Review of Onibaba (1964) by James J — 03 Feb 2013

The wife and mother of a drafted soldier are left to fend for themselves in the grassy swamplands of rural Japan, where they pay for their meager meals by slaying passing samurai and selling their armor. When a neighbor returns from the war to inform them of their loss, he strikes up a passionate love affair with his friend's ex-lover, causing her mother-in-law to lash out in jealousy and rage. The older woman uses the fearsome mask of a fallen warrior to frighten the lovers from seeing one another, but her selfish pursuit has its own horrifying consequences. Taken from traditional Buddhist folklore, ONIBABA comes from an age of romantic ghost stories known as Kaidan that proliferated in Japanese cinema throughout the first half of the century. The terrors in this film are quite human, however. Here, we see the ravening effect that war has on the common people, the lengths that men and women will go through to survive, and the darkest of human emotions. Kaneto Shindô uses deeply symbolic imagery to personify these feelings of hopelessness, fear, and anger, the most effective, of course, being the demonic Noh mask that latches on to its wearer and exposes their inner being. The desperate sex acts committed by the two young lovers are as much about raw, animalistic desire as they are about escaping from the futile and mundane life cycle. ONIBABA is a brilliantly-shot and highly-atmospheric masterpiece that places a very human drama at the height of its success.

-Carl Manes.

I Like Horror Movies.