Lady Snowblood

Part of the special series NACHTBLENDE

Nachtblende: THROW BACK 1973

If looks could kill, actress and singer Meiko Kaji would not only be responsible for countless corpses in front of the camera. With the film adaptation of the comic of the same name, LADY SNOWBLOOD, the icon with the unmistakable, piercing gaze reached an early peak in her exploitation career and inspired Quentin Tarantino, among others, for his Eastern homage KILL BILL.

Yuki is born under an unfavourable star. Her mother dies in childbirth, but shortly beforehand she expresses her fateful wish in front of everyone present: the newborn is to complete the campaign of revenge she has begun. From now on, Yuki is seen as a child of vengeance who is less human than a vengeance demon. And there is a lot to avenge...

Popular samurai and revenge films were nothing new in Japan at the time. What set LADY SNOWBLOOD apart from films such as the LONE WOLF AND CUB or ZATOICHI series was the female heroine. "Female warriors were uncommon in Japanese cinema in 1973, and absolutely unheard of during the Meji period, when women in Japan had no voting privileges or official political power" (Russ Fischer for IndieWire). The singer Meiko Kaji became a film star thanks to the role, and in the guise of the bloodthirsty avenger she was soon to be seen in other box office hits. No wonder these films still impress 50 years later. In addition to the great camerawork, the impressively scored colour palette and the metres of blood spurting (for the gore farmers), it is the title songs sung by Meiko Kaji herself that distinguish genre masterpieces such as LADY SNOWBLOOD, or even the FEMALE PRISONER series.

It was never a secret that this classic of Japanese entertainment cinema was the model for Tarantino's KILL BILL (2003). In addition to the almost one-to-one shots, the fountains of blood and the story itself (which in KILL BILL is mainly reflected in the side plot about O-Ren Ishii), he even used the theme song. What cannot be found in the US homage is the political subtext. LADY SNOWBLOOD is set in a time of upheaval in Japan, when the country was modernising, opening up and, to a certain extent, surrendering to Western influence, which the film does not leave uncommented.