Thursday, February 10, 2005

Movie Review: Onibaba

The 1964 Japanese classic, Onibaba, is a classic for a reason. An interesting story unfolds as we see the lives of two women living in a hut in the middle of a desolate landscape full of some kind of really tall grass. It is a time of war and occasionally they find men wandering around in the field lost. So they do what any rational person would do. They kill them and sell their armor and weaponry. But hey, a girl's got to eat right? Eventually a male friend of theirs comes back from the war and makes things more complicated for their simple lifestyle. It's like an action packed love story.... with a mask. Kind of a funny looking mask. Anyways, the mask doesn't come along until later in the movie, but I thought you should know about it. The cinematography and directing is so amazing that I hardly even noticed that the whole movie setting is limited to a barren landscape of weeds and a giant hole in the ground. Oh yeah, there is a hole in the ground. A really big hole. Keep in mind that there is a cool mask in this movie. At one point, the mask actually is in the hole in the ground. And if that's not going to get you to see this movie, nothing will.
4 1/2 stars

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