Swept up by her dazzling fighting skills when recently watching Lady Snowblood (1973-also reviewed) again, I decided to do a Meiko Kaji double bill. Owning this disc for years but never getting round to watching it,I decided it was time to finally meet this blind woman.
View on the film:
Whilst the print does feature some noticeable lines and dots, Arrow overall present a very good transfer,with the soundtrack and the subtitles being crisp and clean,along with the colours on the print being shiny.
Later claiming in an interview that the studio had requested supernatural elements be put into the film, when it was in the middle of production, the screenplay by co-writer (with Chusei Sone) / director Teruo Ishii gleefully take advantage of the studio demand, and slide the flick into off the wall Pop-Art.
Ishii cheerfully jumps the flick from one moment having a The Ghost Cat of Otama Pond (1960-also reviewed)-style J-Horror cat licking its lips waiting to dig the claws in for revenge, to the next having a blind avenging fighter collect the skinned tattoo backs (body torture and tattoos being major recurring motifs of Ishii's work in this era) of gang members.
Keeping perfectly in time to each sword move of the screenplay, director Ishii & cinematographer Sei Kitaizumi dip burning red blood-spray from eye- gouging, skinned backs and strikingly elegant slow-motion panning shots across the fighting set-pieces, over a delightfully odd atmosphere of twirling camera moves over the groovy lair of the baddies, green mist round the evil furball whilst it licks off dry blood, and a cackling supernatural hunchback gangster.
Introduced in a sparkling fashion with a zoom-in landing on her lifting a hat off to reveal her face, Meiko Kaji gives a sparkling turn in the middle of the gangster and Horror chaos as Tachibana,thanks to Kaji giving her a icy glamour which shines with each take down she performs,as Tachibana confronts the blind woman's curse.
View on the film:
Whilst the print does feature some noticeable lines and dots, Arrow overall present a very good transfer,with the soundtrack and the subtitles being crisp and clean,along with the colours on the print being shiny.
Later claiming in an interview that the studio had requested supernatural elements be put into the film, when it was in the middle of production, the screenplay by co-writer (with Chusei Sone) / director Teruo Ishii gleefully take advantage of the studio demand, and slide the flick into off the wall Pop-Art.
Ishii cheerfully jumps the flick from one moment having a The Ghost Cat of Otama Pond (1960-also reviewed)-style J-Horror cat licking its lips waiting to dig the claws in for revenge, to the next having a blind avenging fighter collect the skinned tattoo backs (body torture and tattoos being major recurring motifs of Ishii's work in this era) of gang members.
Keeping perfectly in time to each sword move of the screenplay, director Ishii & cinematographer Sei Kitaizumi dip burning red blood-spray from eye- gouging, skinned backs and strikingly elegant slow-motion panning shots across the fighting set-pieces, over a delightfully odd atmosphere of twirling camera moves over the groovy lair of the baddies, green mist round the evil furball whilst it licks off dry blood, and a cackling supernatural hunchback gangster.
Introduced in a sparkling fashion with a zoom-in landing on her lifting a hat off to reveal her face, Meiko Kaji gives a sparkling turn in the middle of the gangster and Horror chaos as Tachibana,thanks to Kaji giving her a icy glamour which shines with each take down she performs,as Tachibana confronts the blind woman's curse.