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The MoviesAuthor: Daniel Berrios
I'm Daniel Berrios. This is my journey to learn about the movies - the art form I adore - one review, interview, editorial at a time. Take care of yourselves. Take care of each other. All of us keep the movies alive. Language: en Genres: Film Reviews, TV & Film Contact email: Get it Feed URL: Get it iTunes ID: Get it |
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S4E72. 31 Days of Halloween - Day 20: ONIBABA (1964) dir. Kaneto Shindo
Episode 72
Saturday, 27 December, 2025
ONIBABA is one of Willem Dafoe's favorite movies, as his visit to the Criterion Closet confirms. In finally watching Kaneto Shindo's moody 1964 drama, I found it to have a spiritual cousin in one of Dafoe's films, THE LIGHTHOUSE.Both movies center on a couple isolated from most of the world, whose work provides the sole respite for their otherwise stress-addled minds. In the latter, it's two American lighthouse keeper from the early 20th Century. In ONIBABA, a mother and her daughter-in-law survive impoverishment during medieval Japanese wartime by killing wayward samurai and escaped soldiers, stripping them of all possessions and chucking their corpses into a deep, dark hole.This bizarre yet practiced routine is interrupted when a neighbor, who knew the women's son/husband, returns, looking to rebuild his life. His arrogance and oafishness begins to complicated the women's relationship, slowly deteriorating over time.Shindo's movie is minimalist at heart, employing straightforward blocking and camera movements to get the story across, but it's not simple-minded. It plays like a Buddhist fable, allowing the spiritual and metaphorical to permeate through an otherwise grounded drama about human psychology and the fear of leaving one's familiar, if destitute, life behind for the uncertain future. It has a Gothic streak in its intense black-and-white cinematography, eerie dreaminess and frank sense of sexuality.ONIBABA is slow to start but where it ends left me satisfied, ready to uncover more of Shindo's filmography.---Please rate & review The Movies wherever you listen to podcasts!If you like the show, consider supporting it monetarily through the tip jar here!Follow The Movies on Instagram & Letterboxd
