This is a hard movie to rate. The Criterion version is beautiful; the picture quality is really high and shows off some nice photography and simply nice Japanese scenery and settings (though some of them are obviously studio). The actors play well; the story is simple and well put together... The music is also very enjoyable and the action is clean and brutal. Almost fun... and yes you get this whole Tarantino vibe that explains the gain of popularity this movie has had in the 21st century. But ultimately the movie is slow and a little boring? All the pieces taken separately work well but it's simply not that enjoyable... at least in my humble opinion.

Lady Snowblood / Blood Snow / Snow of Blood / Fighting Snow Lady (Lit.) (shurayukihime). Viewed on DVD. Restoration = ten (10) stars; subtitles/translation = seven (7) stars; cinematography = five (5) stars; choreography = five (5) stars; music = four (4) stars; splatter/spurting effects = three (3) stars. Director Toshiya Fujita and Principal Producer Kikumaru Okuda deliver a four chapter film adaption of a popular contemporary manga (comic book / graphical novel) which chronically reminds the viewer of it's original source material. A live action manga complete with over-the-top accesses that characterize the genre. This is a tale of supposed enhanced suppression of the under classes by the top one per-centers during the first few decades of the Meiji emperor-ship. After undergoing 20 years of mostly sadistic training (including being rolled repeatedly down a hill in a barrel while still a child!), the leading protagonist sets out to exterminate four villains (one in each movie chapter) who destroyed her late mother's life. The film is loaded with expository voice over (more like listening to an audio book than watching a movie) suggesting (a) a lack of ideas about film adaption and/or (b) insufficient production financing. Acting is pretty hammy all round. Leading actress Meiko Kaji seems to do more sword-swinging posing (and posing in general) than line deliveries (she looks stunning when favorably costumed and lit, but has little to say compared to other cast members and appears a bit bored (or unhappy?) with her role. She also sings the opening/closing theme song (which is translated--a rarity!). Choreography is okay but a bit dragged out due to extensive inserting of Kaji-posing shots. Blood spurting (especially during sword fights) is strictly comic-book style - it looks like each of the wounded suffers from off-the-scale high blood pressure and is on the verge of blowing up due to gallons of excess blood! Cinematography (wide screen, color) and lighting are fine. Subtitles/translations are very good with all singing, signage, and written text translated. Music is contemporary (it often sounds like a rift on Italian spaghetti westerns of the time) and does not fit well with the time period of the film (late 1800s). Restoration is outstanding. An interesting organic cartoon. WILLIAM FLANIGAN, PhD.

Even without knowing it or reading other reviews of the picture on this board, I had an instinctive feeling that this film would have been an inspiration for Tarantino's "Kill Bill" films. Many of the elements in this picture surface again in his movies, and others have done a fine job of detailing those specifics, so I won't have to go into them here.What I liked about this story had to do with not following the typical revenge route that most Ninja assassin flicks take. Yuki Kashima (Meiko Kaji) wasn't trained in the physical martial arts per se, her brutal disciplinarian Dokai (Ko Nishimura) instructed her in skilled swordsmanship. There was also the uniquely creative idea of using a newspaper writer to tell the 'fictional' story of Lady Snowblood in such a way as to parallel Yuki's life experience to draw out her victims from hiding.What detracts from these tales somewhat, at least for me, is the brilliant clarity of all that bright red blood spurting around whenever a swordsman/swordswoman contacts a vital organ. Granted, it's done for effect, but it just doesn't come across realistically. Nor does the ease with which one can cut a victim's body in half as if slicing through a brick of butter. Could it be that easy? I hardly think so.One element introduced in the story sounded intriguing enough that I had to look it up. That had to do with what the picture described as the 'Blood Tax Riots of 1873'. It turns out that this wasn't so much a revolt against a pecuniary tax (although two hundred seventy yen in the story would relieve one's duty), but one against the Meiji government's attempt at a conscription service. There were other policies of the government that met with hostility as well, such as land and education reform that did not meet with the approval of those whose lives were being affected.With that backdrop, introducing the Blood Tax Riots into the story was generally a moot point, since Yuki was a woman who would not have been affected by conscription. Thinking about that, I had to wonder why the idea was introduced in the first place, other than it sounding cool.Anyway, the story does manage to take some interesting twists and turns relative to the identities of the three victims Yuki must seek out and their relationships to other characters in the story. Not entirely unpredictable in hindsight, but they are surprising when revealed through the course of the picture. One on one comparisons with Tarantino's epic flicks however is probably a moot exercise, coming as they did thirty years later with the benefit of advanced technology and CGI camera tricks. Yet it's still a fine revenge picture for Japanese cinema fans and not for the faint hearted.

Toshiya Fujita's Lady Snowblood, (based on the manga of the same name) starring Meiko Kaji, is now most commonly known as the film that inspired Quentin Tarantino's Kill Bill movies. Tarantino is a notorious copycat, but I frankly don't find that to be a big deal, I mean other filmmakers like Stanley Kubrick copied from other films all the time yet nobody has a problem with that.Kill Bill lifted many elements from Lady Snowblood; the female revenge plot with four main villains (the one played by Lucy Liu is even inspired by Shurayuki), battles on snowy fields, fountains of watery blood, fights with the female villain's henchmen, an animated sequence (in LS it's a series of scenes from the manga because I assume the budget was too low for an animated scene), the protagonist killing a girl's parent, division into chapters, some of the music which was plain borrowed, and the non-linear chronology. I actually prefer Lady Snowblood to Kill Bill because it has a far more absorbing atmosphere, which is one of the most important things for a movie to have as I see it.Lady Snowblood is divided into four chapters and dramatically narrated by some anonymous. Surprisingly enough, the camera-work is just brilliant for an exploitation film. There are many interesting techniques, like zooming in on a stair-ascending character's partially obscured face in the background and then focusing on her as soon as she appears on the others' level, or suddenly zooming out of the scene high into the sky. The color cinematography and costume work are all very memorable.The bloody scenes have the usual fire hydrant-like blood fountains common in many samurai films at the time, I mean that's just classic, I can't believe some people are having problems with that. The over-the-top acting also isn't a nuisance, it's a lovable exploitation film trope that just makes the movie better. Meiko Kaji is great both in the leading role and on the film's soundtrack; the main song Shura no hana (translated by Tarantino as The Flower of Carnage) is amazing, probably one of the best movie character theme songs I've heard so far.Lady Snowblood also has a sequel by the same director, a Hong Kong remake, as well as a sci-fi re-imagining which came out years later. But yeah, sadly it's most famous for being an inspiration to Tarantino, which is unfortunate because it's a great film on its own, a masterpiece in its own genre - highly entertaining, dark and colorful. Be sure to check it out.9,5/10