Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #15564 in DVD
• Released on: 2006-05-29
• Rating: Parental Guidance
• Aspect ratio: 1.77:1
• Formats: Anamorphic, PAL, Subtitled
• Original language: Japanese
• Subtitled in: English
• Number of discs: 1
• Running time: 183 minutes

Synopsis
Director Masaki Kobayashi invested five years of preparation before shooting this anthological adaptation of four tales of the supernatural by Lafcadio Hearn. The first, "Black Hair," stars Rentaro Mikuni as a poverty-stricken samurai who leaves his kind wife (Michiyo Aratama) to marry the daughter (Misako Watanabe) of a wealthy official. After years of misery with this woman he returns to his first wife to find a bitter surprise. In the second, "The Woman of the Snow," a woodcutter (Tatsuya Nakadai) and his brother take shelter from a snowstorm in a deserted hut. However, trouble arises when a strange woman (Keiko Kishi) appears. The third, "Hoichi the Earless," features a blind temple musician (Katsuo Nakamura), who is known for his mastery of the ballad of the Heike clan. A samurai ghost bids him sing the ballad at the Heike tomb, and Buddhist priests protect him by painting his body with a depiction of the sacred text. In the last tale, "In a Cup of Tea," a samurai (Ganemon Nakamura) famed for courage, has a recurring vision of the face of another samurai in his tea. Shot entirely on a soundstage to allow the director complete control of the film's palette, it's a stunning display of sensuous color, perfectly suited to these otherworldly tales of the macabre. Takemitsu's "musique concrete" score is eerily appropriate.

Customer Reviews

The Greatest Visual Feast Movie
This film is incredibly impressive. It has some of the finest, most colourful cinematography ever filmed. It is a movie in four parts, each one telling a new ghost story. Each story has varying levels of intensity and involvement, but my favourite of them is Yuki Onna, which tells of a peasant who falls under the spell of a sorceress, marries a gorgeous woman, and after living with her for many years, discovers an onimous secret about her. It is one of the greatest twists in cinema history - certainly more shocking than the twist of The Sixth Sense movie. It is direction of the highest order, just using fantastic lighting and massive set designs. The director, Masaki Kobayahi, has created a brilliant cinematic masterpiece here. It is essential viewing for any would-be director or lover of superb asian cinema. It is right up there with the best of Kurasawa, without any doubt whatsoever. It is quite hard to believe this was made in the 60s. It has the best use of widescreen and colour ever seen! Buy it if you like movies!

Intellectual film covering mystic Japanese aspects
When I received the DVD from amazon.co.uk , I cherished hopes to experience the touch with the Japanese culture (music, lifestyle) and mystic things.

I did hope to remember the comments of the American professor, a good specialist of religion and anthropology who told about this movie for a large audience from Siauliai University after the private view with professors and students.

My expectations did not change...

I was surprised to find the small booklet with the text of the stories told in this film and additional comments on the film.


The film is interesting to watch and think about because it tells 4 interesting mystic stories covering Japanese life of the Middle ages and later periods.

The plots of the stories have the intrigue aspects and the moral teaching good things.

The soundtrack is interesting to listen, because the Japanese national instruments were used.

A good film, a must to have in your collection of DVD films...

Saw the original
I saw this movie when it first showed in the U.S. It is shot according to the Japanese principles of shibui--harmonious beauty, which contrasts with the "ghost" aspects of the simple stories. It is incredibly colorful (visually) and intense. "Hoichi the Earless" makes visible the trials of a reciter-singer of a medieval epic, who is called to the underworld to recite the history of the final battle between the Heike and the Genji before the assembled court of the losing Heike clan--and the movie shoots the images of tale the singer is recounting.