On this day in 1994, Pulp Fiction premiered at the Cannes Film Festival. The winner of the Palme d’Or that year, it was seen as an instant classic. Quentin Tarantino reportedly wrote part of the script for the movie at a hotel in Yubari, Hokkaido Prefecture. He was in town to take part in the Yubari International Fantastic Film Festival, which he later honored in Kill Bill: Vol. 1 by naming Chiaki Kuriyama’s character Yubari.
The iconic filmmaker’s love of Japanese cinema has been well documented. He has cited his respect for several directors from this country, including the likes of Akira Kurosawa, Seijun Suzuki, Shinya Tsukamoto, Takeshi Kitano and Takashi Miike to name but a few. A number of Japanese films have influenced him and his work, particularly the two Kill Bill movies. We thought we’d have a look at seven of them.
Sanjuro, Akira Kurosawa
Kurosawa’s influence can be seen in several of Tarantino’s films. For instance, the “Rashomon effect” style of storytelling that got its name from Kurosawa’s 1950 classic Rashomon is evident in the contradictory accounts of the off-screen heist in Reservoir Dogs (1992). There are also several similarities in terms of structure and style between Yojimobo (1961) and Tarantino’s revisionist Western film, Django Unchained (2012).
Sanjuro (1962), a loose sequel to Yojimbo, is another Kurosawa film that inspired Tarantino, particularly the final battle between the titular character and Hanbei. When Sanjuro slices Hanbei, it’s supposed to lead to a small, continuous flow of blood. However, a broken prop blood-filled compressor hose meant the blood gushed out at once. Kurosawa was pleased with how it looked, and geysers of blood have since become a hallmark of Tarantino movies.
Tokyo Drifter, Seijun Suzuki
In an interview with Tomohiro Machiyama in 2003, Tarantino compared Suzuki to Russ Meyer, stating that it’s “easier to like sections of his films than the whole movie.” One example is Tokyo Drifter (1966), which though unconventional and, at times, incomprehensible, is visually stunning. The gangster walk at the beginning of the film is similar to the iconic scene from Reservoir Dogs.
Suzuki’s postmodern and hyper stylized approach to the gangster genre in Tokyo Drifter had a significant influence on Tarantino’s earlier films such as Reservoir Dogs and Pulp Fiction. The two Kill Bill movies also incorporate elements from Tokyo Drifter, such as the exaggerated fight scenes, dazzling colors and go-go music. Another Suzuki movie that Tarantino drew inspiration from, particularly for Kill Bill: Vol. 2, was Branded to Kill.
Female Convict Scorpion: Jailhouse 41, Shunya Ito
Due to the increasing popularity of television and an influx of Hollywood movies, the Japanese film industry was struggling in the late 1960s. Feeling that sex and violence could help turn things around, Toei Film Studios began to focus on movies that combined the two. Known as “Pinky Violence,” these femme-fatale exploitation flicks exploded in the 1970s, and Tarantino is known to be a huge fan.
For Kill Bill: Vol. 1, he drew from several films of the era, including Shunya Ito’s Female Convict Scorpion: Jailhouse 41 (1972) and Norifumi Suzuki’s Sex and Fury (1973). The former, the second film of a four-part series, stars Meiko Kaji as Matsu (nicknamed Scorpion) who’s been compared to Beatrix “the Bride” Kiddo. Kaji’s track, “Urami Bushi” from Female Convict Scorpion plays in the final credits of Kill Bill: Vol 2.
Lady Snowblood, Toshiya Fujita
Another Kaji track, “Shura no Hana,” plays over O-Ren’s death in Kill Bill: Vol. 1. It was the theme song of Toshiya Fujita’s Lady Snowblood (1973), one of Japan’s great postwar revenge films that was seen as a template for Tarantino’s hyper-violent action flick released more than a quarter of a century later. Both O-Ren and the Bride share similar traits to Kaji’s character, Yuki Kashima.
O-Ren is a visual manifestation of Yuki, while the Bride is the reincarnation of her spirit. Like the protagonist from Lady Snowblood, she is a highly skilled martial artist on a mission to hunt down and kill those responsible for her suffering. The climactic battle scene in the snow between O-Ren and the Bride in the first Kill Bill also mirrors Yuki’s clash with Kobue at the end of Fujita’s film.
The Street Fighter: Shigehiro Ozawa
Aside from Kaji, the Japanese actor that intrigued Tarantino the most from the 70s was Sonny Chiba. The acclaimed director was particularly impressed with his performances in The Street Fighter (1974) and its two sequels. Writing the screenplay for Tony Scott’s cult classic, True Romance (1993), Tarantino pays homage to the actor through Clarence (Christian Slater), who describes him as “bar none, the greatest actor working in martial arts movies today.”
The action scenes in Kill Bill are similar to those in The Street Fighter series and The Bodyguard (1973), another 70s martial arts flick starring Chiba. Jules’ famous Ezekiel 25:17 speech in Pulp Fiction is taken almost word for word from the prologue of the latter. Chiba played Hattori Hanzo in Kill Bill, a nod to his character in the 1980s series Shadow Warriors, Tarantino’s favorite Japanese TV show.
Shogun Assassination: Robert Houston and Kenji Misumi
Lone Wolf and Cub was a 1970s Kazuo Koike manga series that was adapted into six films. In 1980, Robert Houston compiled 12 minutes of the first movie and most of the second — both directed by Kenji Misumi — to create Shogun Assassin. The film’s non-linear narrative and stylized violence influenced Tarantino, who adopted a similar style in several of his movies, including Pulp Fiction and The Hateful Eight (2015).
The Tarantino film Shogun Assassin influenced the most, though, was Kill Bill. The protagonists in the films — Ogami Itto and the Bride — are fearless parents with incredible martial arts skills who have both suffered severe hardship and are driven by revenge. In Kill Bill: Vol. 2, the Bride’s 4-year-old daughter, B.B, requests Shogun Assassin to watch as a bedtime story. Ogami’s 4-year-old son, Daigoro, provides the voice-over narration.
Battle Royale: Kinji Fukasaku
From the Crazy 88-like yakuza gang in Black Lizard (1968) to the Reservoir Dogs-esque gritty realism of Battles Without Honor and Humanity (1973), Kinji Fukasaku’s films had a major impact on Tarantino. One of his favorites was Battle Royale (2000), the last movie fully directed by Fukasuku. “If there’s any movie that’s been made since I’ve been making movies that I wish I’d made, it’s that one,” Tarantino once said.
The character that left the biggest impression on Tarantino was Chigusa. She was played by Kuriyama, who he cast as Gogo Yubari in Kill Bill: Vol. 1 in what was a direct homage to Chigusa. The two characters are involved in some gruesome scenes and both stab men directly through the crotch. Other violent films Tarantino drew inspiration from during that era were Takashi Miike’s Audition (1999) and Ichi the Killer (2001).
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