Slow movies can often be a battle for my attention, but some filmmakers can get away with it. Sergio Leone is my favorite director of all time. Bela Tarr creates a hypnotic mood. Tarantino’s been mostly successful at drawing out the moments so that each pleasure hits on a grand scale. If you’re just looking for story, Kwaidan didn’t need to be three hours long. The ghost stories themselves are no more complex than a children’s book, and while most feature a twist ending, the twist can be seen almost immediately. Kobayashi isn’t going for clever writing. His focus is the presentation, and on that scale he’s created a visual feat that’s both highly theatrical and highly cinematic.
The pace of Kwaidan doesn’t bother me because the images are so powerful you don’t want them to disappear too quickly. Most of the film is shot on obvious sound stages, and that artificiality adds to the fantastical feel. There are skies like you’ve never seen before, and a large-scale naval battle that must’ve taken forever to get right on camera. Everything is drawn out, and everything is given a beautiful artistic flourish. Even with the non-twist endings, there’s a steady build of tension getting to them.
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