Shurayukihime (1973)

Director:

Toshiya Fujita

Writers:

Kazuo Kamimura (writer) &
Kazuo Koike (writer)

Genre:

Action | Drama | Thriller

Plot:

A young girl is born and raised to be an instrument of revenge.

Plot Keywords:

Revenge | Childbirth | Prison | Buddha | Assassination

Cast

Meiko Kaji	...	Yuki Kashima (Shurayuki-hime)
Toshio Kurosawa	...	Ryûrei Ashio
Masaaki Daimon	...	Gô Kashima
Miyoko Akaza	...	Sayo Kashima
Shinichi Uchida	...	Shirô Kashima
Takeo Chii	...	Tokuichi Shôkei
Noboru Nakaya	...	Banzô Takemura
Yoshiko Nakada	...	Kobue Takemura
Akemi Negishi	...	Tajire no Okiku
Kaoru Kusuda	...	Otora Mikazuki
Sanae Nakahara	...	Kitahama, Okono
Hôsei Komatsu	...	Genzô Shibayama
Makoto Matsuzaki	...	Daikashi
Hiroshi Hasegawa	...	Daihachi Kachime
Takehiko Ono		(as Susumu Kuroki)

Also Known As:

Blood Snow
Lady Snowblood
Lady Snowblood: Blizzard from the Netherworld (UK)
Shura-yuki-hime (Japan) (alternative transliteration)
Snow of Blood

Runtime:

97 min

Country:

Japan

Language:

English | Japanese

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

2.35 : 1

Sound Mix:

Mono

Certification:

Netherlands:16 | Australia:R (DVD rating) | Canada:16+ (Quebec) | Canada:18A (Ontario) | West Germany:16 | New Zealand:R16

Company:

Toho Film (Eiga) Co. Ltd.

Trivia:

Along with its sequel, this movie served as one of the main inspirations for Quentin Tarantino's movies Kill Bill Volume 1 and 2.

Movie Connections:

Referenced in Little Red Riding Hood (2009) (V)

Magnificent revenge drama, possibly one of the greatest films ever made.

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.