SECRET MOVIE CLUB presents
Part of our SMC BIRTHDAYS Series, Wednesday, May 24, 2023
LOCATION: The Secret Movie Club Theater, 1917 Bay Street, 2nd Floor, Los Angeles, CA 90021
*Please note entrance/parking is actually in the back of the building. Make a right on Wilson Street, then a right behind the building. We’re the first set of black steps after the big gate.
7:30pm SAMURAI REBELLION (1967, dir. Masaki Kobayashi, Japan, 128mns, 35mm)
10pm LADY SNOWBLOOD (1973, dir. Toshiya Fujita, Japan, 96mns, DCP)
Tonight, we dive into the hell, fury, and action filled frenzy that are late 1960’s and early 1970’s Japanese period revenge pictures with two of the best: the Toshiro Mifune starring Samurai Rebellion and the inspiration for Tarantino’s Kill Bill: Lady Snowblood.
Our very own head projectionist Alex Olivier has programmed these two Japanese classics from his deep love of Japanese cinema and the Japanese period revenge drama in particular.
First up is Samurai Rebellion. Mifune’s skilled Samurai swordsman Sasahara is forced to accept his boss’s ex-concubine as the wife for his son. But when his son and new wife find actual happiness together and have a child, Sasahara meets even more grief when his boss demands the wife back.
As in many samurai stories, the unbearable tension comes from a samurai’s foundational value of loyalty being confronted with his foundational value of justice.
Sasahara decides to do the unthinkable and opposes his boss setting up a bloody confrontation when twenty soldiers are sent to claim the wife and kill everyone if they are opposed. As Japanese cinema headed into the late 60’s, like movies the world over, a new found freedom of violence and intensity allowed for even more skilled action sequences. Samurai Rebellion showcases both Mifune’s genius as an actor and this new brutal approach to on-screen action and violence. On 35mm!
We follow this up with an interesting pairing (in many more ways than one), the all-time Japanese action exploitation classic Lady Snowblood, one of the key inspirations for Quentin Tarantino’s Kill Bill.
In many ways, Lady Snowblood picks up where Samurai Rebellion leaves off (we can’t say more here if you haven’t seen the first movie). A woman unjustly sent to prison for daring to defend herself against four criminals who killed her husband than raped her gives birth to a daughter she names Yuki, after the snow she sees outside.
Yuki is trained to return to the world as a young woman and seek vengeance on the four criminals who destroyed her family. She visits them one by one only to learn that the mastermind behind her misery may yet be at large. . .
Sound familiar? Lady Snowblood further distinguishes itself both as a classic in its own right and as a seminal text for Quentin Tarantino’s approach to cinema by telling its story in a non-chronological way moving back and forth between the present and the past.
So come join us for two dynamite Japanese classics of revenge! Happy birthday Alex!
Best always,
Craig Hammill
Secret Movie Club Founder.Programmer
*Please note that though we strive to always show titles on 35mm film if advertised, we may have to screen digitally if the print we receive is in such bad shape or if we don't receive the print in time because of a shipping delay. We will do our best to alert the audience. When this does occur, we will offer each ticket holder who chooses not to attend a complimentary ticket to a future event in exchange. (Disclaimer: Good for 90 days – Future screening must have available tickets, cannot be a fundraiser, and must be comparably priced)
FREQUENTLY ASKED QUESTIONS
REFUNDS:
We can offer refunds up to 24 hours before showtime. Please request a refund through Eventbrite and we will process ASAP. After that, no refunds. Sorry.
However if something last minute comes up and you can’t make the screening, for whatever reason, just write to us before showtime: community@secretmovieclub.com and we’ll offer you complimentary tickets to a future screening, good for 90 days. (Disclaimer: Future screening must have available tickets, cannot be a fundraiser, and must be comparably priced)
HELPFUL SECRET MOVIE CLUB (1917 Bay Street, 2nd Floor, LA, CA 90021) THEATER PARKING TIPS:
We recommend that you park just outside our theater. Remember our theater is actually in a beautiful street art alleyway in the back of the 1917 Bay Street building. You get to our entrance by taking a right on Wilson, then a right behind the building. We are the first set of black steps on the right after the big gate.
There is also a parking lot at the corner of Mateo and Violet Street, just 2 blocks from our theater, which costs $7 per car.
HOW CAN WE STAY ON TOP OF NEWLY ANNOUNCED 35MM SCREENINGS, EVENTS, ETC?
You can follow us on Instagram/Twitter: @secretmovieclub or Facebook: @secretmovieclub35mm
You can also subscribe to our weekly email newsletter at secretmovieclub.com or by writing to us at community@secretmovieclub.com and using the header “SUBSCRIBE ME TO NEWSLETTER”.
HOW CAN I CONTACT YOU IF I HAVE OTHER QUESTIONS/RECOMMENDATIONS:
You can always email us at community@secretmovieclub.com with any other questions, concerns, thoughts, recommendations.