'Onibaba' ( Demon Old Woman ) was written and directed by Kaneto Shindo and released in Japan in 1964. Provocatively scored by Hikaru Hayashi and stunningly photographed by cinematographer Kiyomi Kuroda, 'Onibaba' is based on an old Buddhist folk tale. Set in 14th century rural Japan during a period of civil war involving peasants and the samurai classes, the entire story is filmed in an actual Susuki grass swamp (a.k.a. Chinese Silver grass, Zebra grass, and Porcupine grass).
The brash opening notes in which ‘Taiko’ drumming mixes with jazz horns along with the immediate visual focus on the undulating tall grasses let me know that I was in for a wild ride. The sense that the tall grasses were in and of themselves a character in the film was instant. As the film progressed I saw that their movements were able to express everything that was taking place; power, danger, fear, sanctuary, bliss, abundance, terror, joy, radiance, indifference, time, possession, passion, loss, confusion, isolation, interconnectedness, life and death.
As the two women pounced upon the men after killing them I could think only of old National Geographic footage of lions, tigers, hyenas, and vultures descending upon their prey and stripping them of their flesh in the most primitive and unemotional need to eat and survive. When the women returned to the hut with their quarry, guzzled water, stuffed gruel into their hungry mouths and collapsed in a state of sweaty exhaustion the animal images became even more embedded. Eventually emotions such as lust, greed, jealousy, envy, rage, and affection emerged and the HUMAN story began to play itself upon the stage.
And sex was in the grass.
And sex was in the sounds.
Sex was Everywhere and in Everything.
I don’t believe anything has ever caused me to think so much about just how deeply rooted this need to crush our groins together and release ourselves into another human might really be.
I took pages of notes while watching and have endless details that I could comment on. Here are a few examples:
- I loved that in the initial sequence the grasses opened as the samurai moved into them and shut behind them just as quickly.
-I was blown away by the quality and creativity of the sounds. The crispness of the sword striking, the subtle sound of the quiet winds in the grass, the brilliant use of the cooing pigeons as the young girl runs across the field ..
- The dripping sexual excitement as she runs anticipating the connection soon to come with her lover..
-The beads of sweat so distinct on the couples' skin I feel I could put my finger out and wipe them off..
-The shots of the two sleeping women's breasts laid out for comparison…
- In an attempt to gain control over her daughter in law the old woman uses religion as a weapon of fear. She convinces her that her natural desires are SINFUL, replaying the banishing of Adam and Eve from the Garden of Eden and reminding me once again of why I have such antipathy to religion in almost all its’ forms.
-The old woman clawing hungrily at her own breasts and making love to the dead tree as she is consumed with unquenchable desire after seeing the couple having sex.
The brash opening notes in which ‘Taiko’ drumming mixes with jazz horns along with the immediate visual focus on the undulating tall grasses let me know that I was in for a wild ride. The sense that the tall grasses were in and of themselves a character in the film was instant. As the film progressed I saw that their movements were able to express everything that was taking place; power, danger, fear, sanctuary, bliss, abundance, terror, joy, radiance, indifference, time, possession, passion, loss, confusion, isolation, interconnectedness, life and death.
As the two women pounced upon the men after killing them I could think only of old National Geographic footage of lions, tigers, hyenas, and vultures descending upon their prey and stripping them of their flesh in the most primitive and unemotional need to eat and survive. When the women returned to the hut with their quarry, guzzled water, stuffed gruel into their hungry mouths and collapsed in a state of sweaty exhaustion the animal images became even more embedded. Eventually emotions such as lust, greed, jealousy, envy, rage, and affection emerged and the HUMAN story began to play itself upon the stage.
And sex was in the grass.
And sex was in the sounds.
Sex was Everywhere and in Everything.
I don’t believe anything has ever caused me to think so much about just how deeply rooted this need to crush our groins together and release ourselves into another human might really be.
I took pages of notes while watching and have endless details that I could comment on. Here are a few examples:
- I loved that in the initial sequence the grasses opened as the samurai moved into them and shut behind them just as quickly.
-I was blown away by the quality and creativity of the sounds. The crispness of the sword striking, the subtle sound of the quiet winds in the grass, the brilliant use of the cooing pigeons as the young girl runs across the field ..
- The dripping sexual excitement as she runs anticipating the connection soon to come with her lover..
-The beads of sweat so distinct on the couples' skin I feel I could put my finger out and wipe them off..
-The shots of the two sleeping women's breasts laid out for comparison…
- In an attempt to gain control over her daughter in law the old woman uses religion as a weapon of fear. She convinces her that her natural desires are SINFUL, replaying the banishing of Adam and Eve from the Garden of Eden and reminding me once again of why I have such antipathy to religion in almost all its’ forms.
-The old woman clawing hungrily at her own breasts and making love to the dead tree as she is consumed with unquenchable desire after seeing the couple having sex.
-Everything about the thunderstorm…climaxing with the couple making love in the rain while the Onibaba looks upon them, realizing she has utterly and pitifully failed in her mission to come between them…
And of course, the ending.
“I ‘m not a demon! I’m a human being! I am a human being!" the old woman cries as she falls into the pit, descending into the hell that she has created for herself.
And of course, the ending.
“I ‘m not a demon! I’m a human being! I am a human being!" the old woman cries as she falls into the pit, descending into the hell that she has created for herself.
I will miss the tall grasses. But I shall forever picture them in my mind and hear their quiet whisper.
BMM, LLI.
Often I wish we were all sitting in a room together drinking coffee and talking away into the wee hours of the night about our "personal responses and reactions" to the films. Maybe someday we can…perhaps a conference calling conversation could be something in our blog future.?
11 comments:
This certainly was a 'wild ride'. The grasses provided such a powerful performance, equal to the other three characters who were intense to say the least. I am still reeling.
Lee, although I agree that the film was technically impeccable as far as cinematography, sound, direction and acting I can't honestly say that I enjoyed watching it.The story line was just NMCOT but I can certainly see why others would give it a high rating.
I can see your point filmluver, I watched this with two friends and I was the only one who loved it. They just couldn't "get into it" they said, although we watched it all the way through. Everyone did agree that both the wild reeds and the mask were enough to make it worth watching. For me, the entire movie was excellent and I read numerous reviews that concur. As Dana Lynn and Lee put it, "A wild ride," and I LEM.
Interesting, we had a similar experience to yours, JackR. We watched Onibaba this weekend with friends and though we were intrigued one of them got very antsy about a third of the way through and started reading while the rest of us finished. When we talked about it after this person said they "just couldn't get into it.."
It is surely NECOT. WOTBP, WWW.
Lee, thanks for the heads up on this film! I was drawn in from the first frame.
This is another example of the advantages of the DVD era in that the extra features were almost as fun as watching the movie itself.
With director Shindo telling all the details of hows and whys and actually seeing footage of the housing set up that they created for cast and crew, i LEM.
FI find it hard to imagine that people couldn't get into it but hey, you can't please every one and if you do probably it wasn't your bravest and most honest attempt.
Brian, I couldn't agree with you more. My favorite quote from Shindo's interview is:
"In the wilderness of nature, human lives are very small. But as small as we are our significance is such that we could even set a large grass field to shaking".
I wish I understood Japanese, it's probably even better than the translation.
How sexuality in movies changes! In modern American films, if a woman shows her breasts you know she's going to have wild sex in the next 15 minutes, her liposuctioned, silicon enhanced body held up by her lover as he pushes her against the wall or bathroom mirror. If the couple does happen to have sex in (gasp!) the bedroom, you know someone's face is going to slide out of the frame while the other partner makes wierd faces).
In this film, the bare breasts were used to show sexuality, not sex appeal. The lovemaking was obviously happening, and we even got to see some, but it was not shoved in our faces. It was not about showing off technique it was about the releasing of animal tensions in the characters. (Yes, people ARE animals).
So which era was beter? The era of the Hayes Office, when couples had to have twin beds, or the current "Let's use sex to show off" attitude. This movie was made when the old prudish standards were comming down, this movie was probably a shocker in its day.
I urge you to watch Treasure of Sierra Madre and watch the scene where Humphry Bogart kills his partner. The fatal blow is struck off camera, but the build up and images left me unsettled for days.
PS - Where have oldman and cherry been lately? Miss your input, guys. Come back soon......
After talking to a bunch of people (most of whom have not written on the blog) I'd say that the majority of the negatives fell into the same 'couldn't get into it' category that Filmluver, JackR and Kate &Jim spoke of. When I watched 'Onibaba' the first time I did feel some resistance in myself and part of me thought, well, I'm not sure if this will interest me. I had a feeling that it might be worth trying to push through my doubts and was glad I did but I can understand other people's responses.
I am glad to hear that some such as Dana Lynn , Brian, Georgia and perhaps Breather (good to hear from you again Breather...) did find it intriguing. Georgia, I too loved that quote, in fact I wrote it down!
Breather, you are not the only one to miss Oldman and Cherry's awesome input. I have recieved quite a few direct e-mails asking me where they are and have I heard anything from them. Let's hope that they join us again soon as I certainly agree that their commentary is invaluable.
We all have the capability of turning into 'Onibabas' given the right circumstances. Take away food, shelter, security and most of us would lose our 'humanity'. When the old woman begs the handsome masked general to let her see his face she says "i have never seen anything of beauty' (paraphrase). Starved as these people were for EVERYTHING, I can see how they all became what they became. The hell of her own making? To some extent yes. But she was also born INTO hell. Could she have chosen to make it a greater or lesser one? Obviously this is the human conundrum.(sp?)
Welcome 'unisex-y', great name by the way. I really appreciate what you wrote about all of us being capable of becoming Onibaba's under the right (or wrong!) circumstances. I think the director believed this too as the film showed a certain compassion for all the characters portrayed, including the old woman. Hope you can join us again!
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