"Pitfall" is a magnificent Japanese film classic that is rarely seen in the west. It's one of the most poetic and visually impressive films I have ever seen.

It also mirrors the absurdist tone of existentialist literary classics such as "No Exit" and "The Stranger."

The film masterfully combines social satire, eerily atmospheric music, tragedy, and supernatural suspense.

"Pitfall" is about a man who is mistakenly murdered and comes back as a ghost. Since the murdered man is a mineworker that works in the pits, the title works as a pun.

"Pitfall" will play at the Gene Siskel Center on Saturday, January 6 at 3:15 pm and Wednesday, January 10 at 8 pm, as part of their Teshigahara film festival, along with three other films by the master filmmaker.

In the United States, Hiroshi Teshigahara, is one of the most obscure and under rated Asian cinema masters. Part of the reason for his relative neglect might be that he only made eight full-length films in 30 years, and only "Woman in the Dunes" has been widely seen in the US.

He split his time between film, Ikebana (or flower arranging) which is considered an art form in Japan, as well as painting, sculpting, and play directing.

Teshigahara was the first Asian director to get an academy award nomination for best director for his breakthrough film, "Woman in the Dunes." The film is generally thought to be a masterpiece, but his first film "Pitfall (1962)" is comparable in quality.

"Pitfall" marks the first time that Teshigahara worked with his frequent collaborators, script writer, Kobo Abe (who also wrote "Woman in the Dunes"), and the great experimental composer, Toru Tekemitsu, who later worked on the brilliant score for Akira Kurasawa's "Ran (1985)."

Most of the characters in "Pitfall" are unnamed because they are meant to be seen as everymen, and the whole film can be seen as an allegory.

A miner (Hirashi Igawa) tries to escape the terrible conditions at their mine by striking out on his own. He tries to survive as an independent migrant worker, but things only get worse.

He is offered a job in a nearby village, but when he gets there he's shocked to find it's become a ghost town. A mysterious man in a white suit brutally slays him with a knife, and a neighboring woman witnesses the act.

The witness is bribed to be quiet, but she too is later slain by the man in the white suit. Both of their spirits rise from their bodies and try to make sense of their deaths. When they learn the truth from the spirit of their murderer, it turns out that their deaths were as pointless and meaningless as their lives.

The mystery of their deaths ties into industrial corruption and the film effectively critiques dehumanizing effects of living in an industrial society.

The film also makes great use of a postwar Japanese coal mining town for location shots. The whole town can be seen as an absurd industrial hell.

"Pitfall" is a stunningly beautiful masterpiece that contains some of the most exquisite cinematography ever. It should not be missed.