VIOLENCE CAN BE PRETTY

A Review of

Sex and Fury or 不良姐御伝 猪の鹿お蝶, 1973 

 

This is how you start a movie.

Something that immediately stands out in Japanese movies (especially pink violence) are the beautiful credit sequences. 

Nice, right?

This movie tells the story of a female warrior whose out for the blood of the men that killed her father. She is also looking for the sister of a man murdered in a gambling den. The film follows her getting into trouble with people for either witnessing things or hearing things. There are awesome fight sequences including one about 12 minutes in where she is attacked in a bath so as to not spread rumors about "Inamura's gambling house."

 

Just when Ochō thought she could relax.

 

Ouchy.

There Will be Blood.

Beautiful cinematography by Motoya Washio

 

You do not want to mess with this lady.

 This revenge movie takes us on a beautiful journey - a feast for the eyes and also features an awesome soundtrack. It is easy to see how Quentin Tarantino was influenced by the style of movies like this for his Kill Bill films (2003-2004). We finally get a taste of the gorgeous Christina Lindberg (They Call Her One Eye, 1973) in an entrance and poker game. 

 

 In a difficult decision Christina Lindberg is flawless. 

She is also given a lecture in which she is told "Christina... our mission here is to make this barbaric country the stage for a second opium war. The first step is to trap a high ranking person in politics. You lost your pistol because you were so involved with your own being that you forgot about the job and the purpose that you were brought here for!" If that's not good writing, I don't know what is. She is then slapped around and she delivers a powerful monologue. 

 

"A spy is not a human being, but a machine. A female spy can be a spy when she separates her body from her brain, and I have been doing all kinds of training. Only for your sake." 

 Ochō sprays poison perfume on herself in order to kill one of the three men who killed her father. 

 

Adding to the exploitation factor is a scene in which Ochō is whipped in a torture dungeon (with nuns present! This reminded me a lot of School of the Holy Beast, 1974)

The film ends with one final bloody battle to exact Ochō's revenge.

Another great film from Japan. I recommend it to anyone with an interest in revenge films. There's a lot of violence, a decent amount of blood, good looking people, and great photography work. The DVD release by Panik House Entertainment is a beautiful transfer with the original aspect ratio of 2.35:1 and newly translated English subtitles. 

-Eddie