Kuroneko means Black Cat, but the Japanese title is Yabu no naka no kuroneko (The Black Cat from the Grove) I saw this film with my mother shortly after it came out in 1968, probably in 1971 when it had a short run in the U.S. We had returned from living in Japan, with the Army, and in San Francisco we could see Japanese films at the movie theater in Japantown. My mother and I would often have dinner at a little restaurant next to the theater, and we saw lots of great Kurosawa films. This movie was different, very grotesque and stylized. I wasn't old enough to understand it, either emotionally or visually.
I just saw it again in the theater, on a new 35 mm print, and it is amazing. The opening of the film is wordless and harrowing.
Kuroneko is one of many Japanese films based on ghost stories (kaidan), or more specifically folk tales about ghost-cats (bakeneko-mono).
Posts
No comments:
Post a Comment