Onibaba (film)
| Onibaba | |
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| Directed by | Kaneto Shindo |
| Produced by | Toshio Konya |
| Screenplay by | Kaneto Shindo |
| Starring | |
| Music by | Hikaru Hayashi |
| Cinematography | Kiyomi Kuroda |
| Edited by | Toshio Enoki |
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Production
companies |
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| Distributed by | Toho |
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Release date
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Running time
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102 minutes |
| Country | Japan |
| Language | Japanese |
Onibaba (鬼婆?, literally Demon Hag) is a 1964 Japanese historical drama horror film. It was written and directed by Kaneto Shindo. The film is set during a civil war in the fourteenth century. Nobuko Otowa and Jitsuko Yoshimura play two women who kill soldiers to steal their possessions.
The film is set somewhere in Japan, in the mid-fourteenth century during a period of civil war. Two wounded soldiers flee from pursuers on horse in thick reeds which are taller than a man. Suddenly the soldiers are killed with spears by unseen assailants. Two women appear, take the armour and weapons, and drop the bodies in a hole. The women return to a small hut. The next day they take the armor and weapons to a merchant named Ushi (Taiji Tonoyama) and trade them for food. The merchant tells them news of a war. Ushi tries to seduce the older woman in vain. A neighbor named Hachi (Kei Satō), who has been at war, returns. The older woman (Nobuko Otowa) asks Hachi about her son, who was forced to be a soldier along with Hachi. The son is the husband of the younger woman (Jitsuko Yoshimura). Hachi tells about his experience in two fights, where general Takauji Ashikaga attacked his division. He says that he and the younger woman's husband deserted. Later her husband was been killed while they were stealing food from farmers. And he barely escaped.
One beautiful day the three, who are out at the lake talking and minding their own business, see two samurai chasing one another and fighting on horseback. They jump in the lake and keep fighting, swimming closer to the three as they go. As one samurai comes close to them, asking for help, Hachi stabs him with his spear. He then orders the women to get the other man, whom they drown in the lake. The two then take their armour as before, sell it to Ushi, and have a good meal. Hachi seduces the young woman. She sneaks out of her hut every night to have sex with him. The older woman learns of the relationship. She tries to sleep with Hachi, then pleads with him to not take the young woman away since she cannot kill without her help.
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