Michiyo Aratama

Winner of the Special Jury Prize at Cannes, Kwaidan features four nightmarish tales adapted from Lafcadio Hearn's classic Japanese ghost stories about mortals caught up in forces beyond their comprehension when the supernatural world intervenes in their lives: "The Black Hair", "The Woman of the Snow", "Hoichi the Earless", and "In a Cup of Tea".

Director Masaki Kobayashi (Harakiri) was attracted to Junpei Gomikawa's source novel because he recognised himself in the character of the protagonist Kaji, an ardent pacifist who came of age during the aggressively militaristic 1930s and 40s. Kaji is relocated to a mine-supervising job in Manchuria, where he is horrified by the use of forced labour. Throughout, Kobayashi unflinchingly examines the psychological toll of appallingly complex decisions, where being morally 'right' risks outcomes ranging from ostracism to savage beating to death. As Kaji, Tatsuya Nakadai (Sanjuro) is in virtually every scene, providing a rock-solid emotional anchor - and a necessary one in Japan, where the film was hugely controversial for being openly critical of the nation's conduct during WWII. But it's this willingness to confront national taboos head-on that makes it such a lastingly powerful experience.

A brewery manager tries to manage his daughter's affairs in the wake of his wife's death.

Tatsuya Nakadai and Toshiro Mifune star in the story of a wandering samurai who exists in a maelstrom of violence. A gifted swordsman plying his trade during the turbulent final days of Shogunate rule Ryunosuke (Nakadai) kills without remorse, without mercy. It is a way of life that ultimately leads to madness.