Disc Reviews

Branded To Kill Review

• 7th Sep 2014

In the early 1960s the Japanese crime film, or Yakuza film fell under the spell of the worldwide phenomenon of the James Bond films, as did many national cinemas. The Japanese crime film though brought in other elements beyond just violence, gadgets, sharp suits; bikini clad girls and modern style (although these were all in place). They had a different set of codes involving honour, pride, chivalry (ninkyo) and a more stylised violence with, like James Bond, a distinct anti-hero. There were many of these kind of films made in the 1960s and none were quirkier or more avant-garde than Seijun Suzuki’s Branded to Kill. What is also noticeable about Branded to Kill is how more violent it was and with more nudity than you would expect to be seen in a western film.

Suzuki is a real curio in cinema history, even in Japan. He worked at the time for Nikkatsu studios who were churning out many of these Yakuza crime films. Suzuki was becoming increasingly bored with the scripts he was receiving and ever since 1963 when he made Youth of the Beast (soon to be released on the Eureka! Masters of Cinema label) his films started to become more bizarre and over the top as he challenged narrative conventions through editing and story twists. Few films did this more so than Branded to Kill. Since 1963 Suzuki had come into conflict with Nikkatsu head and President Kyasaku Hori. Suzuki basically gave Hori the finger with Branded to Kill leading to his dismissal and exile from the Japanese film industry. Released by Arrow Films who often focus on cult cinema there would be fewer better examples than this filmwhich eventually led to Suzuki’s unceremonious sacking has over the years has become considered not only a classic, but the director’s magnum opus.

The film is indeed at times incomprehensible and the editing at best strange. If this were Suzuki’s ambition to create this unsettling Brechtian alienation then mission accomplished. Suzuki also successfully challenges the language of film and breaks normal convention in his play with narrative and time and space through editing and even abrupt sound editing. Of course as this is a crime film there is narrative but it’s like looking at it through a distorted lens.

The story centres on a hit man, Hanada who is considered No. 3 hit man in the organization who works towards becoming No.1. Hanada is played by a regular from Suzuki’s films, the rather bloated looking Jo Shishido. The code of the hitman to survive is lay off the women and drinking. Handa ignores this but is never the less ambitious. He enjoys a rather kinky S&M relationship with his wife and has sexual fetish for the smell of freshly boiled rice. All is well until he meets Misako, a sultry black clad nihilistic woman with a death wish whose one aim is to look forward to death. Hanada is drawn to her which leads to his undoing and spiral downward in which his supposedly then deceased wife and then mistress seem to have contracts on him. He then engages in a cat and mouse pursuit with No. 1 assassin.

Branded to Kill follows a few Japanese conventions which it also tries to break away from, as well as breaking a few taboos with nudity. It is a beautifully framed film with some clinical and modern looking interiors and interesting camera angles. In addition the costumes are rather smart and the action moves along well. Some commentators have mentioned that the idea of a ruthless hitman wanting to become No. 1 assassin is a comment on the ambitions of Japan herself. After the 1964 Tokyo Olympics Japan was fast rising as a world power. It was at that time No. 3 economy behind the USA and Germany and was looking at overtaking Germany, which it did by 1967, with of course USA No. 1 and, therefore, the story is not out of the blue but has an intelligent comparison with global economics. There is no doubting the strange and quirky nature of the film but its style cannot be ignored and should be admired both aesthetically and for its misè-en-scene.

Also included on the disc is a so-called Roman Porno version of Branded to Kill, the 1973 Trapped in Lust, a little seen lesser version of Suzuki’s film with a great deal more sex. Ironic given the sacking of Suzuki, but the film was directed by one of the many writers on Branded to Kill, Yamatoya Atsushi (the myriad of writer’s Suzuki has said contributed to the quirky erratic nature of his film). The colours on this film look dirty and flat compared to the beautiful monochrome photography of the Suzuki original, but the film is never the less interesting to see and compare. Roman Porno (also known as Pink Films) was a genre of films made between 1971 and 1981 in which more nudity and soft porn was permissible in Japanese films and often ran as second or even third features. Other extras include an interview with the 91-year-old Seijun Suzuki and the film’s star, Jo Shishido. Although Branded to Kill is already readily available in the UK on the Yume Pictures label, the clear image of the film and the contextualizing extras make this a worthy release with the usual double-sided cover.

Chris Hick