The Japanese folklore story of the ¡°Snow Woman¡± has been told in many places, in many ways, and in many versions, but best-known is that of Lafcadio Hearn, the Greek-Irish writer who published it in his 1904 collection, ¡°Kwaidan: Stories and Studies of Strange Things.¡±
Hearn¡¯s story about a beautiful pale-faced woman who appears to two woodcutters in the midst of a snowstorm, and leaves only the younger, handsomer one alive, is the basis for Kiki Sugino¡¯s new film of the same title. By far the best of the three features Sugino has directed to date, ¡°Snow Woman¡± screened in the competition section of last year¡¯s Tokyo International Film Festival.
The film extensively revises the Hearn version of the tale, making a comparison with the best-known movie based on the same story, Masaki Kobayashi¡¯s 1965 ¡°Kwaidan¡± (Kaidan), rather beside the point.
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