[Japanese] Suna no onna - Hiroshi Teshigahara (1964)

Suna no onna (aka Woman in the Dunes)
From Hiroshi Teshigahara

Quote :

An amateur entomologist searching for insects by the sea is trapped by local villagers into living with a mysterious woman who spends almost all her time preventing her home from being swallowed up by advancing sand dunes. The woman and the trapped man begin a strange and erotic relationship that stretches over years, as the man's hope for escape dims

What a brilliant piece of cinema!! I'm very impressed! This is, I think, the best Japanese movie I have ever seen. Ok, I haven't seen many old Japanese movies but from now on, I wont hesitate to watch more such as the trilogy of the human condition (Human condition 1, 2, 3) from Masaki Kobayashi. These also look excellent but I'm always a bit worried with Japanese movies from that time cause they are so long and slow
Suna no Onna aka Woman in the Dunes is also a bit slow, although seriously, I didn't see the time going, it hypnotised me! I watched the director's cut which is 147 min. The normal version is 123mns but honnestly, if you watch this movie, try to watch the uncut version: I really dont see anything, not one single second which should be cut! It is beautifull! The story is gripping, it takes you like a wave, a wave of sand falling from a dune and sooo profond in any possible way! Very philosophic about our daily struggles in life, I will never forget this movie!
Closed to perfection!

And here is the trailer although it is very hard to summarize this movie in 3mns imo

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