Kuroneko1968
Paired by the Criterion Channel, both picked by Jennifer Kent in the Criterion Closet, both on Guillermo del Toro’s Top 10, both directed by Kaneto Shindō, and both starring Kei Satō, Nobuko Otowa and Taiji Tonoyama
- Criterion Collection
- Spine №226
- Commentary
- 1 track on the Channel player
Synopsis
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 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 the trio’s 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.
