"Onibaba" (circa1964) is a uniquely haunting, darkly-spellbinding film from director Kaneto Shindo, set during the chaotically cruel & brutal timeframe of medieval-feudal Japan = specifically a period of civil war around the time of the Battle of Minatogawa sometime in the 1330's.... when anarchic senseless death/destruction was commonplace and the act of simple survival (i.e. scavenging for scraps food, shelter and a rare bit of warmth) required the utmost effort and tireless-persistence on a daily basis, with little room for the luxuries of sentimentality or compassion.
"Onibaba" could definitely be categorized as a 'horror' film in many ways........ but is actually so much more = deeply artistic & atmospheric with regards to director Kento Shindo's (and cinematographer Kiyomi Kuroda) masterful application of starkly expressive B&W photography greatly enhanced by composer Hikaru Hayashi's eerily avant garde Music score (both primitively feral & sophisticatedly-evocative at the same time!)
Actors Nobuko Otowa, as the beleaguered older woman who later dons the otherworldly fearsome 'Onibaba' mask and Jitsuko Yoshimura as her youthfully vibrant comrade-in-arms (co-survivor, later fierce competitor), both desperate for 'companionship' with their sole neighbor 'Hachi' (Kei Sato). The emotions-passions presented in in this film are genuinely raw and fiercely intense, at times watching 'Onibaba' can be quite a visceral experience and this movie most definitely ranks in the upper echelons of 'psychological-thriller'.... but again, there is so much more! (i.e. perfectly capturing desperate individuals pushed far beyond the precipice of 'civilized' humanity).
Ultimately, Kaneto Shindo creates an intensely chilling/ unnerving (but also quite sensual) cinematic realm that seems to exist as both hallucinatory fever 'dream' and nightmarishly stark 'reality' and it oftentimes becomes difficult to discern which of the two realms is the more terrifying!
"Onibaba" could definitely be categorized as a 'horror' film in many ways........ but is actually so much more = deeply artistic & atmospheric with regards to director Kento Shindo's (and cinematographer Kiyomi Kuroda) masterful application of starkly expressive B&W photography greatly enhanced by composer Hikaru Hayashi's eerily avant garde Music score (both primitively feral & sophisticatedly-evocative at the same time!)
Actors Nobuko Otowa, as the beleaguered older woman who later dons the otherworldly fearsome 'Onibaba' mask and Jitsuko Yoshimura as her youthfully vibrant comrade-in-arms (co-survivor, later fierce competitor), both desperate for 'companionship' with their sole neighbor 'Hachi' (Kei Sato). The emotions-passions presented in in this film are genuinely raw and fiercely intense, at times watching 'Onibaba' can be quite a visceral experience and this movie most definitely ranks in the upper echelons of 'psychological-thriller'.... but again, there is so much more! (i.e. perfectly capturing desperate individuals pushed far beyond the precipice of 'civilized' humanity).
Ultimately, Kaneto Shindo creates an intensely chilling/ unnerving (but also quite sensual) cinematic realm that seems to exist as both hallucinatory fever 'dream' and nightmarishly stark 'reality' and it oftentimes becomes difficult to discern which of the two realms is the more terrifying!