Lady Snowblood is a 1973 Japanese samurai film directed by Toshiya Fujita and staring Meiko Kaji. The film tells the story of Yuki a woman seeking her revenge against three people who raped her mother and killed her half-brother. Lady Snowblood is one of my favourite films of all time and is a great subversive samurai film that any fan of Japanese cinema should watch.
The direction of the film is great. The film is steeped in the historical nature of the time with a gloomy moody sad tone to the film that is used with a classic Japanese style to great a great tone. Snow is used throughout the film hence the name Lady Snowblood combined with great fight scenes that make this good samurai film. There is almost otherworldly nature to Lady Snowblood as combined with the surreal direction the film has a strange melancholic feel to it. Lady Snowblood is very much a classic samurai film with a main character is very driven. The film has two distinctive styles to it being an over-the-top gritty bloody exploitation film mixed with an arthouse film creating a unique and brilliant style to the film combined with classic Japanese motifs such as her master calling her a “child of the netherworld”. The film shows Yuki’s mum Sayo being raped and beaten by four people that swine money out of villages by saying they can help them avoid the draft Say is taken to Tokyo by one of them and opens a resultant with him she then kills him and dies during birth intrusting her daughter Yuki to seek revenge as she dies in childbirth. The film has lots of classic samurai motives such as Yuki being trained by an old master. Revenge and vengeance are a theme throughout the film as again the samurai motifs are throughout the film. Although there are samurai motifs throughout the film the film has a scummy feel to it the film does not romanticise the samurai period at all. The film is full of classic samurai motives with a sword fight at the beach, something interesting about the film is how focused on vengeance Yuki is with her being angry that one of the members is already dead and attacks the grave. The film has lots of classic samurai motifs such as vengeance as well as being subversive. At the female bad guy’s house Yuki attacks the guards and gets shot with her friend being held hostage she then fights them all in a great bloody violent scene the main female villain ned up hanging herself to which Yuki cuts the course in half showing how angry and singular her quest for vengeance is. She ultimately does not know what to do anymore now that her revenge is complete, however it turns out the main bad guy is still alive to which her male friend tells her the villain is his father. In the climax of the film, they have their final showdown at a ballroom party. They get into a fight she kills him, but it turns out it was a body double. The villain shoots his son leading to her ram her sword through them both and slitting his throat killing him. She walks away bloody and injured as the girl of the father she killed runs up to her and stabs her seemly killing her. The films ending acts as a subversion to the classic revenge story however at the end she of the film she opens her eyes seemly alive. I have very mixed emotions on the ending on one hand it’s nice that Yuki survived because she is a very likable character. However, her not dying at the end does take away some of the subversion and tragedy of the character making the end a bit weaker as a result.
The acting in the film is good. Meiko Kaji does a good job as Yuki Kashima aka Lady Snowblood she plays a cool and badass but also very sympathetic and tragic character seeking her revenge and is the main driving force in the film. Mayumi Maemura does a good job as the young version of Yuki a young girl that trains to become Lady Snowblood. Ko Nishimura does a good job as Dokai the priest Yukis master that trains her for her revenge. Toshio Kurosawa does a good job as Ryurei Ashio the son of the main villain of the film that befriends Yuki and writes about her exploits. Masaaki Daimon does a good job as Go Kashima the main villain of the film. Miyoko Akaza does a good job as Sayo Kashima the son of the villain that works with Yuki and writes about their exploits. Eiji Okada does a good job as Gishiro Tsukamoto the main villain of the film that acts as a good antagonist. Sanae Nakahara does a good job as Okono Kitahama the female villain in the film. Noboru Nakaya does a good job as Banzo Takemura one of the members that beat and raped her now a drunken wreak that in his death asks his daughter to avenge him. Takeo Chii does a good job as Shokei Tokuichi the man that captured her mother and beat and raped her. Hitoshi Takagi does a good job as Matsuemon a man who helps Yki in her quest for vengeance. Akemi Negishi does a good job as Tajire no Okiku. Yoshiko Nakada does a good job as Kobue Takemura the girls one of the men Yuki killed in revenge that sets of on her own revenge to kill her. Rinichi Yamamoto does a good job as Manruyama.
The writing in the film is good. Yuki has a tragic backstory with her being born in prison as her mum gives her the task of revenge. The film is steeped in the classic Asian style as revenge is at the heart of the story. The movie is veery much a classic samurai film with the characters backstory slowly told throughout the film. The film shows that normal people’s lives are hard the film is also very similar to Kill Bill in the sense of she has a list of people she wants to kill in his revenge plot. In the film one of the bad guys swindle the towns people out of their money this is from drafted men that battle the presents and kill them. The backstory of Yuki is that the assassins killed her husband and son, and they believe he is from the government and rape her as Yuki pays respect at their graves. The flashback also shows the rape and beating of Sayo by four people that swindled money out of a village for them to be kept out of the draft. She was then taken to Tokyo by one of them and kills him. She tries to get impregnated to have a kid to avenge her who is trained by a master in a classic samurai motif. Yuki has dedicated her life to avenge her death and revenge and vengeance is a theme throughout the film. One of the antagonists in the film has now become a sick old man with a daughter that has secretly gone into prostitution to support her father who is a serial gambler. The gambler has become a looser Yuki then spares his life from the other gamblers just to kill him herself. Again, there are classic samurai motives with the sword fight on the beach Yuki is so set on vengeance that she is angry that one of the members is already dead and attacks the grave. The film is full of classic samurai vengeance motifs she then meets a reporter who covers her exploits in a newspaper as the film creates its own meta narrative.
It turns out that the main bad guy is still alive the other woman is now seeking her vengeance also as vengeance as Meiko Yuki killed her father creating a very subversive story. Kobue then finds out Yuki is dead, and the police beat up the writer because he knows about Lady Snowblood. Meiko then attacks the female bad guy’s house attacks the guards and gets shot at as her friend is being held hostage, she then fights them all in a bloody scene as she ends up hanging herself but as her quest for vengeance is so fierce, she cuts the corpse in half. However, she doesn’t yet know that know that her vengeance is not complete the main bad guy is still alive, and her friend tells her that’s his father. They have their final showdown in a ballroom party, and they get into a fight she kills him, but it turns out it was a body double. She finds the main bad guy shoots him and kills him by slashing his throat. She walks away injured only for the girl whose dad she killed runs up to her and stabs her. She lies down in the snow seemly dead subverting the traditional revenge film in that the character gets their victory. However, at the end she opens her eyes seemly alive, I have mixed emotions about this on one hand she is a good character and its good she survived however the subversiveness of the death would have made for a more powerful ending.
The cinematography in the film is good. The film is dark and well shot. The snow scenes particularly look good with the use of black and white cinematography in the flashbacks. The 70s zooms are charming with a cool use of manga style art in some scenes. There is a cool use of green lighting in one scene as well as an interesting effect when curtains go over a scene as well. the special effects in the film a good. There is a great use of blood in this violent movie.
Overall Lady Snowblood is great subversive samurai film that any fan of Asian cinema should watch.
