Trailer
Assistive Technologies

Onibaba

Runtime
1hr 43mins
Directed by
Kaneto Shindô
Featuring
Nobuko Otowa,
Jitsuko Yoshimura,
Kei Satô
Film Language
in Japanese with English subtitles
Body

Deep in the windswept marshes of war-torn medieval Japan, an impoverished older woman and her daughter-in-law murder lost samurai and sell their belongings for the most meager of sustenance. 

When a bedraggled neighbor returns from battle, lust, jealousy, and rage threaten to destroy the trio’s tenuous existence, before an ominous, ill-gotten demon mask seals their horrifying fate. Driven by primal emotions, dark eroticism, a frenzied score by Hikaru Hayashi, and stunning images both lyrical and macabre, Kaneto Shindo’s chilling folktale Onibaba conjures a nightmarish vision of humankind’s deepest desires and impulses. - Criterion Collection

Co-presented by

This Week