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Figured we should have a pimp thread, just like the music forum. There've been films mentioned in other threads recently that would probably generate only a few responses in thread of their own, so I thought a composite thread would be good...
I'll kick it off with Seijun Suzuki and his films Branded To Kill and Tokyo Drifter. Branded was just mentioned in the Panic Room thread, so it's a good place to start.
My comments on Branded TO Kill, blogged yesterday:
The film is split into two halves, the first of which deals with the career of Hanada, ranked as the No. 3 contract killer. He's played by Shishedo Joe, an actor who underwent surgery to implant collagen into his cheeks, resulting in a strangely chipmunk-like appearance. Hanada is supposed to be quintessentially Japanese, and to that effect he's reticent, loves the smell of rice above all others and displays an ocasionally violent disregard for his wife when not in bed with her. Not a good Japanese stereotype, but if nothing else, he's the perfect template of the Japanese gangster hero. He's efficient and without sympathy for the partner he has on one job - a guy who's lost his nerve and taken booze as a replacement. The second half of the film details an extended duel between Hanada and the unnamed No. 1 killer. A large portion of the duel plays like John Woo doing a Hal Hartley picture, which is disconcerting and more than a little entertaining. Woo's action films owe a lot to Branded To Kill and to Suzuki in general, based upon the other two Suzuki films I've seen. A number of sequnces will be familliar to fans of Woo's big Hong Kong pictures, and another scene from Branded To Kill was lifted by Jim Jarmusch for Ghost Dog.
Suzuki's picture is one of the more free-form narratives I've come across. It swings between reality and hallucination with few guides to the viewer; fans of Daivd Lynch will probably be on stronger legs here than most. Use of the frame is stunning - he cuts it up, layers drawn textures next to photography and has a very finely tuned sense of composition; very often a frame will be composed of jaggedly geometric negative space, with Hanada lost somewhere inside. Rain and butterflyies are liberally used as motifs/signifiers, and the film is very willing to indulge in a visual at the expense of narrative cohesion. There's really no better way to explain it without giving away a lot of the pleasure that lies in letting the film unfold. Be prepared to not know exactly what's going on, and don't worry too much about it. The impression is more important than the plot.
Tokyo Drifter is a simlar film, but in strikingly vibrant color and strucutred around a central theme song, which recurs frequently. It is similarly in thrall to image, but the overall effect is captivating, especially when the setting moves to a snowy villiage locale. And the nightclub scenes...
As for availability, Criterion has Branded To Kill and Tokyo Drifter available. There's a few quibbles about proper letterboxing on these, but they're perfectly good-looking discs, and the best you're likely to find. Region-free, thankfully.
A few years ago in the states, four others were released on video:
Gate of Flesh (1964) - (now out on DVD in the UK)
Youth of the Beast/Wild Youth (1963)
Story of a Prostitute (1965)
Fighting Elegy/Elegy to Violence (1966)
Home Vision Cinema released them, but I don't know if they're still in print as HVC seems currently limited to providing VHS equivalents to Criterion's discs. I saw most of Fighting Elegy and it was ridiculous and entertaining, like the gangster pictures. Worth tracking down. |
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