Kwaidan (1964) on Netflix
Four Japanese folk tales of the supernatural. A swordsman leaves his wife for wealth, a woodcutter is spared by a snow spirit, and a blind musician is summoned by ghosts.
- Netflix3.5/5
- IMDb7.9/1023,316 votes
- Rotten Tomatoes91%
Trailer
Plot summary
An anthology of four supernatural tales set in feudal Japan. In the first, a swordsman in Kyoto leaves his weaver wife to marry into a wealthy family for a higher place in society. In the second, two woodcutters take shelter from a snowstorm, and the younger, Minokichi, is spared by a yuki-onna who orders him never to speak of the encounter. Hoichi, a blind biwa player at a temple, chants the Tale of the Heike of the sea battle at Dan-no-ura and is led away at night by a spectral samurai to perform for his lord. The last tale is told by a writer: Kannai, who serves Lord Nakagawa Sadono, sees a stranger's face in his cup of tea.
Cast
- Ranko Akagias Mother (segment "Kurokami")
- Kappei Matsumotoas (segment "Kurokami")
- Yoshiko Iedaas (segment "Kurokami")
- Kenzô Tanakaas (segment "Kurokami")
- Kiyoshi Nakanoas (segment "Kurokami")
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Did you know?!Facts and trivia about Kwaidan (1964)
Can contain spoilers, watch the movie first.
- Kwaidan ran out of money three-quarters of the way through production, and director Masaki Kobayashi sold his own house as a result.
- Kwaidan's final cost including marketing was ¥380 million, and the film failed to break even; the shortfall contributed heavily to the collapse of its production company, Ninjin Club, which went bankrupt shortly after release.
- Continental Distributing's 1965 U.S. release ran 125 minutes and removed the entire "The Woman of the Snow" segment after its Los Angeles premiere, reportedly with Masaki Kobayashi's approval.
- Because the studio's sound stages were too small for the elaborate sets he envisioned, Masaki Kobayashi built the sets in an airplane hangar in Uji, Kyoto.
- After returning from the Cannes Film Festival, Masaki Kobayashi was dismissed by Shochiku president Kido Shiro, who blamed the film's excessive costs; it ended his long relationship with the studio and began his independent "lone wolf" career.
- The "Woman of the Snow" segment was remade as "Lover's Vow" in the 1990 anthology Tales from the Darkside: The Movie, making Kwaidan the first Japanese horror film to be remade in the United States.
- Kwaidan is credited with establishing the long, black-haired ghost as a recurring motif in contemporary Japanese horror cinema, and it also had a major impact on Taiwanese horror cinema.
- Influenced by John Cage, composer Tōru Takemitsu used prepared piano with screws, bolts and wool, electronic alteration, and Japanese ma — charged silence.
