Oookay, Criticker users... You got me. A PSI of 97 for this film! Really?!! This is, I guess, going to be one of my most contentious ratings on this site but I'm completely bewildered and astonished by the adoration for this film. Actually, it blows my mind, as I couldn't find much to like, let alone anything to love, about this decidedly plain snoozefest.

Lovely to watch with both incredible set design and cinematography. The film itself is about greed and what it does to people with a nightmarish undercurrent.

A visually good movie, but the actual storyline is disappointing. I had higher hopes for this one, maybe it's better the second time around.

Truly poetic.

Another Japanese film that's easy to appreciate and nice to look at that I truly don't give a shit about.

biri samuray olmak, digeri de daha cok kazanmak isteyen iki koylunun bu ugurda ciktiklari yolculuk. gizem ve dram guzel harmanlanmis ama keske finali daha az didaktik olsaydi dedirtiyor. japon turkuleri de hikayenin ambiansini guzel tamamlamis.

I can recognize why it's so well regarded, but I just couldn't get into it. It was probably a timing thing and if I ever get around to it again I'll no doubt like it more.

#49

A gorgeous and dreamlike film, but not the masterpiece so many claim it to be. Like in Sansho the Bailiff, its themes are addressed in far too simplistic and heavy-handed a manner. The offensively blunt dialogue, especially towards the end, is primarily to blame for this. It's not a particularly substantial film. It possesses only a shallow, surface-level kind of beauty, one that may seem striking at first but fails to leave a lasting impression.

Really great film, although I found it slow in the middle. Very lyrical, sad but also beautiful. I will watch this one again.

At first this felt a lot like a Kurosawa film; simple peasants struggling to make a living amongst a war-torn country. But it quickly turned into something I've never seen before. The turning point was about at the scene on the lake (an absolutely gorgeous, spooky scene). Then the film begins, subtly and gradually, to take a mystical turn, transporting the viewer into a new reality of spirits, dreams, and the heartbreaking consequences of greed. A haunting, beautiful film.

Amazing. I love finding the first signs of something great in one director's work (von Sternberg, here) and then seeing it flourish in another's. It breathes with its own life.

This film's sense of balance is remarkably calming, as hubris isn't struck down inordinately, but rather thrown back into balance. From a western perspective this is a curious moral, where you must work hard, but not too ambitiously, for a life that is more about acceptance than excess. While it doesn't fit my particular world view, I can't help but find the idea of a world in which you have a place comforting, and I was grateful for this careful exploration.

I actually prefer the supernatural and dream-like scenes (including those that aren't really supernatural but have a ghostly feeling -- like the scenes on the boat) to the overall story itself. I can't put my finger on why the plot isn't more effective; it may just be overpowered by the supernatural.

Does not reach the heights of Sansho, but still has beautiful visuals, silly ghost story or not.

A great film with an important moral: every decision you make will affect the people who care about you. Wonderful photography and a timeless story make this one a classic.