Onibaba (1964) on Netflix
In medieval Japan, an older woman and her daughter-in-law survive a civil war by killing stray soldiers and trading what they strip from the bodies for food. Their neighbor Hachi comes home.
- Netflix3.5/5
- IMDb7.8/1026,193 votes
- Rotten Tomatoes89%
Trailer
Plot summary
In fourteenth-century Japan, an older woman and her daughter-in-law live in a hut in a reed field. They ambush fleeing soldiers who cross the field, strip the bodies of armor and weapons, drop them into a hidden pit, and trade the goods to a merchant, Ushi, for food. A neighbor, Hachi, comes back from the war and tells them that Kichi, the older woman's son and the younger woman's husband, was killed while stealing food from farmers. The older woman blames Hachi and warns her daughter-in-law to keep away from him. Hachi pursues the younger woman, who begins slipping out at night to his hut. The older woman learns of the meetings, is jealous, tries to seduce Hachi and is rebuffed, then pleads with him not to take the younger woman away, since she cannot rob soldiers alone.
Cast
- Someshô Matsumotoas Runaway Warrior A
- Kentarô Kajias Runaway Warrior B
- Hiroyoshi Yamaguchias Horse Riding Samurai A
- Hosui Arayaas Ushi's Follower
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Did you know?!Facts and trivia about Onibaba (1964)
Can contain spoilers, watch the movie first.
- Kaneto Shindō shot Onibaba near a river bank at Inba Swamp in Chiba Prefecture, where the crew put up prefabricated buildings to live in during a shoot that began on June 30, 1964 and ran three months. Shindo built a makeshift turtle water slide to keep the crew cool in the harsh conditions out in the fields.
- Shindō said the mask's effects on those who wear it are symbolic of the disfigurement of the victims of the atomic bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki, the film reflecting the traumatic effect of that event on post-war Japanese society.
- Onibaba was inspired by a Shin Buddhist parable in which a mother, disgusted by her daughter's affair with a priest, used a mask to pose as a demon and frighten the girl into believing she was cursed. In the parable the mask stuck to her face, taking its flesh when she begged to have it removed.
- On its initial UK theatrical release, Onibaba was rejected by the BBFC on first submission and then released in a heavily edited form after a second submission.
- Because holes dug at the swamp location immediately filled with water, the scenes of the older woman descending into the pit were shot using an artificial hole built above ground with scaffolding.
- The shoot had a rule that anyone who left would not get any pay, to keep the crew motivated to continue. Shindō later dramatized the dissatisfaction on the set in his 2000 film By Player.
- Guillermo del Toro named a character in his 2013 film Pacific Rim Onibaba, saying the film and Shindō's Kuroneko did "some serious damage to my psyche" and calling Onibaba an "essential Japanese horror film with stark B&W cinematography".
