ONIBABA

Kaneto Shindo directed Onibaba.
The (black and white) photography of this film is simply sublime..

Plot:

After enlisting as a volunteer in a war in 14th century Japan, his wife and mother remain living in a swamp. They eke out their living by ambushing worn-out warriors, killing them and selling their belongings to a greedy merchant. The woman comes to mistrust her daughter-in-law who has coupled up with a deserter, and begins to wear a facial mask she has taken from a slain samurai. Soon the mask will not come off again. In this disguise she is at first taken for a demon by her daughter.

Ispirato a un'antica leggenda e ambientato nel medioevo giapponese, è il dramma di due donne, suocera (N.Otowa) e nuora (J.Yoshimura), che cercano di sopravvivere a una guerra in corso ucidendo i soldati feriti e spogliandone i cadaveri finchè tra le due s'intromette, scatenandone la gelosia, un disertore U.Jukichi)