Rhapsodies

I’m calling this week’s topic “ghost stories” since I’ve done Haunted House… or at least most of the good ones.

The first film on my list, Kenji Mizoguchi’s Ugetsu tells the story of two peasants who have a pottery business on the side. It is a time of civil war, and both of them want to use it as a way to find their fortunes. One of them wants to be a Samurai, the other just wants to make his fortune. Soon, however, the war comes to their village and there is no choice but to run. 

The one who wants to be a samurai succeeds and soon finds himself married to a mysterious noblewoman who lives in a similarly mysterious mansion.

I don’t think this should have been my first choice for a Halloween selection. Just because this was a Ghost story doesn’t mean it’s a horror film. However, it has a wonderful soft focus with a great handling of feelings of regret. 

The next film on my list, Stanley Kubrick’s adaption of Stephen King’s The Shining tells the story of Jack Torrance (Jack Nicholson), a struggling writer with a history of alcohol abuse, who gets a job as winter caretaker at the secluded Overlook Hotel where he, his wife Wendy (Shelly Duval) and son Danny (Danny Lloyd) will be alone for months. But the Overlook Hotel has many secrets and the family is about to find them all out.

The Shining is one of those films where people give me an odd look whenever I tell them I hadn’t seen it. (It’s even worse since I’m a big Kubrick Fan) I’d always been told that it was good Kubrick and bad King and since I was never much of a Stephen King fan I hadn’t bothered. 

Now all I can say, who cares about the King. Kubrick uses the book as an outline, only using what is necessary. In the process, he creates a story of isolation, claustrophobia, and madness. It is truly amazing watching Kubrick slowly turning the screw of tension. This is amplified by his brilliant cast led by Nicholson portraying the descent into madness.