8/10
The fruits of the Japanese new wave are seemingly in endless supply. Branded to Kill is one of the most notorious, as it got director Seijun Suzuki essentially blacklisted from the Nikkatsu studio for being too "out there". It's certainly out there (the best of these films are), totally goofy and cool and weird. Maybe it doesn't hit the heights of my favorite, A Colt is My Passport (also starring chipmunk-cheeked Joe Shoshido) or Tokyo Drifter but it's still pretty excellent.
8.5/10
As part of Japanese film studio Nikkatsu's 100th anniversary celebration, many Nikkatsu films are touring the world as part of festivals. Montreal is getting 15 of those films (5 now and 10 in October) and one of them is arguably the most famous, Tokyo Drifter. It is postively insane and all the stronger for it, a delusion of eye-popping colors and dreamlogic set to a wild, jazzy score. There was more dialogue and less action than I expected but it was still a lot of fun.
8/10
The third movie of my Nikkatsu Noir set from Criterion, and this is more what I had in mind when I bought the set - guns, sex, action, intrigue, double-crosses, the whole nine yards (I Am Waiting and Rusty Knife were both considerably tamer and focused more on the whodunnit/investigative aspect). There's a lot of fun to be had here even though the plot is unnecessarily convoluted...and ever since I read about Nikkatsu films subverting the family values of Ozu films prior, well it hasn't been real hard to figure out who in fact did it in the last two movies. That hasn't decreased the enjoyment of watching em however.
