Directed by Masaki Kobayashi • 1965 • Japan
Starring Rentaro Mikuni, Keiko Kishi, Katsuo Nakamura
After more than a decade of sober political dramas and socially minded period pieces, the great Japanese director Masaki Kobayashi shifted gears dramatically for this rapturously stylized quartet of ghost stories. Featuring colorfully surreal sets and luminous cinematography, these haunting tales of demonic comeuppance and spiritual trials, adapted from writer Lafcadio Hearn’s collections of Japanese folklore, are existentially frightening and meticulously crafted. This version of KWAIDAN is the original three-hour cut, never before released in the United States.
Up Next in Starring Tatsuya Nakadai
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Love Under the Crucifix
Directed by Kinuyo Tanaka • 1962 • Japan
Starring Ineko Arima, Tatsuya Nakadai, Mieko TakamineKinuyo Tanaka’s final work as a director evokes the golden age of Japanese cinema with a large-scale, sixteenth-century-set costume drama. Produced by the independent studio Ninjin Kurabu, LOVE UNDER T...
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Samurai Rebellion
Directed by Masaki Kobayashi • 1967 • Japan
Starring Toshiro Mifune, Yoko Tsukasa, Go KatoToshiro Mifune stars as Isaburo Sasahara, an aging swordsman living a quiet life until his clan lord orders that his son marry the lord’s mistress, who has recently displeased the ruler. Reluctantly, fathe...
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Immortal Love
Directed by Keisuke Kinoshita • 1961 • Japan
A woman is pushed to marry a rich but impaired man against her will, but soon her estranged lover reappears... Directed by Keisuke Kinoshita.
