Rating summary

Movie		4.0
Video		4.0
Audio		4.0
Extras		4.0
Overall		4.0

The Snake Girl and the Silver-Haired Witch Blu-ray Movie Review

Reviewed by Jeffrey Kauffman November 11, 2021

There were some extremely memorable performances given by young girls in international cinema in the 1960s, and two of them actually competed against each other (as if such a thing were really possible) in the 1962 Best Supporting Actress category at the Academy Awards, with Patty Duke's Helen Keller from The Miracle Worker ultimately triumphing over Mary Badham's Scout from To Kill a Mockingbird. But Duke and Badham were only two of a larger aggregation that might include such people as Patricia Gozzi in Sundays and Cybèle and Hayley Mills in Whistle Down the Wind, to name just a couple more. To this impressive list of pint sized over achievers any reasonable person would probably want to end up adding Yachie Matsui, who was all of ten years old when she starred in The Snake Girl and the Silver-Haired Witch, offering a uniquely sympathetic portrayal in a difficult role that is kind of like the eye of a completely gonzo hurricane surrounding it. The Snake Girl and the Silver-Haired Witch is in fact so gonzo that any lingering questions about dangling plot points are probably left by the wayside, including (but not limited to) the whole back story of Saruya (Yachie Matsui), a supposed orphan who suddenly finds herself almost magically reunited with her biological family just as the film opens. But part of The Snake Girl and the Silver- Haired Witch's intentional artifice is its somewhat opaque sensibility which keeps various items shrouded in mystery. That's even true from a purely visual standpoint in the film's very opening pre-credits vignette which sees an unfortunate maid in a household that later turns out to be Saruya's family's get attacked by a snake that may have been thrown by a hidden assailant.

The commentary by David Kalwat makes a good case the The Snake Girl and the Silver-Haired Witch is almost a triptych of various Japanese tropes, one of which is longstanding folklore and "ghost stories" involving snake girls. Other elements that Kalwat mentions are the Japanese emphasis on monsters (director Noriaki Yuasa was a stalwart of the Gamera films) and emerging trends in what would ultimately be known as J-Horror, but it's the supernatural aspects that probably give the film its most distinctive air. While how Saruya even came to be orphaned and then reunited with her family years later may be delayed (and some may argue never adequately detailed), in a way it plunks the viewer down in the same predicament that Saruya herself is, namely coming to terms with a new "reality" which seems positively unreal.

When her father Goro Nanjo (Yoshirô Kitahara) picks her up from an orphanage where a Holy Sister (Kuniko Miyake) seems to know more about things than she's letting on, one of the first things he tells Saruya is that her mother Yuko (Yuko Hamada) has suffered a debilitating head injury in a relatively recent car accident and has a strange form of amnesia. That becomes evident as soon as Saruya gets back home and Yuko initially thinks she's someone named Tamami (Mayumi Takahashi). That fact that there is a Tamami is one of the "secrets" that Saruya eventually uncovers, in a dazzlingly bizarre tale that features not just snake girls and silver haired witches, but hints of mental illness, a bit of animal cruelty, and lots of almost psychedelic dreams.

The Snake Girl and the Silver-Haired Witch does try to do the Japanese version of "Moishe the Explainer" in the third act, but by that time, it may well be unnecessary since the film's direct appeal to the irrational may have made any need for explanations irrelevant. What's commendable about the film is how natural Matsui's performance is in a film that virtually wallows in magical realism and even flirts with some surreal aspects, all within a fairy tale ambience (definitely of the Grimm variety). If Takahashi is almost forced by the context of her character to deliver a more floridly theatrical performance, she's also riveting in her own way. The family dysfunctions on display here may be in desperate need of some sort of intervention, but some jaded types might be prone to wonder whether that would best be accomplished by a therapist or a herpetologist.

The Snake Girl and the Silver-Haired Witch Blu-ray Movie, Video Quality 

The Snake Girl and the Silver-Haired Witch is presented on Blu-ray courtesy of Arrow Video with an AVC encoded 1080p transfer in 2.39:1. Arrow's insert booklet contains the following information on the transfer:

The Snake Girl and the Silver-Haired Witch is presented in its original 2.35:1 aspect ratio [sic] with its original mono soundtrack. The High Definition Master was produced by Imagica Lab, Tokyo in 2021 and supplied to Arrow Films by Kadokawa Pictures. Additional optimization was completed at R3Store Studios, London.

While there are some noticeable signs of damage that accrue during this presentation, often accompanying some of the old style composited optical effects (but not always consigned to those moments), this is a rather lustrous and nicely detailed looking transfer. The gorgeous black and white cinematography is supported by mostly consistent contrast, with just a passing moment or two of relatively milkiness where blacks aren't quite as deep as the bulk of the presentation. Many scenes are intentionally shrouded, but fine detail is secure on the whole. The dream sequences in particular are intentionally soft and hazy looking, and fine detail levels understandably falter a bit. For some idea of the kinds of damage that can pop up, take a look at screenshots 17 through 19. Grain is generally tightly resolved, with a few spikes in some of the opticals.

The Snake Girl and the Silver-Haired Witch Blu-ray Movie, Audio Quality 

The Snake Girl and the Silver-Haired Witch features a boisterous DTS-HD Master Audio Mono track in the original Japanese. The sound design is intentionally relatively tame a lot of the time, but dialogue and ambient environmental sounds are rendered cleanly. Some of the dream material and score contributions from Shunsuke Kikuchi can be decidedly more energetic, but also receive capable support. Optional English subtitles are available.

The Snake Girl and the Silver-Haired Witch Blu-ray Movie, Special Features and Extras 

• Audio Commentary by David Kalat


• This Charming Woman with Zach Davisson (HD; 27:40) is an interesting piece which delves into the film's source manga by Kazuo Umezu.


• Theatrical Trailer (HD; 2:08)


• Image Gallery (HD)

Additionally, Arrow provides an insert booklet which contains an interesting essay called Coils of Trauma: Symbolism of a Snake Girl, by Raffael Coronelli, cast and crew information, transfer and other technical data, and some stills. Packaging includes a slipcover.

The Snake Girl and the Silver-Haired Witch Blu-ray Movie, Overall Score and Recommendation 

The Snake Girl and the Silver-Haired Witch is like a delirious dream, something that's probably especially a propos given the ambiguity the film itself offers when Saruya's own dreams start seeming to be interchangeable with "reality". This is a weirdly haunting film, with an emphasis on both the weird and the haunting parts. Arrow has provided another release of a veritable cult item with generally solid technical merits and some appealing supplements. Recommended.