Onibaba - Criterion Collection

Starring:Nobuko Otowa, Jitsuko Yoshimura, Kei Sato, Jukichi Uno, Taiji Tonoyama, Somesho Matsumoto, Kentaro Kaji, Hosui Araya, Fudeko Tanaka
Director: Kaneto Shindô
Studio: Criterion
Product Type: DVD

Amazon.com

A curse hangs over Kaneto Shindo's primal Japanese classic like a looming storm cloud, but the supernatural has got nothing on the desperation and savagery of the human animal trying to survive the horrors of war. In 16th-century Japan, a hardened middle-aged woman and her young daughter-in-law have turned predator to survive, murdering the soldiers who wander into the sea of pampas grass surrounding their hut and selling their weapons for rice. When their war-deserter neighbor returns home and makes his moves on the young woman, their numb equilibrium is complicated by greed, jealousy, and lust. The consequences are terrible and not exactly surprising, but they are gripping. Shindo's unnerving close-ups, bobbing handheld camerawork, and soundtrack of pounding drums and howling flutes gives Onibaba a queasy intensity. Shooting in stark black and white, he makes even the waving of the grass look ominous as it all but swallows everyone who enters. --Sean Axmaker

Description

Deep within the wind-swept marshes of war-torn medieval Japan, an impoverished mother and her daughter-in-law eke out a lonely, desperate existence. Forced to murder lost samurai and sell their belongings for grain, they dump the corpses down a deep, dark hole and live off of their meager spoils. When a bedraggled neighbor returns from the skirmishes, lust, jealousy, and rage threaten to destroy the trio's tenuous existence, before an ominous, ill-gotten demon mask seals their horrifying fate. Driven by primal emotions, dark eroticism, a frenzied score by Hikaru Hayashi, and stunning images both lyrical and macabre, Kaneto Shindo's chilling folktale, Onibaba, is a singular cinematic experience.

Customer Reviews:

Onibaba.......2007-06-28

Creepy, compelling, and filled with eerie visual wonders, Shindo's "Onibaba" is a supernatural folk tale about jealousy and moral retribution, flavored with a pungent dose of Freudian sexual hysteria. Kei Sato is brilliant playing the animalistic, sexually voracious neighbor, and Yoshimura conveys exquisite yearning as the young widow running wildly through the reeds each night to be at his side. Otowa's fateful donning of a demonic mask--the coup de resistance of her scheme to drive them apart--is itself magical and horrifying. Don't miss "Onibaba."

Can You Dig it?.......2006-10-18

The general belief that the 1960's was the ground-zero for massive sociological upheaval is one that generally forgets that that decade was almost half over by the time it became the era we remember it for. Until Lee Harvey Oswald's starting rifle ushered in the Love and Napalm dynasty, the first part of the 60's was really a 1950's hangover.
Roughly speaking, `The 60's' only kicked in when the Beatles Landed in America in '64 and ended when the American's landed on the moon five years later. (Were they trying to tell us something?) The so called permissive society emerged from the cultural turbulence of a `swinging London', a `flowered up' San Francisco and a burning Saigon and, as the history books would have it, appeared to challenge everything. Overt sexual, pharmaceutical and political references in entertainment became de rigor and everyone, it seemed, were cutting-edge pioneers at the dawning of the Age of Aquarius. Meanwhile on the other side of the planet, and away from `the world', it was just another day at the office for director Kaneto Shindo when he released his haunting sex/death opus Onibaba.

Onibaba (`Demon Hag') is based on a Buddhist fable and tells the story of an old woman and her young daughter-in-law during 14th century feudal Japan (or 16th, or 17th depending on who's website you use to check these things) who live in a seemingly endless swamp of high reeds and survive by murdering lost or renegade Samurai warriors.
They strip their victims of their armour to sell for food then dispose of the bodies in a deep dark ominous hole.
One day a masked stranger is passing and forces the old woman to help him find his way to Kyoto. She asks him why he hides his face behind a creepy demon-Noh mask and he tells her that he is so beautiful it would blind her to look at him. She tricks him by leading him to the hole where he falls in. Her curiosity gets the better of her and she climbs down into the hole littered with her rotting victims to see the man's `beautiful face' which turns out to be more Robin Williams than Robbie Williams. Disappointed, she takes the mask and uses it to disguise herself as a demon to scare her daughter-in-law away from the door of a man she is having an illicit affair with and who, she believes, will run away and leave her alone to fend for herself. The plan backfires when the mask clings to her face turning her into the demon she pretends to be.

The hole is the key element here and is a constant presence throughout the film and seems to represent both the womb and the crypt; the entrance at which life and death pass each other to and from this world and the next. The old woman's desperate venture into the hole for a glimpse of beauty mirrors her hope that perhaps there is still some vestige of beauty within her. Her discovery reveals there isn't, thus setting in motion her `girl who cried demon' comeuppance.
Onibaba's psychosexual symbolism and nudity is treated in an offhand manner, unlike western movies of the period which would, if only they could, have turned this into the films primary selling point. Onibaba rendered the `progressive free West' way behind the game in terms of what was `happening' in an age where taboos were supposed to have been broken every ten minutes. Onibaba was immediately banned on its release in the U.K and only given an `X' certificate in 1968 with cuts. It would be 1994 before we were considered grown up enough to see the uncut version. So much for the `let it all hang out' generation's brave new world.

Weird, great film........2006-09-14

This movie wasn't what I was expecting; people referred to it as a "horror film" but it really isn't. It's creepy and weird and sort of riveting. I liked it a lot and will definitely recommend it to others. A very interesting film.

The Sensuousness of Shindo.......2006-08-30

The deconstrunction and demystification of the samurai myth had been a project Akira Kurosawa had taken upon himself and that had seemingly reached a conclusion in YOJIMBO (1962), but Shindo's ONIBABA (1964) takes it a step further by presenting them as bedraggled and exhausted, hungry and at the mercy of two seemingly innocuous women. Shindo's world is hot and sultry, the characters weak and vulnerable. This is a very good depiction of the affects of war on the fringes of society and the lengths certain parties must go to in order to survive. As well as exploring this theme Shindo also adds several intriguing layers, sexuality and jealousy make a potent combination, as does the inserion of old Japanese folk tales. The result is a film that shows the eroticism of human beings in their most natural and stripped down state. Be hypnotised by the swaying grass fields and the sumptious black and white cinematography in this Japanese gem. Criterion's disc is very good.

A Mesmerizing And Haunting Film: Very Atmospheric!.......2006-07-31

Director Kaneto Shindo made a truly great film with "Onibaba." The atmospheric scenes in the film are terrific. Especially the ocean-like waves of the tall pampas grass surrounding the two main protagonists' hut. The setting for this film takes place in 16th-century war torn Japan. A poor mother (Nobuko Otowa) and her daughter-in-law (Jitsuko Yoshimura) murder lost or wandering samurai who happen to unfortunately pass their run-down hut.

It is a time of starvation due to all the warring, and in order for them to survive, both mother and daughter-in-law kill the warriors for their armour and weapons: which they in turn sell for grains of rice. Moreover, they dump the bodies into an ominous looking pit not far from their hut. Events take an ominous turn for the worse, however, when one of their former neighbors, Hachi (Kei Sato) returns and begins to have a sexual affair with the daughter-in-law. As a result, the mother, whose son has been killed, according to Hachi, becomes jealous of this change in her relationship to the daughter-in-law.

However, the plot thickens when a samurai wearing a Noh mask arrives on the scene: claiming to be the most handsome man alive. Moreover, in the mother-in-laws encounter with the samurai, she is able to acquire this samurai's Noh mask. [No spoilers]. It is here that events will take on a more ominous tone. Not wishing to be alone; and fearful that Hachi will take her daughter-in-law from her; thereby leaving her alone, the mother-in-law hatches a scheme to frighten the daughter-in-law away from the neighbor.

She does this by wearing the Noh mask, and telling the daughter frightening tales of what happens to those who run off to make love to others. It is her way of trying to control her daughter-in-laws relationship and not be left alone. However, everything backfires on the mother-in-law, as there is more to the Noh mask than she realizes.

This film is not a horror film, however, one can sense the feeling of terror through the imagery and nuances in the film, which in turn give the viewer a creepy and suspensefully crafted tale. Director Kaneto Shindo was able to bring a well developed story and bring breath life into the characters. You can sense the horror of the loneliness and isolation as the scenery gives one the feeling of dread.

I remember seeing this film along with Kwaidan in late 1977, in an old run-down theatre in Paris, France. It was raining heavily, and I decided to see this double-feature until the weather cleared. It was the only time I have ever seen this film on the big screen. The atmosphere inside the theatre, along with the patrons sitting inside made for a wonderful viewing.

One of the most memorable moments in the film for me was the suspenseful atmosphere of the hut where the daughter-in-law and mother live. Surrounded by tall pampas grass, and with the black and white film, there is an ominous feeling to the movement of the grass when the wind causes it to wave back and forth during the day or night. Truly mesmerizing. This movie works perfectly in black and white. A must have for every cinema collector.

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