Kwaidan
aka Kaidan
First screened in November 2025

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Director: Masak1 Kobayashi. Cast: Rentarō Mikuni, Michiyo Aratama, Misako Watanabe, Tatsuya Nakadai, Keiko Kishi, Jun Hamamura, Yuko Mochizuki, Katsuo Nakamura, Tetsuro Tanba, Takashi Shimura, Kunie Tanaka, Osamu Takizawa, Haruko Sugimura, Kanemon Nakamura, Noboru Nakaya, Ganjiro Nakamura, Kei Satō. Screenplay: Yōko Mizuki (based on ancient stories as transcribed in the books Shadowings, Kottō, and Kwaidan by Lafcadio Hearn).

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Photo © 1964 Bungei Production Ninjin Club / Toho, © 1965 Continental Distributing

In Brief: Vivid fusion of theatrical, culturally specific artifice with otherworldly tumults. Uneven and overextended, but magical.

VOR: ⑤  Singular at the time (and even now!) within Japanese cinema, in its techniques and its merging of art forms. An influential revelation abroad.

Grade: A–

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Academy Award Nominations:
	Best Foreign Language Film
Other Awards:
	Cannes Film Festival: Grand Jury Prize

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