Mark continued not to get the memo on my only doing horror films for the month, so I have again had to dip into the archives. Fortunately, the back catalogue has several films that I have been meaning to watch for a while, which is certainly the case for today’s film, ‘Kwaidan’ (1964). Anyone who knows me knows I have had a small obsession with Japanese films for the last couple of years, and I also love me a horror film. And yet it took me a very long time to get round to watching this film. Why you ask? Well, the film is over three hours long. Back in the day this would not have bothered me, but these days I need to make sure I plan to watch a film that long at least a day before due to my continuously worsening attention span. There was no need for me to be worried. This film was an absolutely breeze to sit through. The film is an anthology of four ghost stories. The first, ‘The Black Hair’, follows a man leaving his wife to escape the poverty he finds himself in, and marrying a wealthy woman to improve his status. However, his new marriage is not a happy one and he soon finds himself longing for his first wife. The second, ‘The Woman of the Snow’, follow a woodcutter who gets caught in a snow storm and approached by the titular Woman of the Snow who decided not to kill the man if he promises to never tell anyone about the night. The third, ‘Hoichi the Earless’, follows Hoichi, a blind musician, who is tricked by a spirit to play to his lord every night, putting his life in mortal danger. And the final film, ‘In a Cup of Tea’, is the story of a writer hurriedly writing to meet a publishing deadline, and writing a story of a man who swallows a spirit that he sees in his tea and this leads to him being haunted by the spirit.
As with all anthology films some of the stories told are better than others. In this case, all the stories are actually very solid and there are no duds, but I would personally put ‘In a Cup of Tea’ as the weakest. This is partly down to the length of time it gets compared to the rest of the stories. In a three-hour long film, it is only given twenty-five minutes, so it doesn’t get the time the other stories get to develop. It is also the least interesting visually. This is not to say that is not visually brilliant because it is. It’s use of light and shadows is often times stunning. But that just shows how incredible this film is visually that this sequence, despite being very beautiful, is quite underwhelming on a visual level compared to the rest of the film (and I will get more into these visuals shortly). In terms of which was the best story, I would go for ‘The Woman of the Snow’. For me this was the most engaging narrative and also was the only one of the stories to genuinely scare me. The film is not a horror film in the Hollywood sense, being much more of a haunting experience than a horrific one, but ‘The Woman in the Snow’ had a couple scenes that genuinely had me tensing up and scared. They were very reminiscent of ‘Ringu’ (1998) and ‘Ju-ON: The Grudge’ (2002) and it was really effective. Before I crack on with how beautiful this film is, I need to at least mention the sound design and score throughout the film, because it is so damn good. The film uses silence frequently to great effect, but also knows how and when to use sound to create the haunting environment I mentioned earlier. The score is also superb. It feels traditionally Japanese and places you in the period of each story, while also being clearly a horror score which is so effective throughout.
But despite all the positives that I have already mentioned, it is in the film's visuals that it truly shines. I cannot describe just how stunning this film is on a visual level. I often say that there are certain scenes in films that look like paintings, but in this film almost every scene looks like a painting, and a lot of the sets actually are. The majority of the film uses painted back drops, which are able to create this ethereal, supernatural feeling in the film, as well as being genuinely beautiful. The colours the film uses are exquisite. Whether in the mise-en-scene or with the lighting, every scene pops with colour and adds so much to the film. The shot composition in the film is also exquisite. The film is able to create interesting looking shots while also adding to the emotion of every scene through the choice of shots. I am a big fan of one-point perspective shots and symmetry in films (think of Stanley Kubrick and Wes Anderson) and this film provides more than enough of these moments. Seriously I can’t gush about how genuinely beautiful this film is enough. There were several moments in the film where I just thought ‘Oh wow’ in regard to the visuals. I can’t remember the last film I watched that I was so impressed with the visuals. Truly beautiful.
When it comes to rating the films, I watch I use a five-star rating system. But I have an unwritten rule that no film will receive a five-star rating on the first viewing. But some come mighty close, and this is one of those films. I was tentative going in, but I couldn’t have been more wrong. This film was completely engaging from start to finish and flew by. Each narrative was expertly delivered and hooked me, allowing me to become emotionally involved each and every time. Then of course it is also one of the most beautiful films I have ever seen. I honestly feel like the narratives could have been a bit naff and I still would have loved the film due to just how visually incredible it is. I can’t recommend it enough. It is easily one of the best films I have seen this year and one that is going to stick with me for a good long while. A true masterpiece.