Lady Snowblood

Wow. That was phenomenal. One of the best revenge movies I've seen in a long time. Super cool, ultra stylistic, with gorgeous cinematography and a great soundtrack. And all the great comic-book-visual violence you can shake a stick at. I can really see how much Tarantino ripped from this one for Kill Bill.

It's a vengeance film, through and through. Often filled with beautiful cinematography, it circles the lead character, a person born with a purpose. This is better than Tarantino's "Kill Bill", to which he lifted nearly everything from this film. However, this film has the cultural spirit which cannot be read in Kill Bill, which merely reads as a washed-through copy, once you have seen this - albeit in American wrapping. This film has a sequel, which I have not seen.

Tarantino is infamous for borrowing a lot from obscure films, and _Lady Snowblood_'s influence on _Kill Bill_ is abundantly clear. However, calling one a rip-off of the other would be a bridge too far, this has its own distinct tone and directorial style. It's a very straightforward revenge story with just enough character depth to keep things interesting; a classic B-movie that's elevated by its distinct aesthetic and technical wizardry. Loved the action and editing, this filmmaker knows how long a shot needs to linger. It really helps the performances a lot, there's more subtlety here than you might expect. The combined samurai and western influence gives the visual style a very distinct personality, it really makes the set pieces (which are already well staged in their own right) memorable. I don't have any real complaints about it. Sure, it's not the most layered film ever made but unlike a lot of simple genre exercises this didn't bore me once. It pushes to emotion to some challenging places, it's creative, it's fun; watch it.


8/10

Now I see why this was completely ripped off my a famous filmmaker.
Extremely cool film

I sought this movie out after learning it was the inspiration for Kill Bill. A very different movie, to Tarantino's classic but in many ways also similar. This is a "roaring rampage of revenge" done in the quieter Japanese style. The movie has a very solemn tone and takes its themes of vengeance and redemption seriously. Even though the movie was released in the 70's it is a highly watchable and entertaining. The acting, story and cinematography are all very well done keeping to the tone and late 1800s setting.

Very bloody revenge, Tarantino must have been inspired by this one for Kill Bill.

In a jail cell during a violent winter storm, a newborn girl is enlisted to exact revenge before she’s swallowed her first breath. Years later, having concluded a short lifetime of rigorous training, she pieces together the details of her own origin. The only survivor of a small, tragedy-stricken family, Yuki’s sole motive is to uncover and execute the criminals who slew her father and half-brother, raped her mother and condemned her to die, miserably, in prison twenty years ago.

Those already familiar with the work of manga author Kazuo Koike won’t be surprised by _Lady Snowblood_’s exceedingly dark, unflinching tone, nor its enthusiasm for razor-aided amputations and billowing blood geysers. It’s a perfect tonal match for Koike’s other, longer-running work, _Lone Wolf and Cub_, which also portrays a disgraced assassin bearing a blood oath and some remarkable skill with the sword. These stories don’t pull many punches, penetrating the seedier edges of society and passing quick judgment upon those who would exploit its casualties for personal gain. Not everyone who crosses swords with Koike’s protagonist plays a part in the conspiracy to ruin their life, but they certainly deserve a similar reward.

No shock this film was cited as a direct influence on _Kill Bill_, either. _Lady Snowblood_’s four-name hit list makes for a compelling plot, Yuki cuts a mean silhouette (fragile beauty laced with venom) and her cold demeanor is betrayed by the understanding nod she shares with the grief-stricken daughter of one early victim. She knows this particular vicious cycle will outlive her, and she makes no great effort to hide from that truth. It’s like finding the source of an echo, both in a thematic sense and a cinematic one.

Where those films diverge (and _Lady Snowblood_ falters), however, is in representation. Lead actor Meiko Kaji, a veteran of Japan’s 1970s exploitation scene, has simmering glares for weeks but is not a convincing fighter. The film does its best to prop her up, but even its flurries of quick cuts and over-enthusiastic stunt men can’t hide that. The script doesn’t do her character many favors, either, positioning her as a stone-cold butcher but lacking the conviction to back its claim. In action, she’s a tentative killer, one who hems and haws at crucial moments, and the only decisive kill on her revenge list is a drunk who cowers at her feet before tasting the blade. Often, this type of film can fall back on striking visuals to compensate for such failings, but not in this case. While it nails the poster frames, much of _Snowblood_'s camerawork is lacking. Inspired, sure, but also amateurish.

The box art for this film’s Criterion release led me to expect something a little more stylish, striking and well-developed. Instead, it’s a crude also-ran with oodles of untapped potential.

After watching this masterpiece, I'm ashamed and angered that I live in a culture which made me discover this film via its entertaining, but shalow, reductionist, emotionless, individualist and ultimately unworthy American bastardisation.


The storytelling is of top quality, film's grounding in historical period and its social conditions is so important, characters may seem one-dimensional in their drivenness on the surface, but are complex, torn between widely accepted morality and personal/family principles and devotions.
I'm not too familiar with Japanese cinematography so I cannot place my observations into context, but I liked the tempo/pacing, camera-work (usage of fast zooms, bird's perspective shots, skewed angled shots) adds to an original feel, scenery is fantastic and even more impressive knowing it's a low-budget film, music is full of emotion and it guides the viewer.
I will definitely watch it again