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Woman in the Dunes

8.1

2,905

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Original title

Suna no onna (Woman in the Dunes)aka

AKA

Woman of the Dunes

Year

1964

Running time

147 min.

Country

Japan

Director

Hiroshi Teshigahara

Screenwriter

Kôbô Abe

Music

Tôru Takemitsu

Cinematography

Hiroshi Segawa (B&W)

Cast

Eiji Okada, Kyôko Kishida, Hiroko Ito, Hideo Kanze, Tamotsu Tamura, Kiyohiko Ichihara, Koji Mitsui, Ginzô Sekiguchi, Hiroyuki Nishimoto

Producer

Toho, Teshigahara Productions

Genre

Drama. Thriller | Psychological Drama. Insects

Synopsis

An entomologist looking for insects in the desert accepts locals' offer to stay with a widow whose house is at the bottom of a sandpit, accessible only by a rope ladder. But overnight, the ladder disappears and there's no way of climbing the steep walls of sand. Then, a strange relationship begins.

Rankings Position

#11 Best Japanese Movies of all time
#16 Best Thrillers in the history of film
#89 Best Drama Movies
#120 Best Movies in the history of film

Awards: 1965: Academy Awards: Nominated for Best Director

1964: Academy Awards: Nominated for Best Foreign Language Picture

1964: Cannes Film Festival: Jury Special Prize

Critics' reviews

"One of the rare films able to combine realism with a parable about life (...) [It] uses visuals to create a tangible texture (…) Rating: ★★★★ (out of 4)"

Roger Ebert: rogerebert.com
"[One of the Years 10 Best Films] (...) A strongly allegorical, strangely engrossing film (...) a hypnotic film."

Bosley Crowther: The New York Times
"Teshigahara's direction and Segawa's camera-work often render the mundane startling and new, a claim that only good films can make."

Mark Chalon Smith: Los Angeles Times
"It's Teshigahara’s haunted depiction of perpetual entrapment, whether through actual kidnapping or the delusions of one’s own invincibility, that proves most asphyxiating (…) Rating: ★★★★ (out of 5)"

Clayton Dillard: Slant
"[It] tells a story as simple as it is resonant (...) A parable for human existence"

Keith Phipps: AV Club
"A Cinema Masterpiece"

Time
"A bizarre film, distinguished (...) by Teshigahara's arresting visual style of extreme depth of focus, immaculate detail, and graceful eroticism."

Don Druker: Chicago Reader
"This is like some weird dream (...) Sand and water look mysterious and fresh (...) I've never seen fingers on skin look as tactile as this and it skirts both erotic drama and horror (…) Rating: ★★★★ (out of 5)"

Rob Mackie: The Guardian

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Ranking Lists Position

33 My Favorite Japanese Movies (51)

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