Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #8793 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

Simply stunning
Quite simply a visual feast, the attention to detail and the mood set by the back drops are remarkable. Simple and engaging tales very skillfuly told. Highly recomended.

Incredible!
The restoration is near flawless, and makes the Criterion look drab by comparison.
And we have 21 added minutes; A nice booklet synopsizing each story;
The sets and set designs are a wonder to behold......and many pretty long black-haired Japanese women.
You can see that THE GRUDGE et al are rip offs of this film.

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...