Branded to Kill (The Criterion Collection) (1967)

I was inspired to seek out Branded to Kill as it's one of Jim Jarmusch's favorite films, and he's one of my favorite filmmakers. You could say that his interest in Japanese pop culture first came to the fore in Mystery Train, the darkly comic tale of two Japanese tourists on a pilgrimage to the Shrine of Elvis. But it's Ghost Dog: The Way of the Samurai, which mostly clearly takes its inspiration from Seijun Suzuki's bizarre, yet strangely beautiful Branded to Kill. Certainly, the external trappings are different (Suzuki's film is in B&W, it's set in Japan, RZA most definitely did not compose the soundtrack, etc.), but the central characters are cut from the same inscrutable cloth. Arguably, Ghost Dog also takes its inspiration from another non-American noir released in '67--Jean-Pierre Melville's Le Samourai with Alain Delon as, you guessed it, a bird-loving hitman of few words (a film that, in turn, inspired John Woo's The Killer).

Branded to Kill plays like a cross between an American noir from the 1950s (Kiss Me Deadly), a French New Wave post-noir (Breathless, Le Doulos), and a Japanese "art" film (Woman in the Dunes). At first, you think Goro (Jo Shishido) is one odd dude (with his chipmunk cheeks, weird rice obsession, insatiable libido, etc.), but then you meet the women in his life... Both of them, his wife (Mariko Ogawa) and butterfly-obsessed mistress (Mari Annu), are about as strange as it gets (so strange--and downright kinky--that accusations of misogyny would not be completely misplaced).

If you've been looking for something different, you've found it in Branded to Kill. If the plot is as incomprehensible as that of The Big Sleep, it doesn't really matter. It's all about the look and feel of the thing, best exemplified by the set pieces, which can be quite spectacular (and were constructed more out of ingenuity than cash). Recommended as much to fans of Jarmusch and Melville as to fans of Takeshi Kitano, another helmer who's mastered the art of the silent, sympathetic hitman. And you'll never look at a butterfly the same way again--or a bowl of rice, for that matter.

Trivia note: Masatoshi Nagase (Mystery Train, the Suzuki-inspired Most Terrible Time of My Life) also appears in Pistol Opera (2001), Suzuki's sequel to Branded to Kill (released when Nagase was a year old!).

It certainly does take a certain kind of film buff to enjoy this film. Style over substance is the order of the day, and one must be willing to sacrifice a coherent plot line for an excess of style. In this film the way a thing gets done takes precedence over the thing that is done. Don't get me wrongthe basic idea of the story is simple. however the style almost becomes the story and this is something we are not all used to. (You might want to see Kill Bill first and then Tokyo Drifter before this one). I won't go into the plot here because I think it's better if you don't have any expectations before watching this one. The black and white cinematography is superb. The sound is as good as can be expected. The extras are minimal, however it is a criterion release, so it required viewing. The only thing that could have made it better would be if Bela Lugosi were in it....

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"Branded to Kill", Seijun Suzuki's masterpiece but also a film that led to the filmmaker's firing.

While we are graced with films with visual style, humor and coolness by Beat Takeshi, Takashi Miike, Kazuaki Kiriya to name a few... Seijun Suzuki was part of the Nikkatsu company that churned two movies a week and had to work with a low budget, be creative and churn out a film within 25 days. Needless to say, executives didn't understand Suzuki's style, they criticized him, they talked down to him but what they didn't know was that his style was not being rebellious, it was his style.

Perhaps Suzuki's style was too surreal because what Nikkatsu wanted was traditional Japanese films that they were used to making. Seijun Suzuki who created 40 B-movies for the company between 1956 and 1967 was anything but traditional, not necessarily a rebel but he created films that he wanted to make,each film being different and now respected as films that were ahead of its time.

Prior to releasing his final film, "Branded to Kill", for Nikkatsu, they were growing tired by his inability to create traditional films that the executives were used too. But by the end of "Branded to Kill", the executives of the company had enough of Suzuki's style of filmmaking. While he never complained, he was fired from his job. And Suzuki was not a man to let the studio run all over him. In fact, he successfully sued the company for wrongful dismissal but in Japanese business tradition, if you sue an entertainment company, you will be blacklisted (which still goes on today in Japan) and in this case, Suzuki was blacklisted for ten years.

In Japan, because he stood up to the big entertainment company, he became a counterculture icon and his films were shown at midnight screenings to a packed audience.

In America, many cinema fans appreciated Suzuki's work because of its visual, surreal style that was not as common to see in Japanese gangster films.

And while his two better known films, "Tokyo Drifter" and "Branded to Kill" have been released in America on LD and DVD from the Criterion Collection, in Dec. 2011, the Criterion Collection released both of Seijun Suzuki's films "Tokyo Drifter" and "Branded to Kill" on Blu-ray and DVD which features improved video quality plus a new interview with Seijun Suzuki done exclusively by the Criterion Collection in 2011.

VIDEO & AUDIO:

"Branded to Kill" is presented in 2:35:1 aspect ratio, black and white and audio is presented in monaural. It's important to note that with the 2011 release, the release signifies the HD release of "Branded to Kill" on Blu-ray and for those wanting the best picture and audio quality, the Blu-ray is the version to buy.

But many may wonder if they owned the older 1999 DVD release and don't own a Blu-ray player, should they upgrade to the 2011 DVD release? I can tell you right now that the 2011 version takes advantage of newer remastering technology. The contrast is much better, whites and grays are well-contrast while black levels are nice and deep. The picture quality is so much better than the older DVD but if you can, I highly recommend going for the Blu-ray release as you will get more detail and clarity.

According to the Criterion Collection, the new high-definition transfer was created on a Spirit Datacine from a fine-grain master positive. Thousands of instances of dirt, debris, scratches, splices, warps, jitter and flicker were manually removed using MTI's DRS and Pixel Farm's PFClean, while Image System's DVNR was used for small dirt, grain and noise reduction.

As for the monaural soundtrack, the new release was remastered at 24-bit from the original soundtrack print. Clicks, thumps, hiss and hum were manually removed using Pro Tools HD. Crackle was attenuated using AudioCube's integrated workstation.

Audio-wise, dialogue was clear and I detected no problems or crackle. Doing tests of the 1999 DVD release and the 2011 DVD release, there is a slight distinction of clarity in audio but for the most part, the difference is more apparent in the video.

SPECIAL FEATURES:

"Branded to Kill", the 2011 DVD release comes with the following special features:

Seijun Suzuki and Masami Kuzuu (12:10) A 2011 Criterion Collection interview with director Seijun Suzuki and assistant director Masami Kuzuu discussing "Branded to Kill".

Joe Shishido (11:01) An interview with main actor Joe Shishido conducted in July 2011 by the Criterion Collection.

Seijun Suzuki (14:07) An interview with director Seijun Suzuki recorded during a retrospective of his work by the Japan Foundation and the Los Angeles Film Forum at the Nuart Theatere in Los Angeles in March 1997.

Trailer (3:09) The original theatrical trailer for "Tokyo Drifter".

EXTRAS:

20-Page booklet Featuring a new essay titled "Reductio Ad Absurdum: Suzuki Seijun's Branded to Kill" by film critic Tony Rayns.

JUDGMENT CALL:

This is the film that defied Nikkatsu and led to Seijun Suzuki's termination with the studio. But it's also the film that can be considered Seijun Suzuki's greatest masterpiece!

While "Branded to Kill" could have been the typical banal yakuza film and be the "King of the Mountain" type of story of individual assassins try to reach the #1 position in killer rating, that would have made a fine traditional Japanese gangster film. But for those who are familiar with Seijun Suzuki's work, Suzuki is not your traditional filmmaker. Many look at his work as surreal filmmaking, even though Suzuki never thought of it that way. It was just his style, of being creative and not wanting his films to be just like any other film. And in this case, making each film different and doing the best he can no matter how much Nikkatsu would cut from his budget or force him to shoot in black and white as a sort of punishment for not following their rules.

From the opening scene, we are treated with the usual stoic man, full of bravado, suave and cool with his Rayban sunglasses and excellent shooting, but its the characters that literally make things surreal.

From when you are reminded of Goro's fetish with sniffing rice, the film would then become a showcase of kinky sex and surreal violence. Goro Hanada is a killer, an assassin who will take on the best paying assignments and typically succeeds. During his offtime, he can always find his wife fully nude, and whether he's having sex with her in various positions or slapping her around, this is the character that Suzuki focuses on.

What about the other characters such as Misako, the emotionless and beautiful killer who also has a fetish with her poisonous needles as we see her dead birds penetrated with needles or her love for butterflies. Or even No. 1, the #1 ranked assassin who uses psychological tactics to the point where he confronts Goro at his home and even stays with him, including making sure they go to the bathroom a certain way... together.

With intriguing editing, compositions and creative camera angles, Suzuki is able to merge commercial mainstream filmmaking with avant garde style. Making a gangster film artistic and despite the film being a violent film, especially for 1967 audiences, he manages to pull off one hell of a perverse, surreal, violent but yet fantastic film that is unlike other gangster films, especially films coming from Nikkatsu.

I have watched "Branded to Kill" countless times before including Suzuki's film "Tokyo Drifter", as these two films were ahead of its time. If people can respect the David Lynch, Takashi Miike and the Quentin Tarentino style of films today, they will love Seijun Suzuki's films. This is a man who worked for a studio that made things as difficult as possible for him to be successful but because he and his crew were good at adapting to their economic situations, they used creative styles of storytelling, filming, costume and set design in order to achieve success in their mind, even if the studio execs felt Suzuki's films were "incomprehensible".

As for this latest 2011 release on Blu-ray and DVD, personally...the point of this new release is the Blu-ray! Criterion Collection has done a magnificent job of remastering this film in HD but since I'm reviewing the DVD version, I'm confident to say that this film is still worth it (especially if you don't own a Blu-ray player) as the DVD looks great, especially compared to the old Criterion Collection 1999 DVD which lacks the color, detail and clarity. This DVD's picture quality is much better than the original DVD and you get more special features as well!

Overall, "Branded to Kill" is a unique, brilliant masterpiece from Seijun Suzuki and a Criterion Collection release that is highly recommended!

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The term "visionary" gets thrown around alot, but "Branded to Kill" redefines it. This '67 black and white will leave your jaw hanging. Yes, partly in incomprehension, but also in stunned awe. A stylistic tour de force that is still news and way hipper than anything you'll see at the mall multiplex. The coolest classic around.

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I bought this DVD on a whim after doing some background research. Somehow the typical Japaneseyakuza action film cut-up and combined with surrealism and a Noirish sheen appealed to me. I certainly wasn't disappointed. I was Actually, I was amazed at how many levels "Branded to Kill" worked. Its over the top black humor (at time almost slap stick)was delightful. The characters were complex and the plot engaging though deliberately made hard to follow. I've haunted by the complexity of the ending for a few days now. Visually the film is a masterpiece, and heavily debted to the French New Wave. I disagree with the Widescreen Review of the picture and sound quality as the picture looks to be faithful recreation of the original. I think the washed-out contrastless black is quite beautifully done and portrayed.

This film was certainly a big influence on Tarantino and I'm pretty sure it is QT behind the camera on the exclusive interview of Seiuchi Suzuki (a great bonus).

Highly recommended for fans of gangster films, Japanese film-making, noir, and new-wave all rolled into one.

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