Onibaba (film)

Onibaba
File:Newonibaba.jpg Italian poster for Onibaba
Directed by	Kaneto Shindō
Written by	Kaneto Shindō
Produced by	Toshio Konya
Starring	Nobuko Otowa Jitsuko Yoshimura Kei Sato
Cinematography	Kiyomi Kuroda
Edited by	Toshio Enoki
Music by	Hikaru Hayashi Tetsuya Ohashi
Release dates	Nov 21, 1964 Feb 04, 1965
Running time	103 min.
Language	Japanese

Onibaba ([鬼婆, literally Demon Woman] Error: {{nihongo}}: text has italic markup (help)) (1964) is a Japanese horror film based on a Buddhist parable. Directed by Kaneto Shindō, the film is set in rural Japan in the fourteenth century and features Nobuko Otowa and Jitsuko Yoshimura as a woman and her daughter-in-law who lure passing samurai to their death in a deep pit and rob them of their goods.

Story

During the Nanboku-chō period a woman (Nobuko Otowa) and her daughter-in-law (Jitsuko Yoshimura) live in a small hut in a susuki grass swamp. They make a living by killing samurai, disposing of their bodies in a deep pit and selling their armor and weapons. A neighbor named Hachi (Kei Sato) who went to war with the woman's son/daughter-in-law's husband returns and reports that he was killed in combat. Hachi starts to help the two women to kill passersby for the possessions. Hachi begins blatantly lusting after the daughter-in-law, who quickly is seduced and starts to sneak out of her hut every night to have sex with him. Soon, the mother-in-law, herself sexually frustrated learns of the relationship. She first tries to sleep with Hachi and then pleads with him to not take the daughter-in-law away since she needs her to kill. Hachi agrees not to marry the daughter-in-law, but says she going to do what she wants.

One night, while Hachi and the daughter-in-law are together, a samurai in a frightening demon mask corners the mother-in-law and forces her to take him to the road. However, the mother-in-law tricks to the samurai to plunge to his death in the pit where they dispose of their victims. The mother-in-law climbs down and steals the samurai's possessions and, with great difficulty, his mask. Despite the samurai having boasted that he was "beautiful", she finds him to be badly disfigured underneath the mask. The mother-in-law begins to play on the younger woman's fears of ghosts and punishment for sins of the flesh first in seemingly banal conversations. At night, the mother-in-law pretends to be the demon by donning the samurai's mask and frightening the girl to run back to their hut and away from Hachi. On one torrently rainy night, the mother-in-law again terrifies the girl with the mask, but Hachi finds the daughter-in-law and again has sex with her in the grasses. Later that night, Hachi returns to his hut to find a starving samurai, much like those they've killed, in his hut gluting on his rice. The samurai kills Hachi. At the same time, the mother-in-law discovers to her horror that the demon-mask is stuck to her face and is impossible to remove. She reveals her scheming to the younger woman and pleads with her to help take it off, promising not to disturb them again. Reluctantly the younger woman takes out an axe and chops it off, revealing the older woman's now ravaged features, similar to that of the samurai's earlier. Now she really believes that her mother-in-law has turned into a demon due to her disfigurement and runs from her in the grasses. The two women jump over the pit housing their victims, their fate left unclear.

Onibaba is notable for its raw sensuality, demonstrated by the basic carnal desires of the protagonists and symbolised by its setting amid a sea of waving susuki grass in the oppressive heat of mid-summer. Controversial in its time, the nudity and simulated sex in the film was unprecedented in Japanese cinema, though the nearly simultaneous Woman in the Dunes has comparable content. Also notable is the taiko drum soundtrack and the grisly conclusion.

Production

File:Onibaba04.jpg

Cast members dwarfed by the susuki grass.

According to a Criterion Collection documentary, Kaneto Shindō said he wanted to film Onibaba in a field of susuki grass, however there were very few fields of susuki grass at the time so Kaneto Shindō sent out assistant directors to find suitable locations. Once a location was found near a river bank, they built several houses to live in. They had a rule that if somebody left they would not get any pay, so it kept the crew motivated to continue. The crew could only film at daylight, because during the night hours the riverbank would overflow so crabs would infect the area, and that insects invaded locations during night also. So to film night scenes inside the tent the characters lived in they would put up screens to block the sun, and changing the shot would require setting the screens in a completely different spot.

Onibaba's score was done by Hikaru Hayashi and notably includes a Taiko drum soundtrack, and the natural sounds of pigeons chirping, resulting in a frenzied soundtrack.

The film makes use of rapid editing and slow motion, often at distorted or strange angles.

Distribution

It was released on DVD March 16, 2004 for the Criterion Collection.

Reception

Reaction to Onibaba remains mixed. Matt Cale, a reviewer for Ruthlessreviews.com, said: "Based on my initial, purely gut reaction, Onibaba is a visual masterpiece, but also the sort of story that contains layer after layer of insight. I wouldn’t argue that I understood everything after one viewing, but I’m so intrigued that I want to read more reviews, scan a few clips, and even revisit the film in its entirety. It’s the sort of film made for contemplation; so mysterious and so blissfully unconcerned with immediate gratification that I have no doubt it will begin the slow climb up the list of films near and dear to my heart." Members of Variety opened their review with: "Raw fare is sometimes high adventure and exciting, at other times dull in its so-called symbolism. Too often, it turns out to be a pot-pourri of ravenous eating and blatant sex", referring to the films violence and sexual overtones. A.H. Weiler stated that he found it hard to relate to. Despite negative reviews, Onibaba has generally been well received.

Historical Setting

The story takes place shortly after the Battle of Minatogawa which began a period of over 50 years of civil war, the Nanboku-chō period (1336 to 1392) and demonstrates the class warfare between the peasants and the elite samurai at that time. It is based on an old Buddhist fable.

Analysis

According to Kaneto Shindo the effects of the mask on those who wear it is symbolic of the disfigurement of the victims of the Atomic bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki, the film reflecting the traumatic effect of this visitation on post-war Japanese society.

External links

• Onibaba at AllMovie
• Onibaba at IMDb
• Onibaba at the Japanese Movie Database
• Onibaba at Rotten Tomatoes
• Onibaba at the TCM Movie Database
• Criterion Collection essay by Chuck Stephens

Sources

• Thompson, Nathaniel (2006). DVD Delirium: The International Guide to Weird and Wonderful Films on DVD; Volume 3. Godalming, England: FAB Press. pp. pp.407-408. ISBN 1-903254-40-X. {{cite book}}: |pages= has extra text (help)