Kaneto Shindo thoroughly deserves the title of Grand Old Man of Japanese movies. Now 92, he has been a scriptwriter and director for more than half a century, beginning with a writing credit on Kenji Mizoguchi's 1946 "Josei no Shori (Women's Victory)." His films, including the classics "Hadaka no Shima (The Island)" (1961) and "Onibaba (Devil Woman)" (1964) have recently been reissued in one of those DVD box sets that reek of prestige.
But instead of resting on his considerable laurels or turning out the stiff, pompous films that define "geriatric cinema" in Japan, Kaneto has become sprightlier with age, as his 36th film, "Fukuro (The Owl)," clearly proves. Though the story may sound grim -- the two remaining residents of a "pioneer hamlet" in Tohoku murder strangers for profit -- in Shindo's hands it becomes a delightful black comedy, filmed with a vitality and invention that would do credit to a director decades younger.
At the same time, Shindo's anger at the government's shabby treatment of the pioneers comes across loud and clear. The film is based on the true story of Japanese farmers who, fleeing from Manchuria following Japan's defeat in World War II, were promised a new life at home, but were misled and neglected by their official saviors, who gave them only worthless land and left them to starve on it. Shindo's telling of this story, while instructive, is never merely didactic. Instead, he universalizes his material -- his heroines get their payback from not only local officialdom, but the entire male sex.
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