SteinMo What a freaking movie. So many twists and turns. Absolutely intense from start to finish.

FuzzyTagz If the ambition is to provide two hours of instantly forgettable, popcorn-munching escapism, it succeeds.

Kaelan Mccaffrey Like the great film, it's made with a great deal of visible affection both in front of and behind the camera.

Roxie The thing I enjoyed most about the film is the fact that it doesn't shy away from being a super-sized-cliche;

masoudsoheili Living in a calm, peaceful place, doing an easy job with enough earning, a beautiful woman who love you and can cook really tasty foods; it's actually what Niki want. A middle-aged entomologist who is sick of city life and came all the way to a village next to the sea to collect insects. Maybe he can be relax from his tiring life in Tokyo. But this house is not as it looks. It's next to the sea but he can't even see the sea but he can just feel the sands that every time drops on his body. When they took his freedom, he can't enjoy anything. Even if it's something really enjoyable. They do a really easy work and earn enough for that. But are they shoveling sand to live or living to shovel sand??? Human without freedom is less than animal. When the villager offer him to play with her forced "wife" in exchange of seeing sea, he want to take out his wife's cloth to have a sex with her in front of everyone. In that scene, he is not human anymore. He can't be human anymore. s 'Woman in the Dunes' is not really about a woman in a dunes but about an adventurer man who trapped in a village. She is not even can't decide anything. It's village committee who make decision for her life. This film is a superb classic Japanese film adaptation of a fascinating novel by Kobo Abe. Kafka influence is visible in entire film.

albertoveronese The title of Kōbō Abe's 1962 enigmatic novel "Suna no onna", from which Hiroshi Teshigahara's 1964 homonymous movie was taken, is translated into English as "Woman in the dunes". However, the correct translation of the original title "砂の女, Sand Woman" brings us closer to what this cinematic masterpiece is all about; whereas "Woman in the dunes" calls to mind a too much of a personal history of one's existence, "Sand woman" points to something that is beyond "the certificates we use to make certain of one another". Life is not in need of identification cards at all. Everything is fated, nothing depends on man, for he cannot find anything to depend upon either within or outside himself, "both completely buried under particles an eighth of a millimeter wide – you can't fight it! It's hopeless!" Everything you'd have thought and brought up will be blown into the wind. Has there ever been anything man could control? "Are you shoveling sand to live or living to shovel sand?" Cinematographer Hiroshi Segawa's wondrous writing is intensely visual, is deeply sensual... A remarkable work, a movie experience you'll never forget.

Grethiwha Kobo Abe's "The Woman in the Dunes" feels like it should already be part of the popular consciousness - like it was required reading in high school or something - part of everyone's shared cultural iconographic understanding. But what a delight it is to discover it unexpectedly, a little later in life when I can fully appreciate it! Humans' ability to adapt - like an insect - in harsh environments, one's gradual acceptance of one's circumstances and comfort in a routine which stifles ambition... These ideas get under the skin, the setting seeps into the unconscious mind like sand - sand which I can never look at the same again!Teshigahara's film adaptation - in which Abe was directly involved - is faultless; it has to be the most successful realization of a seemingly unfilmable book ever made. That they managed to bring this location to life, and make it absolutely believable and real, is an astounding feat. With perfect cinematography, a perfect score by the legendary Tôru Takemitsu, and fantastic performances, this is one of the greatest films of all time.I first watched the film four years ago, and I was blown away. I was absolutely glued to the screen; I'd never seen anything like it before. Now I've recently finished reading the novel and subsequently watching the beautiful new blu-ray version of the film. And I am further convinced: there is absolutely nothing like "The Woman in the Dunes". The novel or the film.The film moves briskly through the events of Part I & II of the novel (which is about 200 pages), spending more time on covering the crucial Part III (which is only 30 pages); it inevitably misses a lot of the psychological side of the book, as well as the sense of how much time is passing. So I highly recommend both, novel and film. I won't go so far as to recommend starting with one or the other, but in either case I do suggest you try to go in knowing as little as possible.I've done what I can to avoid giving away the plot in this review. Let it surprise you, and you may be as blown away as I was.

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?