Review of Kwaidan (1965) by Ray D — 06 Dec 2009

Visually gorgeous and tastefully done, this film is a collection of four ghost stories from Japanese history, linked together with uneven results. There is no connective tissue between episodes, and at two hours and forty minutes, KWAIDAN plays almost like an anthology series on the small screen.

The longest story--Hoichi the Earless--is nearly an hour, adding to the 'movie within a movie' feel. Each person will likely have a favorite story, and one that doesn't work for them--for me, 'Black Hair' was the strongest and the creepiest, leaving the rest of the movie to live up to a bar it couldn't quite reach--but the set design and art in 'The Snow woman' are one of the more striking things I've ever seen.

Hoichi goes on a little long, however, and the final story, 'A Cup of Tea' was a little too offbeat--it might have benefited from trading places with Hoichi in the order. Still, as a whole, this is well worth checking out, although you might want to break the viewing experience, if you're watching it at home, down over several nights.

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