Owen’s Oldies: ‘Lady Snowblood’
- Owen Glancy
- Mar 14
- 3 min read
By Owen Glancy Arts & Features Editor Quentin Tarantino’s “Kill Bill” films are two of his best and most popular, standing out even amongst his already iconic filmography with its bright colors, snappy cinematography, and bits of animation sprinkled in throughout the first film. All of that being said however, neither “Kill Bill” film would exist without Toshiya Fujita’s “Lady Snowblood.” In interviews Tarantino said he was inspired by “Lady Snowblood,” and it certainly shows. You would be foolish to believe that the only reason to watch “Lady Snowblood” is to see where Tarantino gets his inspiration from though, as the film is one of the best revenge and samurai stories out there. The film follows Yuki, our titular “Lady Snowblood,” as she tracks down three of the four people responsible for assaulting her mother over two decades ago. If it wasn’t immediately obvious by that very brief synopsis, this is a unique film about revenge as in actuality, the one doing the revenge is incredibly disconnected from the actual crime itself. Yuki was not alive for this incident, and has no relation to any of the men or women who committed the crime over 20 years ago, yet she is spurned by her mother’s dying words of malice to “become an asura,” a demon in Japanese folklore fixated on revenge. By disconnecting the protagonist from the antagonists, the viewer begins to question the validity and necessity of this quest for vengeance from the very beginning. Obviously these horrible people need to be brought to justice, but in her pursuit of this justice, Yuki loses everything that makes her human, fully devoting herself to the path of an asura. While the theme of “revenge is bad” is not new, and was not new in 1973 when the film released, it’s the way this story is told that makes the film so fresh even today. The visual language of “Lady Snowblood” is unique, often taking a step back from the protagonist. Every shot looks like a painting. The colors in this film are absolutely stunning, with the bright reds and yellows sharply contrasting against the pitch black nights and pure white snowfall that many of the film’s action scenes take place during. However, Yuki’s birth is easily the best looking scene in the entire film. The colors of the snow are bright red rather than the familiar white, almost as if it is snowing blood as the storm surrounds her cell as Yuki’s mother, played by Miyoko Akaza, delivers a spine chilling monologue about her desire for vengeance - she cares about her daughter not because she is her daughter, but because she can fulfill a revenge she herself cannot. Even though none of the film’s other scenes can quite reach the heights of Yuki’s birth, the many action scenes come very close. Yuki’s thin sword, which she unsheathes from the base of her umbrella, is not only really cool, but also a great representation of how all of her opponents see her. Many of the film’s fights start with an overconfident opponent seeing Yuki as nothing but a defenseless woman, only to be cut down near effortlessly by her. These scenes never get stale however, as every fight feels different and distinct from the last. From the opening fight in the snow, to the cramped and chaotic battle in a storage room, to the climatic final fight taking place across a massive party, every single conflict is gripping and bloody - the film really earns the name “Lady Snowblood.” Sadly, it feels as if “Lady Snowblood” is only becoming more and more obscure as time goes on. Its name and the decade of its release make many think that this is one of the multitude of cheap exploitation films of the time that put more focus on sex and gore than on art and storytelling, something that could not be less true about “Lady Snowblood.” It also doesn’t help that it wasn’t made by a big name director or studio like Akira Kurosawa or Toei, but that does not mean it deserves to be overshadowed and forgotten. Though it lives on nowadays through another film made nearly three decades after its release, “Lady Snowblood” still lives on. If any film deserves to be seen by more people and to be considered one of the best movies in its genre, it is undoubtedly “Lady Snowblood.” You can stream “Lady Snowblood” on Max.