Seijun Suzuki

As powerful and energetic as ever, 78-year old director Seijun Suzuki creates a stunningly lurid, extreme tale of a woman assassin’s (new sensation Makiko Esumi) surreal rise in the criminal underworld. Thirty-three years later, this master of the pulp thriller reworks his own Branded To Kill into a totally new, jaw-dropping experience! The original Branded To Kill (1976, Koroshi No Rakun starring Jo Shishido. Mariko Ogawa, Anne Mari) is the stylish action movie that has been the subject of homage from world-class directors such as John Woo, Quentin Tarantino, and Jim Jarmusch. Its eccentric, eye-popping images and extreme action is fast earning Pistol Opera a worldwide cult following.Read More »

During the 1930s, a teenager yearns for a Catholic girl, whose only desire is to reform his sinful tendencies. Hormones raging, the young man channels his unsatisfied lust into the only outlet available: savage, crazed violence.Read More »

Nikkatsu finally responds to Suzuki’s growing discontentment by giving him a bigger budget and a better script. This episodic collection of “real coast guard action stories” was the perfect vehicle for Koji Wada. Whatever negative press he had received for Tokyo Knights was quickly forgotten.

He became the new “teen star.” And Suzuki: “the director to watch.”Read More »

Four secret agents investigate a series of mysterious fires in a small town in Edo-era Japan. This is an episode of the TV Series “Oedo Sochi-mo,” which follows the same group of secret agents as they solve a variety of mysteries.Read More »

Quote:
The story deals with a trombone player, Ibuki, who’s taking a “working” honeymoon with his wife. While they travel via train to the next gig, his wife disappears. Thinking she left him, Ibuki drowns his sorrow in beer. Depressed, he returns home to find her dead body. The police immediately suspect him, but he escapes and goes into the underground to find the real killer.Read More »

Based on a mystery by Taiwanese-Japanese author Chin Shun-shin. After two elderly men in Yokohama quarrel over a Yang dynasty artifact, one of the men turns up dead with mysterious claw marks across his face. A detective takes up the case, and uncovers secrets dating back to war crimes committed during Japan’s invasion of China in WWII.Read More »

A police detective tries to investigate the mystery of a victim who was shot in the head, but no bullet was found. From the Sunday Horror Series.Read More »

A boxing melodrama. Two friends become boxers and begin training for the championship. The two boys eventually face each other in the ring.Read More »

Synopsis:
It’s 1964 and Seijun Suzuki continues to work harder than any other director doing the rounds. Working from a novel by Aoyama Koji he tells the story of Ogata Kikuji (Kobayashi Akira) – a former Yakuza member, now on the straight and narrow. One year ago he rescued a woman named Oshige (Matsubara Chieko) from the clutches of his Yakuza boss and shortly after they wed; for his insolent behaviour a quiet assassin called Yoshimura (Kawaji Tamio) is sent to take care of Kikuji, who is now living under the roof of reformed gangster and innkeeper Ihei (Takashina Kaku). Meanwhile, Kikuji keeps his relationship with Oshige a secret, even shielding his marriage from Manryu (Kubo Naoko) – who has taken quite a liking to him and wishes to escape her depressing situation, brought on by years of having to put up with unscrupulous men.Read More »