review
Branded to Kill
Review By: Matthew Anderson
Cinema: Japanese
Company: Criterion
Running Time: 91 minutes
Region: 1
Rated: R for
violence, nudity, sex and mature situations
SHORT VIEW
Hanada is the number 3 hit man in Japan.
Like everyone else,
he wants to be number 1. Problem is, none of the other killers
know who "Phantom No 1" is or he what looks like. Still, it
doesn't keep them from trying.
During a difficult assignment, Hanada accidentally kills an innocent bystander. With his ranking gone and everyone against him, Hanada decides it's time to leave the country.
When he learns that "Phantom No 1" is now after him, his escape becomes a cat and mouse game, of which there will be only one winner.
THE LONG VIEW
VIDEO: The DVD quality is excellent. The image was incredibly
sharp, and there were no digital errors. Since this movie was in black and white, any worries about color errors are nonexistent.
It is also presented in its original "Nikkatsu" scope, which is
wider than traditional letterboxing. However, it's not anamorphic,
so the black bars are part of the video.
AUDIO: Like the video, the Japanese 1.0 audio is pristine and clean.
While it may not have the range of a 2.0, it still mixed very well.
EDITS: No edits have been made. Everything is untouched.
EXTRAS: An exclusive interview with director Seijun Suzuki, a Joe
Shishido poster gallery and color bars are your extras. That's
right, color bars, so you can adjust your picture for a black and white
movie!
STORY: Hachiro Guryu's script is pretty typical for
gangster flicks; killer screws up, the guild hunts him
down. Thanks to Director Seijun Suzuki, what it lacks in
originality, it more than makes up for with crazy characters, interesting
situations, and lots of action.
ACTING: The incomparable Joe Shishido is the perfect bad ass, hard boiled hit man of days gone by. Its amazing to watch him start off as a hard edged competent killer, then slowly descend into self doubt and terror. Few actors these days could pull this off convincingly.
"Phantom No 1", Koji Nanbara is the perfect villain. His calm demeanor combined with his distinctive voice will send chills up your spine.
FAN SERVICE: There are a couple of sex scenes, and some nudity to add spice to your rice. As this is considered a classic, you will see situations that inspired similar scenes in movies like "Golgo 13" and "Ghost Dog".
THE 2 VIEW
While living in Japan (funny how many reviews start off like this), I
found a book called "Asian Pop Cinema" written by Lee
Server. In this excellent book, there was a chapter dedicated to
film director Seijun Suzuki. Well known for his avant-guard
interpretations of B-movie material, he was eventually fired for making his
then final masterpiece "Koroshi No Rakuin". Reading about
his fascinating history, I knew that I had to take a look and see what all
the hullabaloo was about.
Not having seen a wide variety of Yakuza-Eiga from the 1960's, I can't really tell you what he did to get himself fired. I can say that if Nikkatsu considered this movie "incomprehensible", then their other films must have been boring as hell.
At least he got the last laugh. 30 years later, Nikkatsu finally acknowledged his contribution to Japanese Cinema by created the "Style To Kill" theatrical series, featuring all of his great movies like "Tokyo Drifter" and "Gates of Flesh". I guess his films were not so bad after all.
The reason why the movies of Seijun Suzuki are still remembered to this day is the way he tackled conventional filmmaking. Director Suzuki crams this film with surreal imagery, rapid fire cuts, deliberate lapses in continuity, and bizarre camera angles. He keeps the pace going, only slowing down just enough to catch your breath. He has always stated that his intention was to keep the audience from getting bored. As far as I am concerned, he succeeded.
There
is a lot of style in this movie. Everyone looks great holding a gun,
with plenty of cool "finishing poses" to make John Woo
proud. Most of this movie is shot in the dark, emphasizing the
dangerous world they live in. When "Phantom Number 1"
starts taunting him, Suzuki locks Hanada in an ever shrinking world, using
Koji Nanbara's menacing voice to add to the sense of claustrophobia.
My favorite "style" scene at the beginning of the movie when two rival hitman have one last confrontation. After firing the "kill shot", the killer walks away, and take his coat off, just like someone after a hard day at work. After he takes a few steps, he falls over, and uses his jacket to cover his face, like any good corpse. I have never seen anything like that before or since.
Suzuki also comes up with some very creative action sequences. The most infamous "hit" (which appeared in Jim Jarmush's "Ghost Dog") is when Hanada is assigned to kill an optometrist. With a steely determination, he unscrews a water pipe leading to the doctors office. When the doctor goes to wash his hands, bang goes his head. The influence of this scene and many others can be felt in the films of other directors like Luc Besson and Quentin Taritino.
The acting in this is movie is excellent, and it shows why Joe Shishido was considered one of the best actors of his day. His Hanada is a bad ass mo-fo who has a love for steamed rice and women. You can see the ecstasy in his face as he inhales the steam from his rice cooker before he gets it on with the wife. As his life goes down hill, you can see the stress and strain on his face. Towards the end, he becomes a frantic beast, with plenty of wild eye stares, and sobs of terror.
The rest of the cast is
also a pleasure to watch. Mariko Ogawa is just plain sexy as the
fickle and ambitious Ms. Hanada. Annu Mari's exotic look combined
with her deep voice adds an even greater feeling of creepiness to her
character. Koji Nanbara's presence is incomparable. Like the
terminator, he shows little to no emotion, letting his booming voice let
you know what a bad ass he is.
Like many cult films, "Branded to Kill" was a misunderstood classic, way ahead of it's time. Now, thanks to DVD, people can discover this forgotten classic and see how cool Japanese gangster films got their start.