KURONEKO / A BLACK CAT IN A BAMBOO GROVE (YABU NO NAKA NO KURONEKO). Viewed on Streaming. Restoration/preservation = ten (10) stars; cinematography = eight (8) stars; costume design = seven (7) stars; stunts = six (6) stars; set design = five (5) stars; special effects = four (4) stars. Director Kaneto Shindo (who is also credited as the writer) presents his take on an ancient supernatural folktale (circa post Heian) involving the rape and murder of two rural women (a wife and her mother in-law) by wandering samurai with the former promoted to ghost status to kill wandering (and any other) samurai. Their pet black cat is nebulously mixed up in this process. The plot thickens when the husband/son returns as a freshly minted samurai who begins wandering about searching for his missing relatives--and, of course, eventually finds their unreasonable facsimiles. Shindo's photo-play does not telegraph (in advance) how plot points will turn out (unusual for filmed folklore), but the ending is not a happy one (which is the usual result for movies of this genre). The Director's product might have made an excellent short. Instead the film is overly long by a factor of at least three, and stretch marks and fillers can be seen just about everywhere: endless repetition of scenes; performances reduced to "ghostly" slow-motion acting; loads of horse-back riding to nowhere; etc. Shindo seems unsure if he is making a motion picture or filming a stage play complete with spot-lite actresses. As with most/all ghost tales invented by Buddhist monks way back when, this one smacks of sexism and the "inherent evil" of women. (Apparently, deceitful, vengeful, dangerous, and murderous male ghosts were in short supply during ancient times!) Restoration and cinematography (2.35 : 1, black and white) are excellent. There are many fine tracking shots. Costumes are minimal quantitatively but outstanding qualitatively. Set design is pretty good especially sound-stage "exteriors." Ghost effects are fairly primitive (even by contemporary standards) and uneven; they mainly derive from in-camera, film processing, and editing techniques (multiple exposures often look phony, but the invisible foot cart that seems to have been used to enable actresses to travel unaided in front of trotting horses is a fine touch). Stunt actors provide eye-opening flips and pirouettes. Subtitles are close enough and signs usually translated. Always keep a caffeinated beverage nearby with this one! WILLIAM FLANIGAN, PhD.
Review of Black Cat
