutter watches helpless. Although he would seem
to be the next victim, the apparition takes pity on the handsome young
woodcutter and spares his life, as long as he promises to never tell anyone
what he has seen. While the woodcutter survives the encounter, the effects
of the storm take their toll. After his recovery, the woodcutter meets
a beautiful young girl named Yuki (Keiko Kishi) whom he makes his wife.
Ten years pass and Yuki is the perfect loving wife, who bares the woodcutter
three children. Yuki is also something of a marvel in the village- despite
having three children she doesn't seem a day older than when she first
arrived. One evening, while sitting happily at home with his wife and
children, the woodcutter is reminded of the night when his life almost
ended. Thinking that his encounter with the ghostly apparition was nothing
more than a dream, he tells his wife the story…
The
third tale, Hoichi The Earless, is the film's most disturbing
and graphic encounter with the supernatural. Hoichi The Earless
is set in a monastery and tells the story of a blind musician named Hoichi
(Katsuo Nakamura), who is renown for recounting in song an ancient epic
sea battle between the Heike and Genji clans. Hoichi prowess is so great
that the ghosts rise up and demand that the blind musician perform the
songs that tell of that long ago sea battle. While, Hoichi is willing
to perform for his audience, his blindness prevents him from realizing
just who sits and listens to his performance. The long nights of performing
these epic songs take their toll on the blind musician and the priest
(Takashi Shimura) at the monastery grows concerned for Hoichi's well being.
Eventually, the priest discovers for whom Hoichi gives his command performances
and realizes that the ghosts will rip him to pieces when he completes
the final song. Hoping to spare Hoichi this grisly fate, the priest paints
the musician's body with a prayer that renders him invisible to them.
Unfortunately, the priest forgets to paint Hoichi's ears, which the ghosts
can still see…
In
A Cup Of Tea is the final tale,
which tells of a warrior (Ganemon Nakamura), who is about to take a drink
of tea, when he notices the reflection of someone else in his cup. Getting
another cup of tea doesn't rid the warrior of the strange reflection.
Later that evening, the owner of the reflection visits the warrior to
confound him even further. Although he challenges the stranger to a fight,
the warrior finds dealing with a man who can cast his reflection into
someone else's cup of tea is more difficult than any of the enemies that
he faced in the past. While In A Cup Of Tea is an interesting
tale of the supernatural, the story doesn't resolve itself in typical
fashion and may leave the viewer somewhat unsatisfied.
KWAIDAN
has been released on DVD as part of The Criterion Collection. Criterion
has done a very nice job of transcribing KWAIDAN to DVD by giving
the film a brand new wide screen transfer that is enhanced for 16:9 playback.
KWAIDAN is properly framed at 2.35:1, so that the film's splendid
compositions can be fully appreciated. The film element used for the transfer
displays mild blemishes, as well as some scratches, but the beauty of
the film's cinematography and production design still shine through with
striking clarity. The image on the DVD is sharp and finely detailed, with
only occasional shots showing a mild softness. Because KWAIDAN
was shot in the studio, many of the images have an artificial quality
that makes them seem more like a painting than a film. The transfer perfectly
renders this desired effect, with the DVD creating images of haunting
beauty. Colors are incredibly vibrant when used for effect. The DVD has
no problem rendering the intense hues without distortion or bleeding.
Blacks are cleanly rendered and the image provides good contrast and shadow
detail for a foreign film from 1965. Dual layer authoring keeps digital
compression artifacts from becoming noticeable. 
