If you’ve never seen Tokyo Drifter or Branded To Kill, you should make it a point to track both of them down and check them out. You have not ever, nor will you ever again see two Yakuza moves like them. They’re colorful, psychedelic experiments in crime movies and ultimately resulted in Suzuki getting canned from pinku eiga masters, Nikkatsu.
The man is actually still making movies, his last feature, Princess Raccoon, released in 2005, but he’s also 85 and in poor health. Kung Fu Cult Cinema is reporting that he’s back in the saddle with plans to kick out a new feature, A Goldfish of the Flame. There are no plot details available but the official release is due during the Tokyo Project Gathering at the end of October, so hang in there.
September 5, 2008 3:19 pm
I like Tokyo Drifter and Branded to Kill quite a bit. I can’t say the same for Pistol Opera, which I absolutely hated. I’ve been considering watching it again just to see if I’d appreciate it more now than I did several years ago.
Seijun Suzuki has always made whatever he he could get away with making, that’s for sure. I’d be scared to see what he would have done with an unlimited budget.
September 6, 2008 5:46 pm
It was the same thing with Pistol Opera for me. I think Suzuki is at his best when he has to fight against some rules set against him; something that was missing in his work after Nikkatsu.