Kwaidan

Masaki Kobayashi's 1964 anthology of ancient ghost stories may not be—strictly speaking—a horror film: it's neither scary nor even particularly unsettling, apart from a few exquisitely created images. But Kwaidan is breathtakingly lovely, featuring beautifully composed painterly visuals, and a score and sound design by Toru Takemitsu that is spare and often suffused with sadness, regret, and loss. Kwaidan is adapted from four classic Japanese folktales: "The Black Hair" follows a samurai who abandons his devoted wife; "The Woman of the Snow" is a forest spirit who will spare a woodcutter so long as he keeps a promise; "Hoichi the Earless," the longest entry at over an hour, centers on the ghosts of a sea battle and a blind musician; and "In a Cup of Tea" serves up a meditation on storytelling. The four segments play out on stylized, pared-down studio sets, and are directed with a deliberation that emphasizes stillness, which can sometimes feel remote and removed. Revered as a classic of Japanese cinema from one of its master filmmakers, Kwaidan is a gorgeous, haunting work. Although previous American releases—both on film and home video—were trimmed by 20 minutes, this new Criterion edition presents the fully restored and remastered director's cut. Extras include an audio commentary by film historian Stephen Prince, along with new and archival interviews. Recommended. (S. Axmaker)