Seeing 'Kwaidan' in 35mm!

Kwaidan at the Shin Bungeiza. Photo by Brett Homenick.

On Wednesday, August 30, I went to the Shin Bungeiza theater in Ikebukuro to catch a screening of the Oscar-nominated classic Kwaidan (1964) in 35mm. Not only was it my first time to see it on the big screen, it was my first time to see it in about 20 years. Despite that, my memory of the proceedings was surprisingly strong, and I remembered what happens in every segment -- except one.

The segment I forgot about was "The Woman of the Snow." While the opening scenes of the snowstorm remained rather vivid in my mind, I couldn't recall anything that happened after it, even how the story concluded. Given how flat the ending to that segment was, though, I guess it shouldn't be so surprising.

The film print looked good, and it was great to see this film on the big screen. You could say it's a flawed masterpiece. I've always felt the "Hoichi the Earless" segment runs too long -- almost like a movie within a movie. It damages the pace of the overall film, and the fact that the final segment is so short in comparison has always been a bit puzzling to me. 

But those are the blemishes. I like pretty much everything else about it. I think the best segment overall is "The Black Hair," but the opening snowstorm scenes of "The Woman of the Snow" might be my favorite part of the film.