Asian Female Orientated Revenge Films

Lady Vengeance

This is a very powerful story of revenge from a female perspective and is directed by Park Chan wook (a very dark if extreme thriller director. The main 'heroine' dresses in black, but with bright red eyeliner and this has inspired me when thinking about the dress code for the herione in our film. This juxtaposition of bright make up and dark clothing, makes the heroine look feminine, but deadly.
Similarly the film is interesting with it's non-linear plot, with plenty of flashbacks playing out in the main heroine's mind. This might be something we could look into to make the beginning more interesting, by jumping straight into the plot.

Lady Snowblood



Like Lady Vengeance, in Lady Snowblood the narrative is told through various flashbacks, letting the film slowly unravel. Therefore in the beginning it jumps straight into the action, as we see her dismember a group of supposedly 'bad' samurai. I think this film could be a big inspiration, and know for a fact that Quentin Tarantino was inspired by it when making 'Kill Bill'.
Audition


This is a very dark thriller/horror, where the main female character is not the heroine, but in fact the villain.
Here's a plot summary from imdb.com:
'A lonely Japanese widower whose son is planning to move out of the house soon expresses his sadness to a friend and fellow film producer, who becomes inspired to hold an audition for a non-existent film so that the widower can select a new potential bride from the resulting audition pool. The widower ultimately becomes enamored with and fascinated by one particular young woman...but first impressions can often be horribly wrong....'

The play really plays on the power struggle between men and women, and although the widower is being 'played' by the 'actress' he in fact has had a brief affair with a co-worker, who he has now forgotten about, much to her dismay.

Vigilante Movies

Because my film idea is in essence a vigilante movie, I have researched into some past vigilante revenge thrillers that I could find some inspiration in.

Taxi Driver

Directed by Martin Scorsese, the film looks at one man's disenheartenment with his country after returning from Vietnam. The film is a character study and is driven by Robert Deniro's acting of the role of Travis Bickle as we see him first try to fit in with society and then set out to destroy it. Notable scenes includethe shootout at the end which is extremely realistic. Not only are no effects such as slow motion used to heighten the drama, but unlike most American films, when someone is shot they do not die instantly. This makes the shootout unglorified and gritty. Slow motion is used earlier on in the film when we see Betsy for the first time, and when we see a group of Pimps in the cafe. Both of these reflect Travis's contemplation.

Dead Man's Shoes

This is a really good English revenge thriller by Shane Meadows ( Director of This is England ). It focuses on Richard, a paratrooper returning from the army in order to get revenge on the small time drug dealers who tormented his brother. The fim is played out with a number of black and white flashbacks (like homevideo), while the main plot plays out. The opening is also very arresting. as the credits go up we see 'homevideo's' of the brothers growing up backed by gentle country music. This straight away sides us with Richard and his brother. As well asd this the opening line sets up the mood for the film. This line is:

'God will forgive them. He'll forgive them and allow them into Heaven. I can't live with that.'

This line not only reflects Richard's unstable state of mind, but also the guilt that he allowed his brother to be tormented and was not there for him.

The film is also interesting in the fact we are put in the place of the small time drug dealers. As a result Richard appears as an unstoppable force as he kills his way through the gang, and so appears like a slasher film villain.

The film is really worth seeing and is one of my favourite films.


Deathwish

Deathwish was one of the original vigilante films, and although not very well directed , the film is still inspirational film. This is because it was the original vigilante revenge thriller.

The film focuses on Paul Kersey as we see him struggle after the murder of his wife and rape of his daughter. After the police fail to arrest anyone, Kersey goes out to seek revenge on the gang who wronged him, while taking down numerous street urchins in the process.

Analysing 'Wanted'

I think this was one of the more interesting thrillers from last year as it uses many generic signifiers of the gangster genre. For instance the central protagonist is dressed in a black suit so automatically we assume he is a gangster. The use of greysacle also makes the opening few shots appear darker, like film noir. The setting as well in a bar is a generic haunt of criminals.

The next sequence round the table I think is well shot although I think they got the location and actors wrong. I think the actors look way too young to be accomplished mobsters and so doesn't quite work. If I was directing I would have chosen older actors, between 25-50. I also think they could have got a much better location. The room they are in looks neither seedy nor grand enough to ba a gangsters hangout. As well as this I think this would have been a key opportunity to use shadow. I would have had the light solely on the table, so only the actor's faces are highlighted and so it appears as if they have something to hide.

The next sequence I think is really interesting with the variety of coloured lights, but I still think the opening moves too slow. The soundtrack aswell I do not think reflects the genre of the action taking plce. If I had done it I would have had MUCH more aggressive music, like the opening to Dead or Alive (a very good action thriller)

Overall the opening was extremely well shot and I can learnt alot from it.