Onibaba

views updated

Onibaba ★★★ The Demon; The Devil Woman 1964

A brutal parable about a mother and her daughter-in-law in war-ravaged medieval Japan who subsist by murdering stray soldiers and selling their armor. One soldier beds the daughter, setting the mother-in-law on a vengeful tirade. Review of the film varied widely, hailed by some as a masterpiece and by others as below average; in Japanese with subtitles. 103m/B VHS, DVD . JP Nobuko Otowa, Jitsuko Yoshimura, Kei Sato; D: Kaneto Shindo.