Directed by Toshiya Fujita • 1973 • Japan
Starring Meiko Kaji, Ko Nishimura, Toshio Kurosawa
Gory revenge is raised to the level of visual poetry in Toshiya Fujita’s stunning LADY SNOWBLOOD. A major inspiration for Quentin Tarantino’s KILL BILL saga, this endlessly inventive film, set in late nineteenth-century Japan, charts the single-minded path of vengeance taken by a young woman (Meiko Kaji) whose parents were the unfortunate victims of a gang of brutal criminals. Fujita creates a wildly entertaining action film of remarkable craft, an effortless balancing act between beauty and violence.
In this interview, conducted in 2015, prolific author Kazuo Koike talks about his original “Lady Snowblood” manga.
This piece, produced in 2015, features screenwriter Norio Osada discussing his adaptation of the “Lady Snowblood” manga into two feature films.