Yabu no naka no kuroneko (1968)

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1. 

   Siskoid

   Kuroneko (AKA The Black Cat AKA A Black Cat in a Bamboo Grove, which idiomatically refers to a mystery that's difficult to unravel) is a beautiful-looking ghost/demon story by director Kaneto Shindô - deep pools of black and brightly-lit whites creating amazing atmosphere as he takes the samurai film down for its toxic masculinity. In the opening moments of the film, two women are raped and killed samurai, so once they've been empowered to kill all samurai as cat demons by the god of evil, we're basically with them. It's a folk tale more than a horror story. The horror comes from their demise, and what happens later when their son/husband comes home, having been press-ganged into the army and freshly minted a samurai, one tasked with the destruction of the "monster" decimating the samurai army. What follows is pure tragedy as loved ones are pit against one another, a nightmarish dilemma from which no one will escape, with brilliant cinematography and some weird moments of feline mimetism. Tense, sad, and wonderful. 4 years 6 months ago
2. 

   Bolero Tenebris

   Director Kaneto Shindo accomplished something special stylistically with ''Onibaba'' and even more with this one - really cool stuff. 5 years 8 months ago
3. 

   Torgo

   That snow falling between the bamboo in the end, all in magnificent black and white, looked truly marvellous. 10 years 4 months ago

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