Most fans of horror movies have heard about J-horror or the famous Japanese horror films, which occupy a special place in the pedestal of the horror film. It is important to note that all these stories about pale-faced ghosts go deep into ancient Japanese legends and mythology, which frightened the Japanese themselves from time immemorial. Of course, the legends themselves became the basis for the plot of many Japanese films. An example of this is the fantasy horror film Kaidan: A Narrative of the Mysterious and Terrible.
Four stories that take place in different historical epochs and in different places of Japan. The characters of these stories have nothing in common, they have never known, and could not be acquainted. They are united by only one thing - a collision with the world of spirits, some of which dream of revenge on the living, while others want to preserve the memory of themselves.
Since the film is an anthology, different actors participate in different stories. Each of them perfectly performed their roles, getting used to certain images of living or ghosts. At the same time, the diversity of the images themselves is remarkable. Somewhere we are suffering from the pangs of conscience of a husband who once abandoned his wife for a promotion. Somewhere we see the image of a ghostly woman who, like a werewolf, is first an innocent beautiful housewife, and then an evil demon with a piercing glance. Of course, in many stories, the viewer will see template images, but within the framework of this film they looked organically.
Director Masaki Kobayashi is considered one of the most prominent Japanese filmmakers. In his films, he often touched on the cultural heritage of Japan. In this case, he touched upon the clash of the world of the living and the dead in the paradigm of Japanese culture. At the same time, he managed to present the stories themselves not as children's fairy tales before bedtime, but as full-fledged stories with a terrible narrative, in which the characters, regardless of their social position and the attitude of others, were all equal before the world of spirits who pursued their goals. It is noteworthy that the film does not have any demonstrative violence or scenes of cruelty. The very atmosphere of anxiety and coming fear arises due to the slowly increasing tension and the constant restless expectation that something bad is about to happen. In this respect, Kaidan turns out to be one of the exemplary psychological horror films in which tension is created due to the emotional and psychological instability of the characters.
The script of the film consists of four stories. The first is called “Black Hair” and tells the story of a young samurai from Kyoto, who for the sake of promotion abandons his wife-weaver and marries an arrogant aristocrat. A few years pass, but despite the fact that the samurai managed to get what he wanted, he still does not feel happy. He is overwhelmed by homesickness and his ex-wife. Out of desperation, he flees and arrives at his former home. Despite the fact that the house is in a dilapidated state, a samurai finds his wife there, who meets her husband with open arms. But all this turns out to be a death trap.
The second story is called The Snow Woman. In the story, a young woodcutter Minokiti and his partner return late in the evening from the forest to the village, but on the way they get into a strong snowstorm. Deciding to hide in an abandoned gatehouse, both woodcutters are at the mercy of an evil snow spirit, who took the form of a beautiful woman. She kills her partner, but spares the hero, taking his word from him that he will never tell anyone a word about this story. Otherwise, she will come to him and kill him. Ten years pass. Minokichi married a beautiful girl he met a year after the nightmare. He has three wonderful children and his life is better. However, a nightmare from the past overtakes him again.
The third story is called "The Tale of Bezuk Hoyty." Blind musician Hoiti lives in a monastery near the site where more than a thousand years ago there was a bloody battle between two samurai clans, which resulted in the fall of the house of Tyre. According to legend, the spirits of the Taira clan still inhabit these waters, attacking unfortunate passers-by or taking innocent souls with them. So, one late evening, a strange man comes to Hoiti, who asks Hoiti to perform his songs in front of the young emperor. Hoiti agrees and now disappears daily until late, while mystical events begin to occur in the city. The abbots of the monastery suspect that Hoytie was the victim of those vengeful spirits, and try to do everything possible to save an innocent young man from the clinging paws of the world of the dead.
The fourth story is called “In a Cup of Tea.” The action of the plot takes place in the early XX century. The writer writes another cycle of terrible stories, in one of which the state dignitary is the ghost of an unknown man. First, he sees this annoying spirit in the reflection of water in a tea cup, and then in reality. Without delay, the dignitary attacks the ghost and even injures him. In revenge, the ghost sends his ghostly servants to the dignitary, with whom the dignitary enters into an unequal battle. But this story has no end, and the author himself goes missing.
Overall, Kaidan: A Narrative of the Mysterious and Terrible is a very atmospheric and spectacular movie. For lovers of visual aesthetics, the film will become a real visionary paradise. Despite the fact that the film is almost seventy years old, it has not lost its former frightening atmosphere and sense of growing anxiety. Therefore, I strongly recommend watching.
'Kaidan: the story of the mysterious and terrible' - the movie is unique. This is a strong story (or rather, four stories, each with its own flavor), which gives the impression of something serious and intellectual, although no actual problems in it, at first glance, do not raise. But only at first glance. This collection of four mystical stories is much more than it seems. This is a story about the mysterious and a little terrible - Japanese ghosts are still able to intimidate an ordinary person. But first of all about the mysterious and about the contact of a person with him. The problem is relevant to anyone who believes in the supernatural. Seriously, how do we know where the other world will turn and what its inhabitants will need from us? Nowhere. The heroes of the film did not know about it and did not expect anything. Meeting the supernatural is always a surprise.
It’s always beautiful, according to this movie. It’s not just the picture, though the deep, bright colors and compelling special effects are impressive. The matter is primarily in the direction, which shows the meeting with ghosts not as a horror movie, but as a fairy tale - unkind, sometimes gloomy, but majestic and not locally powerful, as befits a story about something otherworldly. It seems that neither before nor after this topic was not disclosed so deeply and respectfully. ' Kaidan' became a perfect story about contact with what is out there. And watch it is worth everyone, not only fans of the genre - even if ghosts do not interest you, the performance will certainly impress.
10 out of 10
It's an amazing movie. One of the most beautifully filmed and played Japanese films of all time, 'Quidan' similar to a dream that transports the viewer to the fabulous world of the subconscious.
His four mystical stories are taken from the book of Orientalist Lafcadio Hearn & #39; Kaidan: history and essays on amazing phenomena' They are well connected with each other, but only in that they all show the connection between the spiritual and the material world.
The first story follows a bittersweet reunion after betrayal and setbacks. The second is about the beauty and cruelty of winter. The third story of a blind musician playing for a defeated samurai clan is a masterpiece in every way. The fourth will never be explained because it has no end.
The narrative develops at a slow and deliberate pace, with manic attention to detail, which immerses the viewer in the worldview of the characters. The real horror lies not in cheap scares of surprise or images of death, but in deeply disturbing scenes of human tragedies that are given no emotional outlet. This is best felt during the first two stories of love and loss.
Deciding to move away from the usual military films, Kobayashi made a breakthrough in Japanese cinema. Based on the work of Lafcadio Hearn “Quidan: Stories of Ghosts”, the director moved away from cruelty in favor of exquisite mystical stories about the encounters of the living with the dead, heaven and hell. Although the film is listed as a horror film, it does not contain bloodshed and violence.
The plot of the tape does not need explanation. Here it is not so much important as symbolism – the retribution for treachery and violation of taboos, personal and universal fall, crossing the boundaries of what is allowed. There is no clear framework between reality and the other world. Disbelief in the afterlife is as dangerous as contact with it. But it is not a meeting with ghosts that is fatal, but an inevitable punishment for your misdeeds.
Kobayashi achieved that rare psychological horror using a minimal amount of special effects, when even turning the camera or changing the angle creates an atmosphere. Each frame amazes with sophistication and fascination. The film owes this effect to filming in the pavilion, which gives the impression of a theatrical production. Static picturesque scenery, visually seeming artificial and painted, unusually combined with naturalness, combining surrealism and expressionism.
But in the end, the fairy tale is more realistic than naturalistic horror.
Actually, the horror "Kaydan" is difficult to call. Most of all, this film resembles fantasy involving ghost people. And fantasy quality, without any pathetic, almost without battle scenes, without far-fetched philosophy. There are just four stories about the meeting of a man with the otherworldly: a samurai meets his wife, with whom he broke up many years ago, a young lumberjack is left alive by a bloodthirsty snow woman, the ghosts of warriors make a monk-narrator sing songs about their exploits, a stranger appears in a cup of tea of a modest writer ... The point of these stories is not to scare the viewer, but rather to tell about the meeting of two worlds. And tell calmly, without excessive action. The heroes of Kaidan, even warriors, do not fight with anyone, do not destroy anything, just communicate, talk and show. Kaidan is a history of peaceful contacts.
This story is beautifully crafted. Colors like bright, saturated, but the eye does not cut, but on the contrary, please. Excellent camera work - each frame is worthy of a gallery. Absolutely gorgeous for those times (and now too) special effects. Excellent acting.
The horror film was attributed, probably, for the company - almost all other Kaidans (in the 50s-60s this genre was in vogue) are decorated as horror. Actually, Kaidan is a genre quite independent, in the framework of horror and fantasy it was stuffed, in all likelihood, by Western film critics. Or Japanese film critics, guided by Western standards. The film is purely Japanese, without visible influence of the West: purely Japanese stories, Japanese aesthetics.
In general, the film turned out to be brilliant in all articles, probably the greatest in its genre.
10 out of 10
Yes, sleep and only sleep should be called it.
And I had to make sure of that today. -
The world is only a dream.
And I thought, come on.
I thought this was life, and this is a dream. .
Kino Tsurayuki
Once, Japanese director Kobayashi Masaki made a breakthrough beyond his own world from military-themed films – a cruel and harsh world, and exquisitely revealed the theme of human paradise and hell on earth in a mystical production of Kaidan. Perhaps such a breakthrough from his own reality was facilitated by the director’s appeal a year earlier to the traditional Japanese genre of jidaigeki, where Kobayashi, having preserved the form, filled it with completely atypical content and took time to rethink a new view of the age-old foundations. Therefore, the next film became a kind of outlet, a rest for the accumulation of fresh ideas. And it is not surprising that, together with the master, two of his loyal talented colleagues went on a surreal adventure: cameraman Miyajima Yosuo and artist Nakadai Tatsuya. So came Quaidan. The narration of the mysterious and terrible is a film that instantly became a benchmark for all subsequent productions of the Kaidans.
“Quidan” is four mystical monogatari, where some of them were recorded and literary processed by Yakumo Koizumi* in 1904, and sixty years later translated by Kobayashi Masaki into a film language with a subtle and beautiful symbolism. Here, the gates of an abandoned house open by themselves, where the corners have long been entangled with the tulle of a web and only one of the many rooms is illuminated by the warm light of a melting candle. Female sacrifice is shrouded in the deep anguish of husbands who suddenly realized the value of love, sincerity and devotion, and the ghosts of warriors who died valiantly on the battlefield come to life to enjoy the tales of the blind singer about their battles. Here the spirit of the samurai, reflected in the bowl of water, can drive mad. Everything here is ghostly, shaky, unreal, but at the same time manco, charming and more real than it may seem at first. These ghost stories, which came from antiquity, penetrate so deeply through the screen reality that they become part of the world of the living, especially since some of them are fanned by more modern fantasies.
Japanese ghosts can not only return to the world of people, but also under certain conditions to marry them and give birth to children. Or to return in his former form to spend another night with his beloved husband, many years as left his wife in search of a better fate for himself, and repented when it was too late. The mysticism of this novella about Black Hair echoes the magic of the story that happened to one of the characters in Mizoguchi Kenji’s Ugetsu monogatari. The difference is only in the details, while the essence remains unchanged. Such stories show how the spirit of the ordinary singer-narrator Hoichi becomes like the strength of spirit and courage of the samurai, about whom he sings the traditions of antiquity. Like a ghostly samurai who appears behind him every night, it is the expression of the hidden forces of Mimi-nasi-Hoiti, the shadow side of his personality. And a person who has drunk the soul of another with water will himself be doomed to wander forever on jars and bowls and frighten people with his reflection in a few centuries.
“Quidan” is one of the few films directed almost entirely in the pavilion. Apparently, this is why the impression is created that theatrical production, transferred to real life, then the artist’s lively canvases, telling stories together with the invisibly present Katari. In almost all novels you can see the static most distant plan in the form of an artistic canvas, which, together with the closer backgrounds of a natural or emphasized decorative nature, gives rise to an amazing effect of miracles and magic that penetrated into ordinary life. So, for example, the background of the sky in a frosty snowy winter instead of the moon illuminates a surreal-fabulous blue eye (yes, not one, but several, that you can even consider the graceful features of the face watching from behind the horizon for lumberjacks), and in the summer sunset, scarlet sponges appear, emphasizing the time of love of the hero. Each novel has its own dominant color. Smooth transitions of successively changing events are complemented by scenes that dissolve into one another, with editing refrains, which allows you to distinguish between dreams and reality, ghosts and living people.
With the help of associative montage, the habitat of the Yurey warriors and their deceased young sovereign is softly and at the same time gloomyly revealed - the shadow figures instantly become tombstones, and the water surrounding the platform-elevation of the singer turns into small pebbles, a symbol of the "dry" river. The ghost of a samurai from the bowl disappears through a shadow opening, thrown on the wall in the uneven light of a candle of bizarre shape for hours. Faces sometimes change expression even without resorting to active facial expressions. And to enhance the supernaturality of events help color and sounds - then melodic, then intermittent: flute whistle, beats with a wooden mallet, biwa with insanely restless strings, the sound of soji, howling blizzards, the measured course of the clockwork in night silence. So, twisted by the patina of antiquity, the exotic beauty of Japanese aesthetics and lifestyle, when on the screen characters from ancient tales struggle not so much with the darkness around as with the darkness inside themselves, grows into modernity and finds a way to the heart of even an uninitiated viewer. And more often than not, the darkness inside is more frightening than the skeleton jumping out of the closet. And, full of wise meaning, visions appear to then disappear and never meet again, but remain in pictures, poems and our dreams.
So the name is amazingly accurate. This is really a collection of Quidans, i.e. traditional Japanese horror stories. Quaidans in their original form, not processed in order to complicate the plot, psychologicalize or introduce any kind of ideas. These are horror stories that are told by the fire, only in the form of a movie. And that's what the shape is all about. “Quidan” is a purely formalistic experiment, where the simplicity, even the scarcity of content emphasizes the thoughtfulness and impeccable formulation of each frame.
This is the first time I've seen a movie where the tension and even the horror is almost entirely created by the camera and the soundtrack. Of course, both of these elements are extremely important in the genre of horror (that is, even more than in other genres), but in "Quidan" they are elevated to the absolute - this is, on the one hand, the main expressive means of the film, and, on the other hand, it is impossible not to notice them, not to distinguish for yourself (and in fact often background music or camera movement we seem not to notice). It is difficult to describe, but for the most part still (however with a perfect composition) and only in the most eerie moments - twitching after the hero fleeing from unspeakable horror, plans and dissonant sounds. in which there are few musical instruments, but in a wealth of simply frightening sounds and crazy whispers (where there is "ki-ki-ki, ma-ma-ma") create the impression of a nightmare more reliable than could make special effects with monsters or murders in the frame.
Kwaidans often became the subject of kabuki theater productions, and Masaki Kobayashi seemed eager to organically continue this tradition. The film is emphasized decorative and conditional - the shooting takes place exclusively in the pavilions, which the director does not seek to hide, but, on the contrary, uses to create an atmospheric background (up to the poisonous-yellow sky); the scene of the Battle of Dannour and at all - after all, this narrative in the narrative - is shot conditionally to the limit, this is not even a game or an image of the battle, but only its symbolic sign (not for nothing film frames are interrupted by scenes with engravings). The same principle of conscious unnaturality prevails in the acting game - facial expressions are for the most part exaggerated and change dramatically, it is rather not about the natural movement of the face, but about a set of archetypal expressions. The makeup is not as obviously masked as in kabuki, but, again, very noticeable.
All this, it must be admitted, is quite unusual for cinema and creates a unique and impressive spectacle.
Four stories, four short films. If a person who knows nothing about Japan asked me to introduce him to Japanese cinema, I would show him Kobayashi’s film Kwaidan. The main effects are the atmosphere of the film, the expression of images and its visual range.
“Quidan” is not a horror movie at all, but philosophical tales about life with a constant sense of the mystical presence of the other world in people’s lives.
Each story can be watched separately, and Kobayashi’s narrative is mesmerizing. It is striking how the battle on the waters of the lake is shown in the parable "Dry Hoiti" - a monotonous for the European ear singing of the epic about the battle and the editing of medieval engravings - but it is simply impossible to come off, and then when we see the battle episodes shot in the studio - there is almost a 3D effect from what I saw, I want to say: "I believe."
Because of the visual saturation, associations arise with the films of Coppola, Kurosawa, Parajanov, but here the visual saturation does not arise due to mass scenes, bright costumes and scenery, etc. external effects. Kobayashi is very economical in choosing means, his stories are personal, chamber in sound and execution, but the director knew one secret - how to use these economical means most expressively for the viewer.
A brilliant film, the highest rating.
A perfect film or a declaration of love for Asian art.
At the outset, let me confess my love for Asian ... all Asian art.
Yes, yes! I really love Asian cinema. Whether it is the deep things of Yasujiro Ozu or the colorful cartoons of Miyazaki, the “heir” of the Norstein school and still living completely rejects working on a computer. Or the works of Kitano – his dashing action films, crazy from this world films like “Banzai, Director” or the touching film “Kikujiro”. I love real artists of my time like Wong Kar-Wai or Zhang Yimou. I am very impressed by Johnny To, who “revised” the genre of the action movie as such, who in his works dared to say that the action movie is not just “groin-groin” as in “Bad Guys”.
And in literature, only Akutagawa, Mishima, Kawabata and Kobo Abe are worth what!
Even with that kind of pop. Murakami has some absolutely wonderful things.
Now about the movie itself.
"Black Hair" The story of a man who is tired of poverty, goes from Kyoto to look for a job in a big city. There he finds a new wife. From a very wealthy, good family. He is initiated at the reception to the husband of this woman and he swears allegiance to her. However, over time, he sees how a woman changes - she is capricious, arrogant, lazy. He categorically refuses to do anything around the house, but forces all work to do it. The man realizes that he is still loving his first wife. Going back to her. He repented, explained to her in love. The woman forgives him. But she dies the next morning. And all that remains of her is black chic hair.
Draw conclusions after this story yourself. She introduced herself to me: the woman forgave the man his treason and betrayal. But he was not forgiven by the “higher” force. Nature itself. She paid him hard, fast, and in minutes. During this time, he becomes a beggar in all possible terms. The floor in his house collapses at every step, the walls collapse at one touch. The skin loses its shade, the body becomes dehydrated, it loses hair, eyebrows, nails, teeth, tongue. And only the hair of his dead wife is constantly on him.
It was a snow woman, tasty to warm blood.
"Snow Woman" The story of Mosaku and Minokichi. Woodcutters. The first is an old man who was about eighty years old. And the second is his assistant, who is about to turn eighteen. They get into a terrible blizzard, make their way through a terrible storm through a snowy forest. Discovering at the crossing that the boat is on the other side of the river, they decide to wait in the boatman's house. But after the old man comes Snow Woman. With a charming snow-white face. She takes the life of an old man, but saves it to the young and beautiful Minokiti in exchange for a promise not to tell any living soul what he saw. Time passes and Minokichi meets a pretty girl Yuki, who gives birth to three children. Later, he still decides to tell his wife the story of how ten years ago his owner, old Mosaku, froze alive in a house.
It's just a beauty feast! Each angle of the operator’s static camera looks like a masterpiece, like a picture painted by a brilliant artist (in the film, you can count the scenes in which the camera moves on your fingers). Take at least the hut of a boatman or a pier with a covered shore, but quickly flowing river against the background of a blizzard. Or, actually, the old man with a young man in a coniferous forest, knee-deep in the snow - it's just masterpiece! The mood of the weather is shown to us simply ingeniously (" All genius is simple" acquires quite visual images here) - just in the form of a watercolor-painted horizon.
"Dry Hoichi." The story of a young man Hoichi, who, together with two young boys Matsuzo and Yasaku, and abbot Donkai live in a cabin in a coastal town, on the waters of which seven hundred years ago there was a historic battle between the houses of Genji and Haike. The young man is blind. But on his tub, he performs best in the songs of tales about the times of Genryak. And one day a warrior appears in front of him and asks his high-ranking mistress to perform his songs. Meanwhile, the house notices that Hoichi every night goes somewhere and comes in the morning. Knowing about the blindness of the young man and how dangerous it is to wander around the town, in which it always rains, Matsuzo and Yasaka, on the instructions of their abbot, decide to trace where Hoichi goes. And he goes to a house where there is silence, where there is no rain, fog and bad weather.
I would call it the most “Japanese” of all. It's all Japanese! We are presented with Japanese houses, abbots, a true history that took place at the end of the twelfth century in the second year of Genryaku (1185). Here are national customs, musical instruments. A real chronicle of the history of the houses of Genji and Haike, which is really put on songs that perform a whole great genre. Something like our epics.
History, in my opinion, is very philosophical, but ingeniously simple. The story is about a man who just wanted to give the beauty of his songs to others. And he didn't care whether they were tangible people or ghosts of the long dead.
These are ghost stories, but not the ones we're used to seeing in American movies. Here they are a means to depict several human weaknesses, vices.
The final novel is the conclusion of all that is told. “Quidan” is a collection of stories that the writer collected in one collection remain endless. In a letter to the publisher, he explains that depending on his state of mind, he gets several endings at once. None of them - the publisher and future readers and us, the audience - will satisfy him. He says that a person must explain for himself what awaits a person who did this to his soul (remember the three “story” just watched).
The picture is in a sense stingy.
Stingy for sounds, for words. There is no music at all. And the filigree sound in the film is more than just the sound of a broken tree or the melody of a biva in the third novel. Sound (and by the way, lighting too) conveys the emotions of the hero to us, rather than trying to force the viewer to enter the state he needs, the creator of the film. For example, in the first novel: complete silence. Rare sounds deliberately inserted asynchronously show us the complete emptying of our character.
Let me end with those who are going to see this picture. I don't really guarantee you'll like it. To an inexperienced viewer, it will seem incredibly long. However, what I can promise you is that even if you don’t understand anything about it, you will have a long aftertaste, as if you walked through a Japanese gallery with majestic paintings and objects of the Middle Ages.