Branded to Kill

Seijun Suzuki
1967
Second Viewing

I'm pretty sure this was the first Seijun Suzuki picture I ever saw, and while it's by no means my favorite (I think "Gate of Flesh" (1964) would take that prize), It does provide an almost perfect introduction to Suzuki's work. Chipmunk-cheeked action star Jo Shishido is the Yakuza's No. 3 hitman until a botched job turns him into the target. This being a Suzuki film, the hackneyed gangster story is metastasized beyond recognition with deliriously surreal imagery and envelope-pushing camera work. Despite the film's psychological factors, the pulp element remains, with high contrast cinematography, plenty of gunplay and female nudity, and the No. 3 killer's rice-sniffing kink. One of the film's highlights is an extended stalemate between killers 3 and 1, where their mutual skill and mistrust requires them to sleep together handcuffed, and accompany each other to the toilet. The movie nerds out there will notice that Jim Jarmusch referenced the butterfly landing on gun barrel from this one in "Ghost Dog" (1999).