We find ourselves in the world of two women struggling to survive in the swamps of the Sengoku period, amid the mud and tall grass. Kaneto Shindō uses the sharp contrast of black-and-white imagery to depict the cycle of murder and plunder committed by this pair—who are far from the war but feel its violence breathing down their necks. News of death from the distant front and the prohibitions that intervene fuel the jealousy and the eerie will to survive that grow within the confines of a cramped hut. When night falls, the whispers rising from the swamp and that grotesque mask leave one face to face with one’s own instincts.

2 wins total