Branded to Kill -TNL Movie Club: Season 2

**Gooch** · 05 Feb 2008, 08:41 PM

Year: 1967
Time: 91 minutes
Director: Seijun Suzuki
Genre: Crime/Gangster film/Thriller

Here's a plot synopsis from allmovie.com:

A delirious fever dream of a film, Seijun Suzuki's Branded to Kill takes the familiar elements of "B"-movie crime drama and transforms them into something outrageously bizarre and unexpectedly poetic. The film's story centers on Hanada, a.k.a. "No. 3 Killer," the third-best hit man in Japanese organized crime. Near the top of his game, his fortunes change when he encounters Misako, a mysterious, death-obsessed woman who brings him a particularly difficult mission. In a famous moment indicative of the film's eccentric sensibility, a butterfly lands on his gun's sight at the exact moment he pulls the trigger, causing him to miss the shot. This failure means that the killer becomes the target, and must run for his life from his former employers, and the mysterious "No. 1 Killer." While the film does contain some spectacular action sequences, the story is played less as a suspense thriller than as a surrealistic, psychosexual nightmare, filled with grotesque imagery and strange touches, from Hanada's fetish for the smell of boiling rice, to Misako's use of a dead bird's corpse as a rear-view mirror decoration. Indeed, the narrative is at times so fragmented that it is often difficult to decipher exactly what is happening; however, the striking black-and-white cinematography and avant-garde editing provide the film with a dream logic all its own. Now considered by many critics a maverick classic comparable to the works of Samuel Fuller or Jean-Luc Godard, the film was less well received at the time of its original release, with its utter strangeness leading to director Suzuki's firing from the Nikkatsu studio and the near destruction of his career.

Branded to Kill is an odd yet stylish film. It's one of Jim Jarmusch's favorites and he's referenced a few scenes in films such as Ghost Dog, this being one example (beginning around the 1:08 mark):

The editing in this film can be a bit wonky and may make the plot a bit difficult to follow upon the first viewing. This is a movie that may require repeat viewings if you can bear with it.

**D_N_G** · 05 Feb 2008, 09:14 PM

Awesome flick! Ive got this and Tokyo Drifter on DVD already and I've been in a Yakuza kick lately (watching the Yakuza Papers quintilogy) , so this will be a great followup to watch. Prob been 5 years since i first saw it.

This was an early criterion release and then it was a dry spell for Suzukis other films for several years. Then they dumped 4 more on us in the past year or so:

Youth of the Beast
Fighting Elegy
Story of a Prostitute
Gate of Flesh

I also have Pistol Opera, but havent had a chance to watch it yet.

Thanks for the pick!

**YellerDog** · 05 Feb 2008, 09:29 PM

Awesome movie, great director. Good pick.

**Scourge** · 07 Feb 2008, 02:26 PM

I caught this American movie called Point Blank (1967) starring Lee Marvin on TCM one night and was amazed how much it reminded me of Suzuki's work, Branded To Kill in particular. Trailer:

Check it out if you can find it.