a Feast of Folklore

Bristol, England-based folk musician Matt Elliott is a master of natural pacing. Many of his compositions have this uncanny quality of being neither a minute too long nor short, taking as much time needed for the subject matter to self-resolve. 2005’s Drinking Songs, for example, felt like a series of woeful, unshaven, staring-into-a-dirty-mirror dirges of guilt, each lasting until the cigar smouldered and the numbing effects of whisky had plateaued. His albums each have a distinct conceptual tone, while painting a similar shade of remorse.

After more than a decade of sober political dramas and socially minded period pieces, the great Japanese director Masaki Kobayashi shifted gears dramatically for this rapturously stylized quartet of ghost stories. Featuring colorfully surreal sets and luminous cinematography, these haunting tales of demonic comeuppance and spiritual trials, adapted from writer Lafcadio Hearn’s collections of Japanese folklore, are existentially frightening and meticulously crafted.