Lady Snowblood (1973) Movie Review

Lady Snowblood is a 1973 action period (Jidaigeki) film directed by Toshiya Fujita written by Norio Osada and based on a manga by writer Kazuo Koike and illustrator Kazuo Kamimura. It stars Meiko Kaji, Kō Nishimura, Toshio Kurosawa, Masaaki Daimon, Miyoko Akaza and Eiji Okada. The film became a cult hit overseas and was also well known by western audiences for being one of the top influences for Quentin Tarantino when making Kill Bill volumes 1 and 2 (2003-2004). It also had a sequel titled Love Song of Vengeance (1974).

In Japan during the Meiji era, a woman was sexually abused and witnessed the murder of her husband and son at the hands of criminals, she was then imprisoned after stabbing one of the thugs. Years later she gives birth to a baby girl, Yuki Kashima, while captive and passes away. Yuki is trained by a priest to be an expert assassin and once she reaches adulthood sets out to kill the people who destroyed her family in cold blood.

While this film is mostly known as a huge influence on Kill Bill, because of the fragmented narrative with a heavy use of flashbacks, the swordswoman heroine looking for revenge and the great bloodshed as well, there are some key differences. The non-linear storytelling aspect serves in Lady Snowblood to further expand the background of the protagonist, this is similar to Kill Bill in that regard since that movie also reveals important information needed to understand following scenes every time it goes back in time, but in Snowblood the motivation and what the flashbacks reveal isn't nearly as mapped out and the two timelines that we go back and forward from are not as blatantly utilitarian and are more impressionistic, whereas in Kill Bill it's all very functional. Tarantino does a very decent job and structuring that film dramatically, but it's all according to the machine that is the script. Snowblood allows for more nuance and more time to think about the dramatic scenarios.

Both films also have some stylistic flourishes with their formal exaggerations, but the fixation on the saturated hue of the blood and the extravagant choices in framing, composition, angles, music, the zooms, the sound effects and movements all ring more cohesive and are less exhausting in Snowblood than in Kill Bill, which is too slap-dash and eclectic. In Lady Snowblood every shot simply joins into a unity, a flow that is controlled and mediated by the director quite skillfully, and every hyperbolic element is simply a very expressive manifestation of the emotional intensity the story requires, arriving at a more concrete and precise tone that organically emanates from the storyline as opposed to being implemented outside of the story as an eccentric whim.

Related to the description above is the fact that every confrontation set-piece is a masterclass in vigorous action as every editing choice is just as punctual and necessary for the development of the sequence as every maneuver and motion the actor does in these fantastic choreographies. The almost pictorial quality of the movie is never really overdone as in other movies that try to show off only to come off as sterile, when we see the image of white snow contrasted with bright red blood we don't really think this is a fake and forced visual but it comes out so beautifully natural that it reaches a very lyrical dimension successfully. This is very hard to achieve, especially because the film never overexplains itself. The rapid insert shots of the main character remembering things appear briefly and without any bombastic music or sounds to announce it, you have to do the work and infer the intensity of the significance of the image through the montage and the clues you are provided.  

This is, as usual, a very nice production by Tokyo Eiga (a Toho subsidiary) with good production values and a convincing recreation of 1800’s Japan. This setting is also taken advantage of by the writer as it becomes a critique of Japan's imperialistic tendencies as well as this point of convergence between post-feudal Japan, its modernization and its westernization that eventually ended up as its colonization by the USA in the 1900’s but all explored in a particular period of transition that turn this into a more mythical story than a contemporary fad or something more current. 

Soothing music aids the entirety of the film, this beautiful soundtrack features some dramatic melodies of melancholy by Masaaki Hirao and the songs Shura no Hana and Urami Bushi performed by leading lady Meiko Kaji are now legendary. However, the film mostly knows when to use the music for a better effect and when to use silence accordingly, so it never overdoes it, always austere.

A mandatory swordfighting action film from Japan that any fan of Kill Bill or the entire subgenre should enjoy. If you have never seen it then I can absolutely recommend it for all cinephile audiences.

My Wife is a Gangster (2001) Movie Review

My wife is a Gangster is a South Korean crime action romantic comedy directed by Jo Jin-kyu and written by Kang Hyo-jin and Kim Moon-sung. It stars Shin Eun-kyung, Park Sang-myun, Ahn Jae-mo and Kim In-kwon. The film was a phenomenal success inside and outside of Korea, leading to My Wife is a Gangster 2 (2003), My Wife is a Gangster 3 (2006) and two indian remakes titled James Bond and Singh is Bling in 2015.

Eun-jin is a martial arts expert and a deadly dual-wielding blade fighter who gains respect and the position of boss inside the Korean criminal underworld. She manages her goons and thugs with cruelty and harshness. When she learns that her sister, Yu-jin, has a terminal disease she begins to create the life she couldn't have at her request, this involves getting married to Kang Soo-il, whom she just met after the man uselessly tried to stop a fight, and have children. Can the cold and distant assassin deal with married life?

A great deal of the plot involves Eun-jin trying to grasp the gist of normal and mundane conjugal tasks but since her character was brought up outside the realm of normativity she ends up distorting and twisting these norms and in a way, exposing their arbitrary nature as well as their fragility when faced with any strong enough will that won't fit in. That's where the film is at its best, when its satirical commentary is integrated into the comedy and the action in order to make an entertaining statement.

The protagonist’s harshness and brutality gets contrasted several times with more warm and emotionally-based marriage scenes, which not only opens up the possibility for comedy but also to get the character to expose another facet of herself and her weaknesses become apparent when she is out of her element.

The less interesting stuff comes in the form of mostly irrelevant or very unimpactful scenes of Eun-jin's goons messing around. These comedic scenes aren't very funny and they mostly feel like padding or to add some cheap and easy jokes. They aren't awful but they comprise the weakest part of the film.

The movie features crisp 35mm film cinematography with a variety of somewhat light but noticeable and sometimes striking hues that decorate the visuals, add to that some very dynamic camera work that keeps things with energy and a very brisk rhythm that never flacks but doesn't move fast enough to be incomprehensible or disjointed. It's solidly crafted overall and with quite good fight sequences. 

Highly recommended if you wanna get started on South Korean cinema and this series.