Nakata Hideo, the director of Ring and Dark Water, chose a traditional Japanese ghost story for his 2007 film, Kaidan. Based on a famous 19th-century story by Sanyutei Encho, this eerie and elegant Edo-period piece is stylistically a marked departure from his previous films, though every bit as chilling. A nod to the works of pioneering filmmaker Nakagawa Nobuo, Kaidan evokes the classical horrors of the 1950s and 1960s with its folk tale narration and kabuki romanticism, infusing modern production values with age-old scares. The film both terrifies and enchants with its handsome photography, beautiful art direction, and haunting tale. Appropriately enough, kabuki star Onoe Kikunosuke (Inugamike no Ichizoku) embodies the film's tragic lead, crossing paths with a strong line-up of actresses that includes Kuroki Hitomi (Tokyo Tower), Seto Asako (Death Note), Aso Kumiko (Nada Sou Sou), and Inoue Mao (Gegege no Kitaro).
Years ago, a debt collector was slain by a samurai. Before falling to his death, the debt collector placed a curse on the samurai who went on to kill his wife and himself. Years later, the samurai's son Shinkichi (Onoe Kikunosuke) is now a tobacco seller, and as cruel fate would have it, he falls in love with the debt collector's daughter Toyoshiga (Kuroki Hitomi) who is years his senior. Toyoshiga's jealous nature, however, drives a wedge in their relationship, and he accidentally injures her during a quarrel, inflicting a wound similar to that which killed her father. After she dies, Shinkichi runs off with one of her students (Inoue Mao), hoping to start anew, but Shinkichi can't seem to escape Toyoshiga's resentful spirit and all the women who cycle relentlessly in and out of his life.
Date: Thursday October 22, 2009
Time: 7:00pm
Admission: $6 JCCC members, $8 non-members
