Blind Woman's Curse (1970)

Author: Brett Gallman
Submitted by: Brett Gallman   Date : 2015-03-23 23:29
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Blind Woman’s Curse (1970)
Studio: Arrow Video
Release date: April 21st, 2015

Reviewed by: Brett Gallman




The movie:

Blind Woman’s Curse opens with a character’s nightmarish recollection of a fateful mistake that landed her in prison, and the film rarely relents in is dreamy, hallucinatory vibe. A feverish blend of Japanese yakuza, samurai, and horror films (with a sprinkle of the recently emergent pinku-eiga scene), Teruo Ishii’s curious effort anticipates the sort of genre-mashers that would become popular in the decades to come—which is just a fancy way of saying I bet Quentin Tarantino saw it a billion times growing up. Seriously, Blind Woman’s Curse is some next-level shit that seemingly hasn’t gotten its due because star Meiko Kaji’s later projects—which include the Lady Snowblood and Female Prisoner series—have overshadowed it for decades.

Here, Kaji is Akemi Tachibana, a mob boss’s daughter facing three years of jail time after her role in a gang fight where she inadvertently blinded a bystander. While her cell mates initially distrust and dislike her, she quickly wins them over and gains their loyalty, so much so that five of them appear at her doorstep years later bearing dragon tattoos and pledging fealty. By then, Akemi has ascended to the Tachibana throne in the wake of her father’s death, and with this responsibility comes strife from within and without. Sensing weakness, a scheming gangster (Toru Abe) enlists a Tachibana turncoat to goad his clan into going to war with a neighboring gang in the hopes of generating mutually-assured destruction.

Ishii lures the audience in with a familiar bait, as Blind Woman’s Curse looks like the umpteenth riff on Yojimbo, albeit one with some notable eccentricities, like a cartoonish gangster whose garish attire features an absurd bowling hat and a red loincloth. The film doesn’t truly divert until the intrusion a carnival troupe that boasts a blind knife-thrower (Hoki Tokuda) and a psychotic hunchback (Tatsumi Hijikata, the latter of which is introduced with a vibrant, unreal dance sequence that all but announces the film’s intent to stray into oddball territory. From here, the film begins to deal in flayed skin and preternatural black cats as much as it does Yakuza intrigue. One almost feels as if a gory revenge film has crashed into the proceedings, a collision that would seem awkward if Ishii hadn’t already couched Blind Woman’s Revenge in an otherworldly aesthetic.

That opening nightmare sequence really sets the tone: in it, we see Akemi working in concert with her tattooed clansmen in a bloody, bewitching ballet that climaxes with a black cat lapping up the arterial spray of the blinded girl. An omen that casts a long shadow, it guides the film’s off-kilter sensibilities, from its exquisite, moody cinematography to its fatalistic verve. Blind Woman’s Curse is one of those horror films that just feels like a horror film, and it’s completely intoxicating even when its more talkative stretches take over to twist and contort its plot. Despite its obvious Japanese roots, it’s almost incredible how Blind Woman’s Curse embodies the platonic ideal of this era’s Eurohorror, particularly the works of Argento and Bava, both of whom similarly leaned on style to outrun plot mechanizations. If not for the obvious connection between the blind swordfighter and Akemi, it would basically be a giallo, as stylish fits of violence and an eclectic musical score accentuate a plot driven by deception and intrigue.

Rather than climax with a stunning reveal, Blind Woman’s Curse constantly grinds towards a final confrontation between warring clans, a grand, lavishly choreographed sequence where blood sprays and severed limbs become brushstrokes on a gory, revenge-stained canvas. It’s equal parts thrilling and horrifying, especially when it compels otherwise innocent bystanders into its carnage. One of the subplots involves a young girl whose father loses his life (and his head, which rolls off when he is somehow briefly reanimated—suffice it to say, this stuff gets weird, man), which prompts her to vow her own revenge, which is realized in disturbingly bloody fashion . If Blind Woman’s Curse has anything to say, you begin to finally sense it here, as this cycle of vengeance looks to spiral out of control.

I would be surprised if this sequence didn’t somehow influence the House of Blue Leaves rampage in Kill Bill, especially since it yields to starkly intimate scene that’s echoed in the final showdown between Lucy Liu and Uma Thurman. Like that scene, this one is set at a quiet remove from the preceding ruckus, with two rivals finally clashing under the painterly, swirling skies. What’s more startling is how Ishii resolves the fight: Blind Woman’s Curse almost feels subversive in its shirking of its most obvious revenge plot. Against almost all odds, it ultimately isn’t much of a revenge film at all but rather a surprisingly introspective look at the emptiness of violence.

Rather than treat its main two women as avatars destined for physical oblivion, it actually considers their spiritual purgatory: one is locked in a familial destiny, fated to carry on the work of her father, while the other wastes several years of her life chasing vengeance. Considering the film makes bizarre detours into the criminal underworld of opium dealers and their harems, color me surprised that the film isn’t nearly as exploitative as it initially lets on. Both Kaji and Tokuda emerge as fascinating, contemplative figures in a film that could have just as easily subjected them to the rigors of grindhouse filmmaking.

Instead, there’s a tactfulness to Blind Woman’s Curse that’s laudable: it might be a collision of Yojimbo, Tokyo Drifter, Zatoichi, Kuroneko, and various gialli, but it leaves some weirdly elegant wreckage in its wake. In the distance, you can see a black cat trailing it and slinking off, slyly evading the carnage yet leaving its mark all the same.


The disc:

For its second North American release, Arrow Video has upgraded Blind Woman’s Curse to high definition with a solid Blu-ray release. The disc’s vibrant transfer does justice to the film’s gorgeous, dazzling visuals, and the 2.0 PCM Japanese audio track is crisp and clear.

The supplements include a feature commentary from film expert Jasper Sharp, a trailer for Blind Woman’s Curse, plus trailers for Stray Cat Rock, another franchise Kaji headlined during the 70s. Hopefully, that’s a sign of things to come from Arrow, as the studio released a box set for that series in the UK last year. Selfishly, I would like to see it imported since this genre is a bit of a personal blind spot. On a less selfish note, here’s hoping the release of Blind Woman’s Curse leads to its rediscovery: even though its cobbled together from so many familiar things, I’m not sure I’ve ever seen anything quite like it.
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