Butler's Cinema Scene

A ghostly image from "Kuroneko"

“KURONEKO (BLACK CAT IN THE GROVE)”   (Opening Sept. 9 at the Tivoli)

minutes | No MPAA rating

Fans of classic Japanese cinema will have an atmospheric old time with “Kuroneko,” Kaneto Shindo’s 1968 feature based on a centuries-old old folk tale.

Set in a feudal period, this supernatural love story begins with the brutal rape and murder of a peasant woman (Nobuko Otawa)  and her daughter-in-law (Kiwako Taichi) by a roving band of samurai/bandits. Their hut is set ablaze; later a black cat laps the blood from the bodies.

Years later the the leader of these brigands (Rokku Toura), now risen in the ranks of the local warlord, is traversing the nearby woods at night when he comes across a beautiful young woman (Taichi). She leads him to a house deep in the forest where she and her “mother” entertain with tea, conversation and erotic initimations — before attacking, biting his throat and sucking his blood.

You could think of “Kureneko” (literally, “The Black Cat in the Grove”) as a precursor to “Ms. 45” and other female revenge melodramas.

The ghostly mother and daughter-in-law prey on passing men; soon the authorities can no longer ignore the situation and send a young soldier, Minamoto (Kei Sato) to investigate. Ironically, he is the son and husband, respectively, of the two dead women. Year’s before he was shanghaied into military service by the shogun’s troops.

Minamoto is at first seduced by the women, then soon realizes they are the ghosts of his family. He’s torn between his love for them and his duty as a samurai.

Meanwhile the wife wants to spare her husband; the mother, though, demands continued vengeance.

The story is simple and may not hold up to current standards of psychological realism…but, hey, it’s a folk tale.

What absolutely works here are Shindo’s superb visuals, shot in palate-cleansing black-and-white and creating a memorable aura of creepiness and loss.

| Robert W. Butler