Tuesday, 26 May 2009

Kwaidan
[Ghost Stories]
(1964)

80%

A strange collection of ghost stories that are more spooky morality tales than anything else; enhancing their emotional effect since the meaning of each tale is thus clearer to see without the unnecessary distractions of standard horror film shocks or chills.

Here we have an ordered, essentially tribal world threatened – as always – by the vagaries of human desire. Its lack of technology is an expression of the fact that social order is more important here than technological progress since the latter always results in a continual overthrowing of old customs – to be replaced by new ones. These stories deal with that fear that such rapid change always produces in their depiction of a rigid culture populated by the anarchic ghosts of the imagination that haunt all repressed peoples.

This lavish and beautifully-stylized production must have cost a pretty penny with its lovely images and stately pacing and it all rather overwhelms you with its sheer cinematic grace. The characters never rise above the level of mere archetypes because the ideas expressed are more important than a detailed depiction of human nature.


Copyright © 2009 Frank TALKER. Permission granted to reproduce and distribute it in any format; provided that mention of the author’s Weblog (http://franktalker5.blogspot.com/) is included: E-mail notification requested. All other rights reserved.

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Science:



No science is immune to the infection of politics and the corruption of power.



Jacob Bronowski… (1908 - 74), British scientist, author. Encounter (London, July 1971).


Sleep of Reason:



The dream of reason produces monsters. Imagination deserted by reason creates impossible, useless thoughts. United with reason, imagination is the mother of all art and the source of all its beauty.



Francisco José de Goya y Lucientes… (1746-1828), Spanish painter. Caption to Caprichos, number 43, a series of eighty etchings completed in 1798, satirical and grotesque in form.


Humans & Aliens:



I am human and let nothing human be alien to me.



Terence… (circa 190-159 BC), Roman dramatist. Chremes, in The Self-Tormentor [Heauton Timorumenos], act 1, scene 1.


Führerprinzip:



One leader, one people, signifies one master and millions of slaves… There is no organ of conciliation or mediation interposed between the leader and the people, nothing in fact but the apparatus - in other words, the party - which is the emanation of the leader and the tool of his will to oppress. In this way the first and sole principle of this degraded form of mysticism is born, the Führerprinzip, which restores idolatry and a debased deity to the world of nihilism.