Onibaba
![Onibaba](https://s3.amazonaws.com/criterion-production/release_boxshots/5015-8077bf1a4efde4a92af3f038b3722166/LtkhvKV7Y7zWUEWpedC9iVuG44l0iV_original.jpg)
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.
BLU-RAY EDITION SPECIAL FEATURES
- High-definition digital restoration, with uncompressed monaural soundtrack
- Audio commentary from 2001 featuring director Kaneto Shindo and actors Kei Sato and Jitsuko Yoshimura
- Interview from 2003 with Shindo
- On-location footage shot by Sato
- Trailer
- PLUS: An essay by film critic Elena Lazic, a 2001 director’s statement by Shindo, and a version of the Buddhist fable that inspired the film
Cover illustration by Edward Kinsella
BLU-RAY EDITION SPECIAL FEATURES
- High-definition digital restoration, with uncompressed monaural soundtrack
- Audio commentary from 2001 featuring director Kaneto Shindo and actors Kei Sato and Jitsuko Yoshimura
- Interview from 2003 with Shindo
- On-location footage shot by Sato
- Trailer
- PLUS: An essay by film critic Elena Lazic, a 2001 director’s statement by Shindo, and a version of the Buddhist fable that inspired the film
Cover illustration by Edward Kinsella
![Onibaba](https://s3.amazonaws.com/criterion-production/release_boxshots/5015-8077bf1a4efde4a92af3f038b3722166/LtkhvKV7Y7zWUEWpedC9iVuG44l0iV_original.jpg)
Cast
- Nobuko Otowa
- Older Woman
- Jitsuko Yoshimura
- Young woman
- Kei Sato
- Hachi
- Jukichi Uno
- Samurai
- Taiji Tonoyama
- Ushi
Credits
- Director
- Kaneto Shindo
- Production design
- Kaneto Shindo
- Kaneto Shindo
- Produced by
- Hisao Itoya
- Hiroshi Matsumoto
- Setsuo Noto
- Kaneto Shindo
- Cinematographer
- Kiyomi Kuroda
- Film editor
- Toshio Enoki
- Sound
- Tetsuya Ohashi
- Music
- Hikaru Hayashi
- Costume supervisor
- Yoshio Ueno
A scene from Onibaba
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