Kwaidan is a anthology of Japanese ghost stories, scary stories to tell in the dark, Japan style. It is based on a book of collected stories, a book which my library does not have (no surprise there). Kwaidan consists of 4 segments, and since I think it is relevant, let me copy in my original idea behind what is in an anthology.
Kwaidan is going to break my anthology rules because most of these stories are weird, at least from my perspective. So, read that idea break down or don't. Whatever.
Segment one: The Black Hair. A man leaves his good wife in order to climb the social ladder. His second marriage doesn't work out and he misses his ex, so he runs away to be with her, but only encounters something strange when he returns to her.
This one is so classically Japanese. The presence of honor and the presence of morality is the focus here, and in the end it's actually a quite feminist idea. The pacing works the best of the stories I would say to, perhaps because of the simplicity.
Segment two: The Woman of the Snow. Two loggers are out on a night where the'yre overtaken by a snowstorm. One of the man witnesses a phantom white woman of the snow kill his partner. He is told he can live if he never tells this story to anyone. Is he up for the challenge?
This is the one I remembered the most. This one is the best, I would say. It has a really good idea and could easily be fleshed out to an entire movie. It's also the most positive and upbeat, so hey, party.
Segment three: Hoichi the Earless. A blind musician is targeted by a mystery man to play for a mystery group very late at night.
This one is WAY too long. This is a good idea (I guess) but it takes over an hour of this movies 2.5 hour running time, and it feels like it. It has so many long scenes of a guy playing his biwa that you might even end up fast forwarding unless you really like the music. It's also very obvious from early on what is going to happen, not helped by the title, and you'll feel everything telegraphed from far away.
Segment four: In a Cup of Tea. A samurai guarding a royal house sees a reflection of a stranger in a cup of tea. He cannot get rid of the reflection and so he drinks the tea. Soon enough he meets the owner of the reflection, claiming that they must now duel.
This one is a good concept again, and could have been a full length movie. The problem with this segment really is that it focuses too much on the fighting instead of the character stuff. What, did they feel like they needed to pump up the pace?
Kwaidan as a whole is thoroughly enjoyable in the short segments. I wish Hoichi was also 30ish minutes instead of an hour 15. If I were to watch it again, I'd probably skip that whole part. It's the weakest segment, length aside. Overall though, this is really good stuff with great atmosphere and cool, creepy, original ideas. Nothing like this in Western culture anthologies anyways. I give it 4 stars. (I might give it 5 without Hoichi...)
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