Kuroneko (1968)

A mother and her daughter-in-law suffer at the hands of warring samurai. After the men move on, the women vow to get their revenge by any means.
It’s a story that has similarities to Shindô’s masterful Onibaba (1964), but is much more fantastical. The pitch black nights act as a kind of impossible to measure frame for the well-lit female characters that emerge from it. They’re presented in a style reminiscent of Kabuki, one that’s relocated from a stage to a bamboo grove that, due to a rustling movement caused by wind, feels partially alive. The semi-translucent flowing curtains are similarly imbued.
It all adds up to an atmospheric folk tale made frighteningly real for a small number of tragic characters, not all of whom deserve their fate.

4 observant strays out of 5