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Lady Snowblood More at IMDbPro »Shurayukihime (original title)

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34 reviews in total

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30 out of 34 people found the following review useful:
Don't let "Kill Bill" ruin this flick for you..., 30 April 2004
Author: James Woelke (Akahige) from Southern California

Unfortunately this film's only getting the attention that it deserves because of Tarantino's "Kill Bill." Fortunately, this film is getting the attention it deserves because of Tarantino's "Kill Bill." This is the double-edged sword of sample-based art. Is it theft, or an homage? Does it help, or hurt the classics? While Tarantino did lift a number of images, a few characters, countless plot devices, and one memorable song from this film; it is impossible to lift the experience that each film offers. Besides, would this film be crawling from the dark, fuzzy depths of the bootleg video without its newfound attention? From the opening scene in the all female prison, we are grabbed from our worlds and thrust into the dynamic Japan at the end of the nineteenth century. Ultimately Toshiya Fugita's 1973 film is about the victims of profound social change, and how sometimes the only way to erase victim-hood is to pass it on to those that have done you wrong. Yeah, "The Bride" goes through quite a bit for her revenge, but Meiko Kaji's character is literally born from death, with the express purpose of carrying out revenge for a family she's never met. While it's hardly addressed openly in the film, Kaji brings a subtle uncertainty to her character's motivations and actions. This depth not only grants humanity to the character, but by making her more believable, Fujita and Kaji raise the stakes. If she can fail, will she? Will she decide her parents revenge is not her own? Or will she embrace her destiny and proposed purpose? Don't get too worked up over how much and what "Kill Bill" sampled from "Shura-yuki-hime." Instead, remember that the samurai (chambara) genre is like any genre; without sampling it wouldn't exist as a genre. Fugita's samples: "Chushingura" Kuniyoshi's ukiyo-e (woodblock prints), "Sword of Doom," every film by Hideo Gosha...

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22 out of 23 people found the following review useful:
Excellent revenge film with good performances and solid direction!, 18 May 2006

Author: spacemonkey_fg from Puerto Rico

Like many of you, Id never heard the title Lady Snowblood before Kill Bill came out, so when I watched Kill Bill and saw Tarantino mention this film as one of his biggest influences, well I knew I would have to check it out sooner or later. So did Tarantino really rip off this flick or what? You bet your double edged sword he did!

The story is about this couple who get mugged by these four thugs. The husbands gets the ax by the killers and the wife gets raped by all of them many times. When the lady kills one of the killers and slays him she ends up in jail pregnant with a bastard child. When the child is born the mother dies, but not before whispering into the childs ear that her only purpose in life will be to kill those who were responsible for the death of her family. That little girl is raised by a Kung Fu master and ends up being Lady Snowblood. A creature living only to avenge those who murdered her entire family.

I wont say Tarantino isn't a genius on his own right the guy is one of my favorites, but when he gets inspired he sure knows where to get his inspiration from! There's many images lifted right off from this movie. Lets see the most notable of all rip offs is Oren Ishii who is no doubt molded after Lady Snowblood herself. Right down to her underground gangster deals and her ugly past. Right down to wanting to avenge her parents deaths. She chops heads and slices and dices like she means it! Blood sprays out in huge amounts in the same way that it sprays in Kill Bill, as if you just opened a sprinkler system to water your lawn. There's the four or five people that she has to kill which pop up in her mind every time she sees them, exactly the same way as in Kill Bill. And I mean exactly the same way, all four bad guys looking down at the camera as if the camera was on the floor! Lady Snowblood has a list of people she has to kill, I mean the similarities are astounding. But still, it didn't really bother me since I was enjoying this damn movie so much! The story is what really pulls you in. Its a fantastically woven revenge film to the Nth degree! I mean the level of hatred thats transferred onto Lady Snowblood when she is a child and the horrible things that happen to her spawn one of the most hatred filled characters that I have seen in a long time. Just like Beatrix Kiddo, Lady Snowblood (aka Yuki Kashima) stops at no ones plea of mercy. She executes her revenge no matter what circumstances have occurred or changed from the time of her parents death. Basically its a you did it now you pay for it kind of story. But with some wonderful characters and complications along the way.

There were many excellent things about this movie but the most pivotal of all was the flawless direction brought on by Toshiya Fujita. I mean this movie was like ahead of its time or something. Or maybe thats just the way movies were made in the seventies and it raised to such cool levels in a natural way. But this film has all these visual gags and tricks that could have only been spawned from that glorious era known as the 70s. Many scenes show that this director took special care in making this movie special, like those scenes with Lady Snowblood walking in the snow with her dress filled with the blood of her victim.

So even though this movie gets pretty gory and violent, visually Id say its very elegant. The music is also incredibly good, mixing traditional Asian music with this great theme song that Tarantino took from this very movie and placed it in his. The song adds an incredible emotion to the film, specially when you know what it says. Also of special notice is the movies excellent performances! From the whole cast we get nothing but credibility and sincerity in the acting. There's an excellent scene in which Yukis mother is giving birth and dying at the same time and the dialog and performance she gives was really something! If there's something I have to say that I didn't like its that the blood looked too red and too liquid. I mean, I know blood is liquid but not like water. Blood is thick and sticky and on this movie the blood looks a cartoonish red and flows like water which rested a couple of notches of credibility. But thats really nothing, the film is damn near perfect for me. Also don't go in expecting a Kung Fu movie cause this isn't a Kung Fu movie its a revenge movie. Don't get me wrong, there's swordplay involved and lots of violence. Decapitations, bodies split in half, hands cut off. But not necessarily any Kung Fu fights involved. So, lots of gore and slicing and dicing, but no Kung Fu.

In conclusion, a very very kick ass film. This is were Kill Bill was born and Kill Bill was as good as it was because it was already ripping off an truly excellent film. So, yeah, Id say go out of your freaking way to get this movie as soon as you can and enjoy one of the coolest revenge films to come out of Asian cinema. Lady Snowblood will get revenge on you if you don't! (Corny way to end my review, I know) Rating: 5 out of 5

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15 out of 17 people found the following review useful:
Little known female Samurai movie, 8 May 2001

Author: xhari_nairx from California

Lady Snowblood isn't the most widely known Samurai Film in the International movie market, but it is certainly worth a viewing, particularly for those into Samurai/swordsplay pictures. I just checked it out randomly because I thought the female swordsperson angle might be interesting, but I had no real expectations. I was surprised to find a stylish film with a solid story (which can actually be unpredictable at times), adequate action sequences (spruced up by heavily stylized blood spurts) and good acting (particularly from the female lead). The film balances the sadness of Lady Snowblood's story and some campy humor to great affect. Some may be turned off by the latter part, particularly if they fail to see it as intentional. I loved the bit, for example, when a villain explains to a radical left-wing writer his business of the last few years, exactly in the exaggerated fashion that a radical left-wing reporter would be inclined to write about a tyrannical bureaucrat. This movie would be well viewed by Samurai film aficionados and people interested in gender roles in cinema.

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6 out of 7 people found the following review useful:
A masterpiece in its own right, 26 December 2003
Author: Super_Fu_Manchu from London, England

*** This review may contain spoilers ***

A truly classic samurai movie which not only has its fair share of pacey, exhilirating action scenes, but also a really pertinent history and cultural context. Ahead of its time in some ways, the film is structured very unconventionally, in four chapters detailing Lady Snowblood's past and future. This is a technique Tarantino has used in his films, particularly relevantly his recent 'Kill Bill', which one can draw many comparisons to.

In actual fact, while the fighting may be dated slightly, and vastly bettered by Kill Bill's insane battles, and perhaps even the Lone Cub and Wolf movies, the detail and true respect the filmmakers have put into their movie seperates it from the average schlocky exploitation feature. Isolation of the East, and cultural changes in the West set up the feeling of change and loss in the film. Lady Snowblood is fighting for someone who is already dead. Her mother watched her husband being killed before her, mistaken for a Government spy, and is subsiquently tortured and raped by the criminals. After killing one in vengeance, she becomes pregnant and gives birth during her life sentence in prison, dying in childbirth. Lady Snowblood is born a "child of vengeance", and is forced through rigourous training throughout her early years, before eventually growing into a woman and seeking those who her mother had swore revenge on.

This story is fairly simple, run of the mill 70's revenge movie, but it's the flair with which the film is shot that seperates it and makes it essential viewing for all those seriously interested in film, and particularily in Tarantino's interests. Distinctive colour schemes and handheld camera work as well as subtle performances and touching moments really make the film unique and distinctive. (Spoiler: The final death of Goshiro is particularily striking. He dies between the Japanese and American flags. This kind of flair invites much more interest than the usual violence these pictures produce).

I strongly reccomend this film, and really do regret how little exposure these kind of movies receive in the west.

"It's fine to be concerned with justice and conscience, or upholding principles... yet, in the end, it's all nothing more than empty words, at least in this filthy hole."- Goshiro

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10 out of 15 people found the following review useful:
Magnificent revenge drama, possibly one of the greatest films ever made., 25 April 2008

Author: t-birkhead from United Kingdom

Its could be that my love of cult Japanese films in general gives me a bias, but I rate this film among the all time greats of cinema. Lady Snowblood takes a good old fashioned period revenge story and turns it into something greater than just a good genre film. The direction and cinematography are top notch throughout with evocative use of reds and whites in the color scheme, in keeping with the character of Lady Snowblood. The acting is solid in general, with Meiko Kaji standing high above the rest in her as the eponymous heroine. Her combination of divine looks, cool demeanour and bloody sword wielding skills is never less than hypnotic and by the end of the film her impact is breath taking. For the lead character alone this is a great film but it has other virtues. There are great sprays of blood during the fighting and a decent body count, with the action pretty well choreographed. It isn't quite as manic as the Lone Wolf and Cub pictures (highly recommended), but more effective than the action in something like Sex and Fury (also highly recommended. The action scenes are tempered by a poignant edge, the way that Yuki is kind of a tragic character and the ultimate sadness of her quest and the way her principles end up working out in practice. Though her revenge is depicted in the finest most righteous manner, the film continually questions the point of it. The quality script adeptly walks a line between mythologising and realism giving the film greater depth and intelligence than a lot of its kin. I can'tthink of anything that I don't appreciate about this film, it is one of my all time favorites and I can't recommend it enough, to pretty much anyone.

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7 out of 11 people found the following review useful:
The main inspiration for Kill Bill and a masterpiece in its genre., 18 May 2006

Author: Danny-Rodriguez from Norway

Of the very few Japanese samurai movies i've seen this is without a doubt the best. It's about this woman who was born in a prison and raised by a samurai priest who teaches her the deadly arts in order to take revenge on the people who killed her father. The fact that this is the main inspiration for Tarantino's homage to the samurai genre Kill Bill is apparent all the way through it. From the main theme song from this film being used in Kull Bill to many shots copied and the film being divided into chapters. What's very good about this film is that you'll have no problem understanding and following the story without any confusion. Which happens a lot when you watch foreign cinema. No, this film is so thoroughly told that you wont miss a thing. I definitely recommend this film to any movie buff or Tarantino fan.

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9 out of 15 people found the following review useful:
Lady Awesome, 1 May 2005

Author: AwesomeWolf from Australia

Version: Eastern Eye's R4 DVD release. Japanese / English subtitles.

I probably would not have been able to see 'Lady Snowblood' had it not been for Quentin Tarantino and 'Kill Bill'. I've seen the 'Lone Wolf and Cub' movies several times on SBS, and I think they're great, but I probably would not have been able to find a copy of Lady Snowblood without the popularity of 'Kill Bill'. Luckily for me, I still managed to see 'Lady Snowblood' before 'Kill Bill'. I don't want to sound smug, but I'm probably one of the few people my age who can say that, and seeing 'Lady Snowblood' before 'Kill Bill' is a lot better than seeing 'Kill Bill' and then expecting 'Lady Snowblood' to be exactly like 'Kill Bill'.

In the 3rd year of Meiji Japan (1871 or thereabouts, I think), a family is attacked by bandits. The father and child are killed, the mother Sayo (Miyoko Akaza) taken by one of the evil-doers as a slave. When Sayo is imprisoned and unable to exact her vengeance, she bears another child, Yuki (Meiko Kaji), to carry on where Sayo. Yuki is born for vengeance, and that may be all she ever knows.

Normally I comment on revenge stories and say "wow awesome vengeance!". However, in this case, I've been studying this period of Japanese history for a university course, and I can appreciate this as more than just a tale of vengeance. 'Lady Snowblood' is a tragedy, a story about sweeping social upheaval and the people caught up in change. Of course, I can't resist pointing out the fact that this is also an awesome revenge story. 'Lady Snowblood' is an awesome revenge story.

Despite the high amount of fake blood, 'Kill Bill' and 'Lone Wolf and Cub' are better action movies than 'Lady Snowblood'. Meiko Kaji's Yuki is fearsome, and she fights well, but the over-the-top fights of 'Kill Bill' and 'Lone Wolf and Cub' are better. The camera is shaky at times, and the action is often hard to distinguish, but any fan of 'Kill Bill' or the classic samurai movies should still be able to appreciate it.

'Lady Snowblood' stands as one of the best classic samurai movies around. The remake 'Princess Blade' doesn't hold a candle to this, nor does the similar Etsuko Shihomi film 'Dragon Princess'. I even think fans of the recent 'Azumi' should check out 'Lady Snowblood'. Those who haven't seen 'Kill Bill' should see this first, and then 'Kill Bill' after. 'Lady Snowblood' isn't just a revenge story, but its still a a damn good revenge story - 9/10

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1 out of 1 people found the following review useful:
Gallons of blood, 2 August 2008

Author: kurciasbezdalas from Lithuania

This is one of those Japanese samurai films where the red paint cost probably more than everything else in the movie. This movie inspired Quentin Tarantino to make Kill Bill, so if you liked that movie you should watch this one. The plot is quite simple: the Japanese girl is seeking revenge for the killers of her parents, but the killers are tougher than she thought and this is where the bloody fight between good and evil begins. The movie is well directed and the acting is pretty good. There is a lot of violent swords-fights but it looks kind of funny sometimes. If you are samurai film fan you really should watch this one it's one of the best in it's gender.

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3 out of 5 people found the following review useful:
Female Samurai Film Well Worth Investigating, 6 April 2002
Author: FilmFlaneur from London

*** This review may contain spoilers ***

Toshiya Fujita's samurai picture is a striking combination of violence, feminism, history lesson and literary conceit deserving of better attention. The slight but awe-inspiring Meiko Kaji plays Yuki Kashime, who has vowed to avenge the rape of her mother Saro. Four criminals had attacked Saro, and her schoolteacher husband, 20 years previously. After his killing, then her three-day rape and torture ordeal (here shown in a mercifully short sequence) and her confinement to prison for murder, she gave birth to Yuki, pledging her offspring to wreaking her revenge on those four responsible. Yuri is called Lady Snowblood "because the snow that cleanses the decay of the netherworld is fiery red, rather than pure white" - presumably reflecting the imbalance her mother's defilement has caused in this world and others. Cast in four chapters, and with such evocative titles as 'Umbrella of Blood, Heart and Strewn Flowers', 'House of Joy, Final Hell', together with some vivid, interposed manga graphic work, 'Lady Snowblood' consciously strives to mimic a literary structure and presentation while retain the vitality of exploitation samurai sagas. (The version seen here also included on-screen 'footnotes', translating cultural subtleties for the occidental viewer adding to the feeling of literariness.) This striving for effect creates an occasional self-consciousness on screen, sometimes a distraction.

For the first two-thirds of the film, an off-screen narrator (later revealed as the journalist Ashio) puts many of the events we are seeing in a wider historical context, i.e. that of the years immediately after the end of Japanese isolationism. Precise references are made to both the Meiji as well as the more familiar western calendar, presumably one way to offset the central plot's sensationalism. Placing the contemporary nature of events so precisely also gives the incipient radicalism of the journalist Ashio a point, just as his later working of Yuki's tale into a novel and early narration neatly 'frames' the action.

This was a disruptive time in Japanese history when, for the first time, foreigners were admitted in large numbers. In 'Lady Snowblood' the actual presence of Westerners is not in evidence until the final few scenes, although their influence is hinted at, by implication, throughout.

***SPOILERS***

Fujita's final showdown is set amidst the alien, European decadence of a charity masquerade. Such staging provides a suitable climax, right down to the overhead shot of the dispatched villain pulling down American and Japanese flags together, as he drops onto the ballroom floor. Two of the four criminals hunted down by Yuki wield revolvers. The use of modern weaponry is always a point of comment in samurai films (one recalls the pride of place given to a gun by the bully in 'Yojimbo'). Before the arrival of new technology, Japanese firearms were antiquated, typically undervalued by the warrior classes. In samurai cinema, new-fangled revolvers in the hands of villains like Goshiro are regularly overwhelmed by swordplay or martial guile, and it is no different here. As in the case of the conscription riots that trigger the original rape and murder, such weaponry suggests the insidious influence of new cultures on old Japan - even as Goshiro mingles with the new elite of the occupying western nations.

An expressionist film, 'Lady Snowblood' emphasises white in particular (the oriental colour of death). Yuki's outfits are bright white as she works her sword to such damaging effect; a snowfall punctuates her birth in prison with flakes. Her last scene occurs amidst snow drifts, and the clean papers upon which Ashio writes the novelisation of her early adventures are crisp and white. There are warm reds aplenty too, as blood erupts from Yuki's cutting and slashing, the frequent geysers from severed arteries coating participants. More explicitly, Fujita's film is one in which human sized dolls are consigned to the sea, or the narrator can comment directly on how the sea, crashing on the shore, reflects the internal state of the enraged heroine. Yuki's aggression and hatred is a literal expression of her revenge quest, an overwhelming drive that can continue even after the death of her object (as when she severs the hanging corpse of Okono in two).

Plenty of handheld camera work, as well as the black and white montage sequence of Yuki's journey to Tokyo, give some scenes a mock-documentary feel. This, together with the previously mentioned placing of events within a broader history, help offset the main, purple, melodrama built around Yuki. As a heroine she is consistently strong and purposeful. Whether being rolled down a hill in a barrel as part of her training, practising swordplay with her reverend trainer, gambling with Yakuza, or just facing down men over a sword's point, she is very much a constant force to be reckoned with. Only when pleading for information from the old gang leader does she show anything like the humility and respect typically expected from Japanese women. Her independence and resolve reflect the way the initial crime has thrown the regular balances out of course; it also makes for an intriguing central figure, a Lady Macbeth with a *ken*. Like the blade that slides out of her innocuous umbrella, Yuki conceals her real nature under a calm and slight exterior, quick to anger, slow to forgive.

Kaboue, the daughter of Banzo, is another young woman also out for vengeance and, in a film that focuses on the fortitude of wronged women, it is especially apt that she should prove the last encounter that Yuki has. As one character observes dryly, it is not enough that there is just one woman out for vengeance. By the end of the film there are two. Lady Snowblood, with its strong female characters, has strong feminist overtones, although the air of exploitation, which attends Yuki's tale, somewhat reduces any sociological impact.

Both director Fujita and actress Kaji are relatively unknown in the west (her career apparently ended in the 1970s). The impact of this striking film suggests that there may be some more interesting discoveries in store for adventurous viewers from both of them.

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4 out of 7 people found the following review useful:
Lady Snowblood; great Japanese martial arts extravaganza which was the main inspiration for Kill Bill, 3 January 2007

Author: LoneWolfAndCub from Australia

When I was watching this I could straight away pick many of the different aspects Quentin Tarantino took from this. Everything from the plot, (especially) the music and the effects was copied and warped in a way. Although I marginally liked Kill Bill better, this is still an extremely good movie that I think everyone should see.

This movie is set in chapters where we follow Yuki who is out to avenge her mothers rape and torture. There were four culprits, one of whom was killed by the mother already. So Yuki, from the moment she was born, was trained to eventually kill the three remaining villains.

As you can see, the plot was almost entirely copied for Kill Bill. But I find the plot in this one slightly more interesting. The music was extremely good and quite moving. Two of the songs were actually used in Kill Bill. The effects are the traditional over the top ones you would expect. Lots of severed limbs and gushing blood.

This gets a solid 4½/5.

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