J-Film Blog

Um, well, I can definitely say that 1964’s Onibaba isn’t at all what I was expecting.  And that’s a good thing to be sure.  For 1964, this is a seriously twisted, frank, raw, provocative, and mesmerizing movie.

Set sometime in Japan’s war torn medieval period, we find an old woman (Nobuko Otawa) and her daughter-in-law (Jitsuko Yoshimura) struggling out a meager existence by killing stray soldiers and selling their weapons, armor, and other possessions to the local dealer.  They throw the bodies into a deep, dark hole in the ground, never to be seen again.

The son Kichi and another local, Hachi (Kei Sato) have been off fighting, and Hachi returns, with the bad news that Kichi was killed.  He joins them in their murderous exploits, and soon the daughter-in-law and Hachi shack up together out of sheer convenience.  This is of course, much to the dismay of the old woman, who goes back and forth between objection and jealousy.

Soon she’s approached by a lost samurai, wearing a rather scary “oni” (devil) mask.  He asks to be shown on his way, and instead, she lures him into the hole, where he falls to his death.  She takes his possessions, including the mask, which doesn’t come off easily.

She devises a plan to use the mask and his robes to attempt to scare the daughter-in-law back on the right path, which works for a time, but eventually this fails.  When the truth becomes known, things turn “Twilight Zone” as the mask won’t come off.  In a panic she chases after the daughter and falls victim to her own trap.

OK, so I spoiled it. Bigtime.  So what. Watch it anyway.  The style of this movie is absolutely brilliant.  It’s dark and gloomy, and the camera work with the vast sea of reeds only adds to the mood of things.  Suspense? Got it in spades, although now that you actually know what happens maybe not so much.  What’s definitely interesting about Onibaba is the “R” rated nature of it.  While we wouldn’t think twice about it today, the nudity and frank sexuality present here wouldn’t have stood a chance of seeing mainstream screens in the US in ‘64.  No way.

Some parts are bizarre beyond explanation, but in the end it all falls together, as I said, in a story worthy of a Rod Serling introduction.  I was expecting a typical 60’s monster movie, and got a visually inspiring tale of suspense instead.

Amazon: Onibaba – Criterion Collection
Netflix: Onibaba
IMDB: Onibaba