Karry Best movie of this year hands down!

Wordiezett So much average

Cleveronix A different way of telling a story

Taha Avalos The best films of this genre always show a path and provide a takeaway for being a better person.

teodorodontosaurus So this is what usually happens when you want to study sand species of Coleoptera on the field! Anyway, the movie is pure genius. It's the most claustrophobia and paranoia-inducing movie I've ever seen! Sand is the main symbol and catalyst for everything that's happening here. As the movie begins, we can see a zoomed image of an individual particle of sand grain, several of them and then entire sand dunes; sand may be a symbol for continuity, repetition, infinity. An eerie movie about human emotions, human existence and the effects of total isolation... the fragile balance between sanity and... insanity. I somehow feel that this movie affected my subconscious... and I feel dehydrated! A mistake I noticed (that really doesn't matter): that's not an ash beetle (Buprestidae family) he's talking about, but a tiger beetle from the Cicindelinae subfamily (notice the powerful mandibles). An entomologist should know the difference!

gavin6942 An entomologist on vacation (Eiji Okada) is trapped by local villagers into living with a woman (Kyōko Kishida) whose life task is shoveling sand for them.Roger Ebert wrote "Woman in the Dunes is a modern version of the myth of Sisyphus, the man condemned by the gods to spend eternity rolling a boulder to the top of a hill, only to see it roll back down." Strictly Film School describes it as "a spare and haunting allegory for human existence". According to Max Tessier, the main theme of the film is the desire to escape from society.Why is this not on the IMDb Top 250?

Ilpo Hirvonen Dark and hypnotic, minimalist and absurd, transcendental and meditative are the first words which come to my mind when describing Hiroshi Teshigahara's masterpiece Woman in the Dunes. It is a metaphysical story about being, freedom and the human mind, characterized by psycho-sexual associations, studying existence and the vanity of life. By using music, sounds and extreme close-ups in an innovative manner, Teshigahara succeeds to truly touch us. His reflection of an incredibly distressing reality achieves to create an enduring and haunting experience of unforgettable images and cinematic bliss which will not be forgotten.The story begins when an entomologist travels from Tokyo to the sand dunes of Japan to study the life of certain insects. However, his three-day long journey takes a turn when the local community traps him into a domicile at the bottom of a vast sand pit. There, living with a lonely woman, he must try to survive as he goes through an unending and useless battle against the infinite nature.As the film unfolds on the screen, it begins to get even surrealistic features and grows out to be a story about an individual fighting for survival in a hostile environment. Furthermore, it includes an extraordinary sexual tension and an odd emotion of yearn and melancholy within. On one level, it depicts the Japanese mental landscape but could also be seen as a comment on the sudden affluence of Japan in the postwar era. In fact, the film drills down to the social themes of alienation and loneliness quite well while it offers a perverse picture of pathological mankind where the power game between the rulers and the oppressed continues.However, more important than the social aspect is the film's visual aesthetics and its relation with the themes. The vast and endless dunes almost resemble expressionistic art where distorted picture of reality reflects an inner vision. In the middle of Antonionian landscapes, people feel lost and trapped. Teshigara has tapped into this situation perfectly with regards to the poetics of space as the surrounding dunes and quicksand create a prison of mind where there is no way out. Thus, the visuals beautifully indicate the existential experience and agony of man.I think it is fair to say that Teshigara's zen-aesthetics is partly Bressonian -- drama stripped to essentials -- where only the most integral part of the image is shown. The close-ups of wet and dry skin, sand and water are really almost erotic. In fact, the inertia felt in the middle of brutal nature is associated with sexuality, which is another intriguing theme in the film. As the relationship of the man and the woman evolves, the sexual tension tightens and the yearning of touch becomes more vivid and concrete. In this process, the protagonist is stripped down both physically and morally when his conception of humanity is put to test in the chaotic wilderness.

monsieurq Moving effortlessly from the banal, the scientific, curious and the surreal to the unsettling, chilling, lonely, erotic, ugly and ultimately the deeply moving this is a truly remarkable film which was for me an accidental find.I've since viewed the other films in the trilogy of which this a part and while of interest, they lacked the raw simplicity of this film, with it's almost shocking, symbol-laden premise.Compelling performances with an extremely limited palette should make this art-house fodder but the depth of the characterisation transcends the gentle pace and simple plot. Highly recommended.