I watched a movie the other night called ‘Female Prisoner #701: Scorpion’. It’s a Japanese movie made in 1972 and was incredibly violent and somewhat ridiculously over the top at times. The whole time I was watching it I was struck by the similarities between the film and Tarantino’s Kill Bill trilogy. Not only were they visually similar, but similar dramatic music and plot lines were used. It got me thinking about the idea of paying homage, and at what point it is deemed necessary to acknowledge artistic influence. I did a little research and was interested to find that Tarantino refers to a 1973 film called ‘Lady Snowblood’ when talking about his influences for Kill Bill. The protagonist for both ‘Lady Snowblood’ and ‘Female Prisoner #701: Scorpion’ is played by the same actress (Meiko Kaji). I wonder if this is pure coincidence, or if the particular actress was typecast as a psycho revenge assassin? Which movie influenced which!? It’s a mystery.
