After “Carmen from Kawachi” had been one more unsuccessful attempt of production company Nikkatsu to get director Seijun Suzuki in line with the kind of movies they wanted him to make, they decided to reduce his budget even further for his next feature. In the wrong hands, “Tokyo Drifter” probably would have been just another gangster flick which the industry had produced a thousand times, but Suzuki created something truly special, widely regarded as one of his most interesting and visually arresting works. Instead of feeling ´restricted by the lack of financial support, the director relied on his skill of making ends meet and sticking to his creative vision, resulting in a much more abstract work which also fits perfectly in the age of pop culture.
Tokyo Drifter is screening as part of the Seijun Suzuki Centennial presented by Japan Society
In Tokyo, Tetsuya (Tetsuya Watari), nicknamed “Phoenix”, is the...
Tokyo Drifter is screening as part of the Seijun Suzuki Centennial presented by Japan Society
In Tokyo, Tetsuya (Tetsuya Watari), nicknamed “Phoenix”, is the...
- 1/28/2023
- by Rouven Linnarz
- AsianMoviePulse
Leader of the new generation of Nikkatsu directors in the late 1960s, Yasuharu Hasebe came up with a number of mostly realistic films about Yakuza life, of which “Retaliation” is a prominent sample, despite featuring a protagonist from the “old guard”, Akira Kobayashi.
As the story begins, Jiro is just being released from prison. However, his future looks anything but ideal. Before even walking a few meters from the prison door, Hino, another yakuza, takes him to a nearby area and attacks him, seeking revenge for a friend Jiro killed. Hino’s girlfriend stops the fight, but he is not deterred from seeking revenge. Furthermore, as soon as Jiro visits his old boss, he is informed that his gang is practically non-existent, a fact that forces him to approach the powerful Hasama family to ask for a job. Out of respect for his former boss, Hasama offers him a task,...
As the story begins, Jiro is just being released from prison. However, his future looks anything but ideal. Before even walking a few meters from the prison door, Hino, another yakuza, takes him to a nearby area and attacks him, seeking revenge for a friend Jiro killed. Hino’s girlfriend stops the fight, but he is not deterred from seeking revenge. Furthermore, as soon as Jiro visits his old boss, he is informed that his gang is practically non-existent, a fact that forces him to approach the powerful Hasama family to ask for a job. Out of respect for his former boss, Hasama offers him a task,...
- 2/1/2020
- by Panos Kotzathanasis
- AsianMoviePulse
“Why do all you big shots say the same stupid lines?”
Japanese director Seijun Suzuki is perhaps the greatest of all mavericks within the film industry of his country, certainly among the first voices bringing fresh ideas, images and above all a re-definition of the traditional genre the big studios like his employers at Nikkatsu churned out, year after year until the 1960s. Similar perhaps to French director Jean-Luc Godard, a comparison which is often mentioned in reviews or discussions about his body of work, his cinema, like “Branded to Kill” or “Youth of the Beast”, did not reach its audience at the time of its release, but survived over the years and have added to the reputation of Suzuki as an artist who simply grew tired of repeating the same formula because it meant a steady paycheck.
According to authors Frederick Veith and Phil Kaffen, it...
Japanese director Seijun Suzuki is perhaps the greatest of all mavericks within the film industry of his country, certainly among the first voices bringing fresh ideas, images and above all a re-definition of the traditional genre the big studios like his employers at Nikkatsu churned out, year after year until the 1960s. Similar perhaps to French director Jean-Luc Godard, a comparison which is often mentioned in reviews or discussions about his body of work, his cinema, like “Branded to Kill” or “Youth of the Beast”, did not reach its audience at the time of its release, but survived over the years and have added to the reputation of Suzuki as an artist who simply grew tired of repeating the same formula because it meant a steady paycheck.
According to authors Frederick Veith and Phil Kaffen, it...
- 11/14/2018
- by Rouven Linnarz
- AsianMoviePulse
Inflato-faced Jô Shishido is at it again, here in a typically precocious, spoofy crime adventure by Japan’s playful Seijun Suzuki. If the eccentric color scheme doesn’t do the trick, the antic comic relief and wild musical numbers will. Shishido dances the Charleston, and the nightclub rocks with a terrific twist number. The music under Nikkatsu’s logo is more progressive than that in a Hollywood picture of 1963.
Detective Bureau 2-3: Go to Hell Bastards!
Blu-ray
Arrow Video USA
1963 / Color / 2:35 widescreen (Nikkatsuscope) / 89 min. / Kutabare akutô-domo – Tantei jimusho 23 / Street Date July 10, 2018 / 39.95
Starring: Jô Shishido, Tamio Kawaji, Reiko Sassamori, Nobuo Kaneko, Kinzô Shin, Naomi Hoshi,Asao Sano.
Cinematography: Shigeyoshi Mine
Film Editor: Akira Suzuki
Original Music: Harumi Ibe
Written by Iwao Yamazaki from a book by Haruhiko Ôyabu
Produced by Shôzô Ashida
Directed by Seijun Suzuki
One can always count on Seijun Suzuki for something different, and even in...
Detective Bureau 2-3: Go to Hell Bastards!
Blu-ray
Arrow Video USA
1963 / Color / 2:35 widescreen (Nikkatsuscope) / 89 min. / Kutabare akutô-domo – Tantei jimusho 23 / Street Date July 10, 2018 / 39.95
Starring: Jô Shishido, Tamio Kawaji, Reiko Sassamori, Nobuo Kaneko, Kinzô Shin, Naomi Hoshi,Asao Sano.
Cinematography: Shigeyoshi Mine
Film Editor: Akira Suzuki
Original Music: Harumi Ibe
Written by Iwao Yamazaki from a book by Haruhiko Ôyabu
Produced by Shôzô Ashida
Directed by Seijun Suzuki
One can always count on Seijun Suzuki for something different, and even in...
- 7/3/2018
- by Glenn Erickson
- Trailers from Hell
Seijun Suzuki, The Early Years is now available on Blu-ray from Arrow Video
Youths On The Loose And Rebels Without Causes In The Unruly Seishun Eiga Youth Movies Of Japanese Iconoclast Seijun Suzuki
Making their home-video debuts outside Japan, this diverse selection of Nikkatsu youth movies (seishun eiga) charts the evolving style of the B-movie maverick best known for the cult classics Tokyo Drifter (1966) and Branded to Kill (1967).
The Boy Who Came Back (1958) marks the first appearances of Nikkatsu Diamond Guys and regular Suzuki collaborators Akira Kobayashi and Jo Shishido, with Kobayashi cast as the hot-headed hoodlum fresh out of reform school who struggles to make a clean break with his tearaway past.
The Wind-of-Youth Group Crosses the Mountain Pass (1961) is a carnivalesque tale of a young student who hooks up with a down-at-heels travelling circus troupe.
Teenage Yakuza (1962) stars Tamio Kawaji as the high-school vigilante protecting his...
Youths On The Loose And Rebels Without Causes In The Unruly Seishun Eiga Youth Movies Of Japanese Iconoclast Seijun Suzuki
Making their home-video debuts outside Japan, this diverse selection of Nikkatsu youth movies (seishun eiga) charts the evolving style of the B-movie maverick best known for the cult classics Tokyo Drifter (1966) and Branded to Kill (1967).
The Boy Who Came Back (1958) marks the first appearances of Nikkatsu Diamond Guys and regular Suzuki collaborators Akira Kobayashi and Jo Shishido, with Kobayashi cast as the hot-headed hoodlum fresh out of reform school who struggles to make a clean break with his tearaway past.
The Wind-of-Youth Group Crosses the Mountain Pass (1961) is a carnivalesque tale of a young student who hooks up with a down-at-heels travelling circus troupe.
Teenage Yakuza (1962) stars Tamio Kawaji as the high-school vigilante protecting his...
- 2/15/2018
- by Tom Stockman
- WeAreMovieGeeks.com
Review by Roger Carpenter
After laboring for close to a decade as an assistant director for Nikkatsu Studios, Yasuharu Hasebe burst onto the scene as a lead director in 1966 with Black Tight Killers and 1967 with the more subdued but very good Massacre Gun. Retaliation, which starred some of Nikkatsu’s primary actors (called the “Diamond Line”), was an A-list film, in color, and was a return to a more violent yakuza tale than Hasebe’s previous Massacre Gun.
Akira Kobayashi stars as Jiro, a yakuza who has just been released from a long stint in prison. He returns to find his family dismantled, with only his ailing boss and one loyal yakuza member remaining. On top of this, Hino (Jo Shishido), brother of the man Jiro was imprisoned for killing, is tailing him and seeking revenge. Jiro reaches out to another family for help in rebuilding his gang and is...
After laboring for close to a decade as an assistant director for Nikkatsu Studios, Yasuharu Hasebe burst onto the scene as a lead director in 1966 with Black Tight Killers and 1967 with the more subdued but very good Massacre Gun. Retaliation, which starred some of Nikkatsu’s primary actors (called the “Diamond Line”), was an A-list film, in color, and was a return to a more violent yakuza tale than Hasebe’s previous Massacre Gun.
Akira Kobayashi stars as Jiro, a yakuza who has just been released from a long stint in prison. He returns to find his family dismantled, with only his ailing boss and one loyal yakuza member remaining. On top of this, Hino (Jo Shishido), brother of the man Jiro was imprisoned for killing, is tailing him and seeking revenge. Jiro reaches out to another family for help in rebuilding his gang and is...
- 1/8/2018
- by Movie Geeks
- WeAreMovieGeeks.com
Stars: Akira Kobayashi, Jô Shishido, Hideaki Nitani, Tamio Kawachi, Eiji Gô, Tatsuya Fuji, Jirô Okazaki, Meiko Kaji, Shôki Fukae, Ryôji Hayama, Kaku Takashina | Written by Yoshihiro Ishimatsu, Keiji Kubota | Directed by Yasuharu Hasebe
There’s something about Japanese gangster movies, whether it be the Stray Cat Rock films or others like Massacre Gun. These movies are getting Arrow Video Blu-ray releases and as I review them I’m beginning to get a taste for the effortlessly cool style of not only the directors but also the actors, especially Jô Shishido. Retaliation is an excellent example of just why I am getting hooked.
Jiro (Akira Kobayashi) an ex-convict is released onto the streets after being in jail to find his gang all but disbanded with only the aging boss hanging in there on his sick-bed. Still loyal Jiro approaches the Hasama family for assistance. Hasama gives Jiro a job, to settle...
There’s something about Japanese gangster movies, whether it be the Stray Cat Rock films or others like Massacre Gun. These movies are getting Arrow Video Blu-ray releases and as I review them I’m beginning to get a taste for the effortlessly cool style of not only the directors but also the actors, especially Jô Shishido. Retaliation is an excellent example of just why I am getting hooked.
Jiro (Akira Kobayashi) an ex-convict is released onto the streets after being in jail to find his gang all but disbanded with only the aging boss hanging in there on his sick-bed. Still loyal Jiro approaches the Hasama family for assistance. Hasama gives Jiro a job, to settle...
- 5/12/2015
- by Paul Metcalf
- Nerdly
The Twitch curated Tokyo Drifters: 100 Years Of Nikkatsu screening series showcases a classic story of the supernatural at the Tiff Bell Lightbox this Saturday with a rare screening of Kurahara Koreyoshi's The Woman From The Sea.A gorgeous, dreamlike fusion of fantasy, romance and horror from Koreyoshi Kurahara, one of the most accomplished, prolific and diverse directors in the Nikkatsu stable. The Woman from the Sea is set in a small fishing village, where one seagoing family has lost every one of its men to the unforgiving waves. The last surviving male member of the clan is yacht-loving youth Toshio (Tamio Kawachi), who one day meets a beautiful, mysterious young woman adrift on the ocean. He soon becomes infatuated by her, but her rather eccentric...
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[Read the whole post on twitchfilm.com...]...
- 2/20/2013
- Screen Anarchy
Tokyo Drifter Directed by Seijun Suzuki Written by Kouhan Kawauchi Starring Tetsuya Watari, Chieko Matsubara, Tamio Kawaji Seijun Suzuki's Tokyo Drifter is a colourful, energetic blast of 1960's Japanese pop culture wrapped in a complicated, satirical take on the Yakuza gangster film. Packed with wild imagery and some amazing art design, Suzuki's unusual brand of crime film is more Warhol than Kurosawa and a definite treat for genre fans. The plot of Tokyo Drifter seems to be intentionally over-complicated, but let me try my best to summarize. Our hero, Tetsu Hondo, and his boss Kurata have given up the gangster life and gone straight. They're ex-Yakuza with an eye on opening a night club and making legit money. When a rival gang boss, Otsuka, fails to recruit Tetsu into his own club, he sends his men to rub him out. Kurata, a father figure to Tetsu, suggests he leaves town and become a drifter.
- 12/28/2011
- by Jay C.
- FilmJunk
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