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Poll

What's your favorite film by Seijun Suzuki?

Underworld Beauty
0 (0%)
Take Aim at the Police Van
0 (0%)
Youth of the Beast
1 (5%)
Detective Bureau 2-3: Go to Hell Bastards
0 (0%)
Kanto Wanderer
0 (0%)
The Flower and the Angry Waves
0 (0%)
Gate of Flesh
0 (0%)
Story of a Prostitute
0 (0%)
Tattooed Life
0 (0%)
Fighting Elegy
1 (5%)
Tokyo Drifter
5 (25%)
Branded to Kill
1 (5%)
A Tale of Sorrow and Sadness
0 (0%)
Zigeunerweisen
1 (5%)
Kagerô-za
0 (0%)
Lupin III: The Gold of Babylon
0 (0%)
Yumeji
0 (0%)
Pistol Opera
0 (0%)
Princess Raccoon
1 (5%)
other (specify)
0 (0%)
haven't seen any
10 (50%)
don't like any
0 (0%)

Total Members Voted: 19

Author Topic: Suzuki, Seijun  (Read 5717 times)

sdedalus

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Re: Director's Best: Seijun Suzuki
« Reply #10 on: October 21, 2010, 01:39:53 PM »
1. Princess Raccoon
2. Tokyo Drifter

He's a nut.  I dig him.
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pixote

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Re: Director's Best: Seijun Suzuki
« Reply #11 on: October 21, 2010, 02:33:03 PM »
Branded to Kill and Yumeji were both interesting if not quite successful (with me).

pixote
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flieger

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Re: Director's Best: Seijun Suzuki
« Reply #12 on: October 21, 2010, 02:37:10 PM »
Branded to Kill and Tokyo Drifter are the only ones I've seen. Love them both.

Bill Thompson

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Re: Director's Best: Seijun Suzuki
« Reply #13 on: October 21, 2010, 03:36:51 PM »

Antares

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Re: Director's Best: Seijun Suzuki
« Reply #14 on: March 08, 2012, 11:39:36 PM »
Tokyo Drifter

Youth of the Beast
Masterpiece (100-91) | Classic (90-80) | Entertaining (79-69) | Mediocre (68-58) | Cinemuck (57-21) | Crap (20-0)

dh374

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Re: Suzuki, Seijun
« Reply #15 on: May 15, 2016, 09:27:22 PM »
Branded to Kill --- 8.5
Tokyo Drifter --- 8
Youth of the Beast --- 7.5
Take Aim at the Police Van --- 7

CAN FILMSPOTTING PLEASE DO A SEIJUN SUZUKI MARATHON???

DarkeningHumour

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Re: Suzuki, Seijun
« Reply #16 on: May 15, 2016, 09:32:13 PM »
Hi other dh.

If you're serious in your question, I suggest sending them an email. They almost always answer them.
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dh374

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Re: Suzuki, Seijun
« Reply #17 on: March 21, 2017, 05:13:16 PM »
I'm very serious. These guys would love Seijun, imo.

1SO

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Re: Suzuki, Seijun
« Reply #18 on: April 11, 2019, 12:12:08 AM »
1. Youth of the Beast
2. Tokyo Drifter
3. Take Aim at the Police Van

4. Branded to Kill
5. Gate of Flesh
6. Fighting Elegy

7. Pistol Opera
8. Zigeunerweisen
« Last Edit: April 18, 2019, 12:43:54 AM by 1SO »

1SO

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Re: Suzuki, Seijun
« Reply #19 on: April 18, 2019, 10:03:35 AM »
Take Aim at the Police Van (1960)
★ ★ ★ – Okay
Suzuki is known for a brash pop art style. This is more of a typical Noir, with deep blacks and a murder investigation that leads down to the underbelly of the city. While his style hadn’t developed, his narrative confusion is already here. It all mostly makes sense, but I probably could’ve benefitted from a notepad.


Youth of the Beast (1963)
★ ★ ★ – Good
I don’t usually recommend films that are difficult to follow, but Suzuki has a sensationalist style and this is well worth watching for those moments when he throws cinematic paint on the walls. It’s not incomprehensible, just difficult to keep everyone straight and care about a few of them along the way. I imagine repeat viewings would help and you’d want to go back for those delicious visual moments.


Gate of Flesh (1964)
★ ★ ½
Suzuki’s style doesn’t mesh with this portrayal of post-war prostitution, because there’s a grounding of reality to the subject matter. Some good moments, but a lot of it comes off like 70s style sexploitation.


Tokyo Drifter (1966)
★ ★ ★ – Okay
So glad to be watching these together because the difference between Youth of the Beast and this is like a distinct filmmaker before and after digital effects. With Beast, Suzuki finds places to put a personal spin on the script. Here, it’s a completely artificial construct, with no roots in reality. While that makes for more Suzukiness and eye-candy design, I care less about the characters and story. They used to float along on the style, but here they nearly drown in it. Still worth watching for the constant visual inspiration, but I miss limits being imposed on Suzuki’s creativity.

Fighting Elegy (1966)
★ ★
Very different from the two films it falls between, closer to the particular oddness of its writer Kaneto Shindō (Onibaba). Teenage lust redirected into beating people up channeled into angry imperialism. Would probably benefit from a 2nd viewing (perhaps with commentary to better explain the subtext). What’s left are a handful of unusual directing choices, and one beautifully moving image to sum up the love story.


Branded to Kill (1967)
★ ★ ½
Suzuki’s experimental style has been reminding me of the French New Wave. On those grounds, this one is the full Godard. We’ve now left reality completely and entered a world where assassins can be ranked, everyone knows the ranking and a person’s ranking is as important as a sports record. Behavior often walks the line of cool while being bizarrely funny. For example, two killers are in a standoff that goes on for hours, and one shows his skill by sleeping with his eyes open and when he has to use the bathroom, he just casually pees down his leg, acting like it’s no bother. Suzuki at his most extreme, a bit too far for my tastes.


Pistol Opera (2001)
★ ½
I had to find out why the long absence of notable work, only 8 films in the 34 years between Branded and this, including a dramatic trilogy acclaimed in Japan. (Short answer: contract dispute because he was ahead of his time.) This was meant as a return to his old ways, even re-using the ranked assassins of Branded to Kill. The style however is full-on Ken Russell, desperation as Suzuki is determined to do anything strange for the sake of it. One of his simplest plots and there’s an occasional eye-popping image, but the overall visual strategy is so disjointed it's off-putting.