LadySnowblood

Lady Snowblood (1973)

This movie is unique among the Samurai movies that I’ve watched in that it’s central character is a woman. What happens is a group of criminals kill an innocent man to help cover their tracks after stealing a huge pile of money from the locals. If that weren’t’ enough they also kill the man’s young son and rape his wife for good measure! After splitting the loot one of the criminals takes the woman with him as his own personal plaything. Eventually she kills the man and sets off after the other criminals. But before she can finish her vengeance she is caught and put in prison for life. So she sets about seducing every guard she can find until she becomes pregnant, all so her illegitimate child can continue her revenge. So Lady Snowblood is born. After her mother dies she is trained by a warrior priest in the ways of combat and revenge, all for the mother she never knew. Her training finished she sets off to find the three criminals that wronged her family.

This is such a great movie. The story is very well paced with the past being revealed in a series of flashbacks that are mixed in with the present. This works well because it never allows the movie to bog down in back story, but doles it out between the action scenes. But I don’t want to sound like the movie is nothing but action, because there is a cleverly written revenge story here as well. I loved how the mother went about getting her revenge by having another child to carry on. I also thought that it was interesting how Lady Snowblood and her allies use a reporter to flush out one of the criminals. Also the movie spends just enough time developing the characters so that they are interesting and fun to watch. But the plot does all of this quickly and efficiently so instead of getting another epic with a 2 plus hour runtime, we get a very entertaining and tight 90 or so minutes. This makes for one of the most entertaining Samurai flicks that I’ve ever sat down and watched. Throw on a couple of fun twists, a masquerade ball, and a killer ending and you have a wonderful movie.

Now I can’t review a Samurai movie without talking about the fight choreography. I love the fights in this movie and how the Lady Snowblood character uses a sword that is hidden in her umbrella. Almost from the start we are treated to arterial sprays and severed limbs, which I have to say is a bloody good time (sorry couldn’t help myself). The final fight at the masquerade ball is particularly memorable and fun. I also would be remiss if I didn’t mention the excellent camera work. This is a beautifully shot movie that captures some amazing scenery, both in and out of doors.

This is one of my favorite films from this genre, and given how much I love Samurai movies that should tell you something. This is available from the fine folks over at AnimEigo and I recommend that anyone with any interest in these movies pick this up if you don’t already own it. Head over to http://www.animeigo.com/ for more information on this and their other great titles.

4 out of 4

reviewed by John Shatzer