Lady Snowblood 修羅雪姫 (1973) – Movie Review

"Lady Snowblood" Cedar Park, 2018
Photo info: FUJIFILM X100T, 23mm, f/2.8, 1/100 sec, ISO800
“Lady Snowblood” Cedar Park, 2018

This evening I watched Lady Snowblood – 修羅雪姫, a 1973 manga-based movie about a woman named Yuki whose purpose in life is to avenge her mother, who was raped and whose husband was murdered. The mother died shortly after giving birth to Yuki in prison, and the baby was taken by one of the mother’s prison-mates to be raised by a monk. This monk taught her how to be an assassin in order to hunt down and kill the four criminals who were responsible for her mother’s sad fate.

Lady SnowbloodMeiko Kaji (梶 芽衣子) stars as the beautiful Lady Snowblood and is amazing in the role. Not only is she cold and mysterious, but her action sequences are convincing in their straightforward manner. There aren’t any marathon fight scenes, nor over-the-top acrobatics, but rather, quick and deliberate fight scenes.

But what makes the film special is that there are copious amounts of blood. I’m definitely not a fan of horror movies or grotesque imagery, but Lady Snowblood isn’t a typical gore movie. The blood gushes and sprays fountains in such exaggerated ways, that it’s not disturbing at all. The blood is also a bright red color, and thick like tempera paint. Because of this lack of realism, I didn’t mind the gory scenes (of which I am usually easily disturbed). In fact, I found it very entertaining, and I was looking forward to more of it! 🤪

Lady Snowblood

Another special aspect of the movie is that the hairstyles of the 1970s are ever-present throughout (especially for the male actors), even though the time period of the movie is the late 1800s. That crazy juxtaposition makes it all the more fun for watching it in the present day. Coupled with the 1970s music, it’s a unique feeling!

Lady Snowblood

I enjoyed Lady Snowblood quite a bit and am looking forward to seeing the sequel, Lady Snowblood: Love Song of Vengeance, which apparently came out just a year after the first.

Lady Snowblood

An interesting note is that Lady Snowblood was the inspiration for Tarantino’s Kill Bill movies. It’s easy to see why he would be so taken by the film. The movie, and the assassin character, are very compelling!

My rating for Lady Snowblood is 7.5 out of 10.

High School Band and Writing by Hand

"First Band Performance" Cedar Park, 2018
Photo info: FUJIFILM X100T, 23mm, f/5.6, 1/220 sec, ISO200
“First Band Performance” Cedar Park, 2018

Koa started his high school band performance career today with a show for the band parents at the football stadium this evening. It was cool to watch them really get into their performance.

The percussion section (of which Koa is a part of) is always having fun. Because of the size of the instruments, they don’t march with the rest of the band, but are instead situated right in the front, hence the name “front ensemble”. And because they aren’t marching, they get to bob their heads and get into the groove. I suppose it would hard to stand still anyways, being in percussion after all! And it’s a lot of fun to watch them all enjoying themselves. In Koa’s words, “Oh yeah, we’re always having fun up there.”

In blogging-related news, I read an article that talks about the importance of writing using a pen and paper instead of typing on the keyboard, and how that physical activity can stimulate creativity. So that is what I am starting to do now. But, dang, my hand hurts! I gotta get used to this…

"Writing" Cedar Park, 2018
Photo info: FUJIFILM X100T, 23mm, f/2.8, 1/100 sec, ISO2500
“Writing” Cedar Park, 2018

I hope you had a nice day!

またね~

Driving Soon

"Driving Soon" Cedar Park, 2018
Photo info: FUJIFILM X100T, 23mm, f/3.2, 1/100 sec, ISO640
“Driving Soon” Cedar Park, 2018

こんばんは。How’s it going?

Today is the last day of summer vacation for the kiddos, and this year both of the boys will be in high school – one will be a senior and the other will be a freshman. It’s crazy how fast they grow up.

Bay will be getting his driver’s license soon and we’ve been practicing a bunch lately. Today’s photo is one that I took from the passenger seat and you can see Bay in the reflection of the gear selector. He’s a pretty good driver, so I’m not too worried about him on the road. He’ll be fine. (I keep reminding myself of that) 😀

In other news, I’ve been playing both my ukuleles every day, but I have to say that I love the newer Kala pineapple ukulele a lot more than my old Hilo. It’s just a lot more fun to play, and the soprano sound is very cool. But, I still play the concert ukulele because it has the low-G on it and there are a couple songs that I practice that require it.

Someday, I’d like to get another soprano ukulele (I prefer that size now) and put a low-G on it. But for now, I’ll stick with the Hilo concert ukulele.

I hope you had a nice day!

またね~

The Small Screen

"Tokyo Story" Cedar Park, 2018
Photo info: FUJIFILM X100T, 23mm, f/3.2, 1/100 sec, ISO800
“Tokyo Story” Cedar Park, 2018

こんばんは。How’s it going?

Tonight I watched another Yasujirō Ozu film, Tokyo Story (東京物語), which is considered to be one of the greatest films of all time. I’ll have to write a review later after I’ve thought about it more and perhaps watched it again, but I’ll just say that I thought it was fantastic.

I started watching it on our big tv in the living room, but was kicked off it by my wife and son and had to finish the movie on the small screen (my computer). So the experience was not optimal… I think this movie deserves to be seen on a larger screen to be appreciated!

But now I’m tired and it’s time to read and sleep. I hope you had a nice day!

おやすみ