In their humble two room apartment, the maeda family seem ever so self effacing but their modest façade hides another truth'. '.strtoupper('d')aughter tomoko is the mistress of a bestselling author with well lined pockets'. '.strtoupper('s')on minoru embezzles funds with his lover yukie ayako wakao, red angel, who has her own hidden agenda'. '.strtoupper('a')nd father tokizo yunosuke ito, ikiru, lone wolf and cub is a former military man who swears he will never return to the poverty he knew during the war, no matter what the cost'. '.strtoupper('o')ne after another, those affected by the maedas’ schemes show up on their doorstep'. '.strtoupper('b')ut these visitors all have their own duplicitous agendas'. '.strtoupper('w')ith each knock on the door, the gamesmanship reaches a whole new level'. '.strtoupper('e')legant beast was adapted by kaneto shindo onibaba, naked island from his own stage play'. '.strtoupper('d')irector yuzo kawashima, mentor of shohei imamura and a major influence on the japanese new wave, makes magnificent widescreen use of the single apartment setting to deliver a ferocious satire on japan’s post war economic miracle.