Onibaba

Wow,I saw this movie on Cable recently.Both of the women in this story are just trying their best to get by and survive in a bad situation.I could tell it was on a limited budget but very well written.It was erotic with frontal nudity and even filmed in the 60's.It had me on the edge of my seat the whole time.I was trying to figure out where they were going with the whole thing.I kept trying to decide if I sympathized with the old woman more than the young one.Then at the end I felt sorry for both of them.What a great story.This one needs to be on Cable more often.This one is a must see even for people who only like contemporary films.I would recommend it to anyone.

Life's been tough, and you're surviving on the edge, trapping Samurai from flows in which you dredge, your often empty skillet, is sometimes, filled with millet, but at least your daughter in law helps you fetch. A neighbour returns home, with some bad news, your son, fallen in battle, no longer moves, it's not long before his wife, is causing stress, struggle and strife, behaving in a way you wholly disapprove. By fortune, you obtain a Hannya Mask, it comes in handy for a demonising task, a barrier of sorts, daughter in law's trips cut short, but there's no time to enjoy pleasures, or to bask.

Nobuko Otowa provides us with a truly outstanding performance as she grapples with her daughter in law's infidelity after the loss of her husband, leaving her isolated, alone and forgotten. The cinematography is sublime, the raw emotions unrefined, and the mask a cursed damnation that sticks and binds.

This particular flick caught my attention with the box description of "an old woman and her nubile young daughter lure unwary samurai into a wheatfield to rob and kill them." Well, there wasn't much luring...most of the samurais were just unlucky enough to wander into the old woman and nubile young daughter's home territory...but the movie was still a superb little find...in a suburban Blockbuster Video, of all places! This movie, which I found to be faster paced than most Japanese period pieces, is just DRIPPING with weird psychological overtones. The story involves an old woman and her daughter-in-law living off the spoils of wars. Various samurai from countless wars are always stumbling into these bandits' territory and to be summarily jacked for their armor and weapons. It's one big happy family until an old comrade of the daughter's husband returns home and reports that the daughter's husband is dead. We're never really sure if this man killed the husband or not...but that issue is soon is overshadowed by the sexual tension of two women who haven't been with a fella for some time. Eventually, the nubile young daughter helps herself to this new lover, much to the jealous rage of her mother-in-law. So the old woman hatches a scheme to separate these two lovers...but keeping them apart is as difficult as keeping apart two dogs in...well, you get the idea. The cinematography of this film is excellent. Each shot is meticulously and lovingly shot, building the tension and supplying the canine symbolism. The music is unusual too...it starts off with some hepcat bebop and then regresses into what I can only guess is theme music for an oni (Japanese ogre). I would highly recommend Onibaba for those evenings where everyone feels a need to be disturbed and entertained at the same time. It also doesn't hurt that Jotsuki Yoshimuru, who plays the daughter-in-law, happens to be drop dead gorgeous...in a punk rock sort of way. You'll see what I mean when you check out this flick. I doubt you'll find this flick at Blockbuster Video...unless you find one in the middle of a wheat field.....

In the 1400s raging wars between two emperors is being fought. This is not about the wars, but about the poor people struck by it. In a rural location camouflaged by a huge field of tall reeds are two huts. In one of them a young woman lives with her stepmother, her husband went to war. Having had failed crops three times that year they are stricken by poverty. The only way for them to survive is to steal, and the only things to steal are uniforms and swords from dead soldiers or heavily wounded soldiers and then sell them to the underworld. Which by the way is funny, I never thought of the underworld in rural medieval setting before.

This story is just as grim as the demon on the cover. The wind howling in the reeds make for very creepy atmosphere. The music consisting of drums and brassy wind instruments really intensifies the drama.

Just as in sand in Teshigaharas equally excellent 'Suna no Onna' serves as symbol, metaphor and is very important in creating atmosphere we have in 'Onibaba' the tall reeds.

The theme in this, the basic needs and emotions of people, will never be dated. The psychology is thick and real. They are victims of their leaders actions. With all the wars being fought today this is still happening today, please remember that.

"Battle not with monsters, lest ye become a monster, and if you gaze into the abyss, the abyss gazes also into you."

• Nietzsche

The characters in Onibaba dwell in the bottom rung of Maslow's Pyramid.

Food, sex, shelter, survival - though not necessarily in that order.

Sexuality permeates every frame of this film. It is ever-present along with the oppressive heat and the marshland weeds.

The stark black and white cinematography perfectly captures the desolate mood.

The score – atonal free jazz backed by tribal rhythms - though completely anachronistic works surprisingly well.

One of the most fiercely primal depictions of the human condition on celluloid, Onibaba is a hauntingly erotic masterpiece.