Image Unavailable
Color:
-
-
-
- Sorry, this item is not available in
- Image not available
- To view this video download Flash Player
Kuroneko (The Criterion Collection) [Blu-ray]
Return this item for free
Free returns are available for the shipping address you chose. You can return the item for any reason in new and unused condition: no shipping charges
Learn more about free returns.- Go to your orders and start the return
- Select the return method
- Ship it!
Return this item for free
Free returns are available for the shipping address you chose. You can return the item for any reason in new and unused condition: no shipping charges
Learn more about free returns.- Go to your orders and start the return
- Select the return method
- Ship it!
Purchase options and add-ons
Genre | Horror |
Format | NTSC, Widescreen, Black & White, Blu-ray, Subtitled |
Contributor | Kichiemon Nakamura, Nobuko Otowa, Kaneto Shindo, Kiwako Taichi, Taiji Tonoyama, Kei Sato |
Language | Japanese |
Runtime | 1 hour and 39 minutes |
Frequently bought together
Similar items that may ship from close to you
- Onibaba (The Criterion Collection) [Blu-ray]Nobuko OtowaBlu-rayFREE Shipping on orders over $35 shipped by AmazonGet it as soon as Tuesday, Apr 2
- Kwaidan [Blu-ray]Rentaro MikuniBlu-rayFREE Shipping on orders over $35 shipped by AmazonGet it as soon as Tuesday, Apr 2
- House (The Criterion Collection) [Blu-ray]Kimiko IkegamiBlu-rayFREE Shipping on orders over $35 shipped by AmazonGet it as soon as Tuesday, Apr 2
- The Complete Lady Snowblood (The Criterion Collection) [Blu-ray]Meiko KajiBlu-rayFREE Shipping on orders over $35 shipped by AmazonGet it as soon as Tuesday, Apr 2
- Cure (The Criterion Collection) [Blu-ray]Kurosawa, KiyoshiBlu-rayFREE Shipping on orders over $35 shipped by AmazonGet it as soon as Tuesday, Apr 2
- Harakiri (The Criterion Collection) [Blu-ray]Tatsuya NakadaiBlu-rayFREE Shipping on orders over $35 shipped by AmazonGet it as soon as Tuesday, Apr 2
Product Description
In this poetic and atmospheric horror fable, set in a village in war-torn medieval Japan, a malevolent spirit has been ripping out the throats of itinerant samurai. When a military hero is sent to dispatch the unseen force, he finds that he must struggle with his own personal demons as well. From Kaneto Shindo, director of the terror classic Onibaba, Kuroneko (Black Cat) is a spectacularly eerie twilight tale with a shocking feminist angle, evoked through ghostly special effects and exquisite cinematography.
Product details
- Is Discontinued By Manufacturer : No
- MPAA rating : Unrated (Not Rated)
- Product Dimensions : 0.7 x 7.5 x 5.4 inches; 4 ounces
- Item model number : 22819633
- Director : Kaneto Shindo
- Media Format : NTSC, Widescreen, Black & White, Blu-ray, Subtitled
- Run time : 1 hour and 39 minutes
- Release date : October 18, 2011
- Actors : Kichiemon Nakamura, Nobuko Otowa, Kiwako Taichi, Kei Sato, Taiji Tonoyama
- Subtitles: : English
- Studio : Criterion Collection
- ASIN : B005D0RDRA
- Country of Origin : USA
- Number of discs : 1
- Best Sellers Rank: #22,555 in Movies & TV (See Top 100 in Movies & TV)
- #1,157 in Horror (Movies & TV)
- #2,138 in Drama Blu-ray Discs
- Customer Reviews:
Customer reviews
Customer Reviews, including Product Star Ratings help customers to learn more about the product and decide whether it is the right product for them.
To calculate the overall star rating and percentage breakdown by star, we don’t use a simple average. Instead, our system considers things like how recent a review is and if the reviewer bought the item on Amazon. It also analyzed reviews to verify trustworthiness.
Learn more how customers reviews work on Amazon-
Top reviews
Top reviews from the United States
There was a problem filtering reviews right now. Please try again later.
Update: I purchased the Blu-Ray version when the price dropped to $19.99. Worth every penny!
But perhaps the most important lesson here is: watch this film! Enjoy it for the amazing thrill ride that it is. Kaneto Shindo directs this amazing piece of Japanese cinematic gold. He is like the Japanese Tarantino, he never had any official training, just a love for films. He actually read one of these 44 (or so) volume modern stage collections that took him over a year to finish. Amazingly, he is one of very few people to actually have completed each and every volume in such short time. But that is a testament to his style and character. He learned for years under Mizoguchi, and looked up to the old master quite a bit. Though he admits in documentaries and interviews (including one in this collection) that he and Mizoguchi disagreed about a lot of things, the old master was a major influence in Shindo's film life. To sum it up: Mizoguchi said 'a flower cannot act' but Shindo says a flower can actually act, if one takes the time to notice.
The film is set in feudal Japan. Enter starving deserters. Starving deserters see a house. House has food and women. Deserters take what they want and burn the house and the women. Enter black cat. Begin creepy ghost story.
Without delving too much into the film and giving anything away, the two deceased women are possessed by a vengeful cat spirit. They seem to retain some of their memories from when they were alive, but they form a pact with the evil underworld gods to kill and drink the blood of any samurai that cross the Rajomon gate.
First of all, the film is gorgeous. Simply jaw dropping beautiful. It has some to do with the amazing transfer and restoration of Criterion (though most late 60s films need less restoration than those pre 1960s. But what really shines is the use of set and amazing lighting effects by Shindo and his amazingly talented crew. Every detail is raked over with a fine tooth comb. There is nothing extra or flabby about this film. Every set, every scene, every line is important. Shindo once spoke of Ozu and his respect for his films, and this kind of nitpicking directing shows. Though perhaps he was not quite as neurotic as Orson Wells!
The film is a haunting ghost story, based on Noh and Kabuki theater; but at it's core it is a love story and a tale of loyalty and also of revenge. The acting is pretty amazing. Raiko's mustache could have a career all it's own as a porn star! But we really see some terrific acting once Kichiemon Nakamura (Gintoki) enters the film.
It's a creepy yet not scary film that has a lot of depth and complexity. It teaches us those important life lessons: never trust vengeful spirits, never escort 'lost' young ladies home in the middle of the night, don't go into creepy and remote villas with said 'lost' girls... or just don't become a samurai and it'll be all good. But the old saying, "never cross paths with a black cat" doesn't apply here. This is one black cat that deserves a part of any film fan's collection.
PS. If you actually do have a black cat as a pet (I do), please be aware that said cat might take pleasure in suddenly appearing sitting on the arm of the couch next to you and startle the #*@^ out of you.
What makes it so memorable?
First of all, it offers strong characters with powerful, contradictory emotional drives. Torn between family, honor, religious & social demands, they recognize the trap they're in, one determined by outside forces they've internalized. Yet they're unable to resolve those contradictions & save themselves. This sense of the inexorable only grows stronger as the story progresses.
So our young farmer-turned-samurai is faced with the bloodthirsty ghosts of his wife & mother, who have vowed to destroy all samurai, but retain enough of their memories & humanity to want to spare him. For his part, he relishes his rise in social status, yet desperately wants to be reunited with his wife & mother, partly out of guilt for not being there to save them.
Then there's the cinematography & the bold direction of Kaneto Shindo, making superb use of dense masses of shadow & sudden pools of unearthly light. There's a minimum of gore & gratuitous shock; instead, the emphasis is on atmosphere & tension, brought to a slow & almost unbearable boil. It has a dreamlike quality, one that can turn from haunted beauty to outright nightmare in an instant. In a way, I'm reminded of Cocteau's "Beauty and the Beast" -- there's the same sense of some ancient folk tale retold in strangely intimate terms -- but where Cocteau properly brings his film to a deserved fairy tale conclusion, Shindo ventures into darker & more ambiguous territory.
As with his previous "Onibaba" (which is the perfect companion to "Kuroneko"), Shindo's sympathies are with the women. For all their visual beauty, his films don't glamorize the samurai, or men in general. His concern is more with those who have to suffer the consequences of living in a world shaped by masculine hungers; thus even his historical films speak eloquently to the present.
Most highly recommended!
And so the ghost story begins with rape, murder and the family's black cat mewling next to two bodies.
The story is simple, tragic, lovely. A wonderful piece of art that I bought from Amazon.com on a whim. And I am so happy I did. In some ways it reminds me a tad of Rashomon, as it suggests more than one view point or story is going on at the same time. Or maybe it is because I can't help but feel sorry for the ghosts. Or are they cat demons?
A Samurai is asked to kill the ghosts. How will he handle it? How do you kill ghosts? And what happens if he decides the ghosts were once his own family...?
If you liked this one may I suggest Rashomon (The Criterion Collection) ?
Top reviews from other countries
who are savagely raped and murdered by a group of marauding Samurai,however come back as
avenging ghosts.
Masterful story telling and beautifully directed.
Bild und Ton der DVD sind super, die Ausstattung hervorragend - wie üblich bei CC.
Criterion Collection ist eins der besten DVD Label der Welt. Klingt übertrieben ist aber einfach so!