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.
Up Next in Samurai
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Samurai I: Musashi Miyamoto
Directed by Hiroshi Inagaki • 1954 • Japan
Starring Toshiro Mifune, Rentaro Mikuni, Kuroemon OnoeIn the first part of the epic Samurai Trilogy, Toshiro Mifune thunders onto the screen as the iconic title character. When we meet him, Miyamoto is a wide-eyed romantic, dreaming of military glory i...
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The Tale of Zatoichi
ZATOICHI #1
Directed by Kenji Misumi • 1962 • JapanThe epic saga of Zatoichi begins. As tensions mount between rival yakuza clans, one boss hires a formidable but ailing ronin as his clan’s muscle, while the other employs a humble, moral blind masseur named Ichi. With its lightning-fast swordpl...
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The Sword of Doom
Directed by Kihachi Okamoto • 1966 • Japan
Starring Tatsuya Nakadai, Toshiro MifuneTatsuya Nakadai and Toshiro Mifune star in the story of a wandering samurai who exists in a maelstrom of violence. A gifted swordsman plying his craft during the turbulent final days of shogunate rule in Japan, R...
