Kwaidan = Woman of the snow

Director Masaki Kobayashi’s quartet of self contained ghost stories uses to spellbinding effect highly stylised sets, expressionistic lighting and painterly backdrops in the retelling of 19th century English Orientalist Lafcadio Hearn’s writings. ‘Kwaidan’s‘ (which translates to ghost story) eerie mood is sealed by its mesmerizing and modest credit sequence followed by the first story, the foreboding ‘Shadowings’. The next instalment, ‘Yuki Onna’ (Snow Woman) uses lurid lighting and its contrived studio sets to maximum dream-like effect, while ‘The story of Miminashi Hoichi’ incorporates various modes of ancient Japanese story telling with breathtaking results. Finally, ‘In a cup of Tea’s‘ grimly surreal coda of a publisher’s frustration with the inconclusiveness of many Japanese ghost stories, aptly completes this remarkable anthology. Kobayashi’s meticulous direction, (Kobayashi’s obsessive aesthetic control drove him to hand paint all the sets himself) along with the unsettling soundtrack by Toru Takemitsu make this a unique film experience. In Japanese with English subtitles. Cast includes Keiko Kishi, Tatsuya Nakadai, Kazuo Nakamura, Tetsuro Tamba and Rentaro Mikuni (Awards: Special Jury prize 1965 Cannes Film Festival)