- Actors: Tetsuya Watari, Chieko Matsubara, Hideaki Nitani, Ryûji Kita, Tsuyoshi Yoshida
- Directors: Seijun Suzuki
- Writers: Kôhan Kawauchi
- Producers: Tetsuro Nakagawa
- Format: Black & White, Colour, DVD-Video, Letterboxed, Subtitled, Widescreen, NTSC
- Language Japanese
- Subtitles: English
- Region: Region 1 (US and Canada DVD formats.)
- Aspect Ratio: 16:9 - 2.35:1
- Number of discs: 1
- Classification: Unrated (US MPAA rating. See details.)
- Studio: Criterion
- DVD Release Date: 23 Feb 1999
- Run Time: 82 minutes
- Average Customer Review: 4.8 out of 5 stars See all reviews (4 customer reviews)
- ASIN: 0780022041
- Amazon Bestsellers Rank: 44,620 in Film & TV (See Top 100 in Film & TV)
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Reviews
Amazon.co.uk Review
In Tokyo Drifter director Seijun Suzuki transforms the yakuza genre into a pop-art James Bond cartoon as directed by Jean-Luc Godard. The near-incomprehensible plot is negligible: hitman "Phoenix" Tetsu (Tetsuya Watari), a cool killer in dark shades who whistles his own theme song, discovers his own mob has betrayed his code of ethics and hits the road like a questing warrior, with not one but two mobs hot on his trail. In a world of shifting loyalties Tetsu is the last honourable man, a character who might have stepped out of a Jean-Pierre Melville film and into the delirious, colour-soaked landscape of this Vincent Minnelli musical-turned-gangster war zone.
The twisting narrative takes Tetsu from deliriously gaudy nightclubs, where killers hide behind every pillar, to the beautiful snowy plains of northern Japan and back again, leaving a trail of corpses in his wake. Suzuki opens the widescreen production in stark, high-contrast black and white with isolated eruptions of colour which finally explode in a screen glowing with oversaturated hues, like a comic book come to life. His extreme stylisation, jarring narrative leaps and wild plot devices combine to create pulp fiction on acid, equal parts gangster parody and post-modern deconstruction. Mere description cannot capture the visceral effect of Suzuki's surreal cinematic fireworks. --Sean Axmaker, Amazon.com
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Customer Reviews
Most Helpful Customer Reviews
4 of 4 people found the following review helpful
Format:DVD
This is a gangster film that has replaced all out toughness with pop trash cool and boy it's as smart as it thinks it is.
The plot and even the continuity makes no sense at times but it does not matter, you are sucked in by the fun and bravado of it's director Suzuki Seijun who puts together a film that oozes with style and cool onto a canvas of inovative lighting, sound and music.
He can be the only director who could get away with putting a Western Saloon brawl in a modern day gangster movie and have the hero, a tough hitman, sing the title song throughout the film as if he was in a pop video. He is that good!!
I also liked the contrast between the old and new Japan with it's alternative scences in city and rural settings, the sound track with the mix of traditional and 60's pop, attitudes of the characters, mix of western and traditional japanese cultures, even a mix of traditional cultural practises where Tetsu breaks a wine glass at the end to symobolise to his boss that they are parting company.
This film has had an influence on modern directors, the most recognisable Queintin Tarantino, Steven Speilberg, John Woo and Ridley Scott.
This and Shogun Assasian was a definate influence for Kill Bill Volume 1, if you liked that film you will love this film.
2 of 2 people found the following review helpful
Format:DVD
This is the only Seijun Suzuki film that I've seen; I think that this will be something I need to remedy sometime.
As noted in other reviews, the influence of this film can be seen in the work of more famous contemporary directors (including his equally talented countryman Takeshi "Beat" Kitano and the likes of Tarantino).
A superb, colourful gangster flick. It's a joyous and explosive mix of genres - you can see the influence of pulpy noir, western and musical in less than an hour and a half. In fairness, the plot isn't particularly high in the filmmakers mind, but I don't particularly care. When something looks this good it doesn't matter (though if you think it will, you may wish to avoid).
One of the directors who I think this reminds me of is Godard. It's probably not quite so (deliberately) reductive as the superb Bande A Part [1964] [DVD] or Breathless [DVD] [1959] but the elevation of style in this movie is a joy to behold. "Style over substance" can sometimes be used pejoratively, but in the case of this (as well as the Godard films) it is the highest of compliments. Film (obviously!) is a visual medium and when done right the foregrounding of style in a film can leave the viewer grinning from ear to ear. This film is one of them.
Fans of 60s cool will love this. A joy.
As noted in other reviews, the influence of this film can be seen in the work of more famous contemporary directors (including his equally talented countryman Takeshi "Beat" Kitano and the likes of Tarantino).
A superb, colourful gangster flick. It's a joyous and explosive mix of genres - you can see the influence of pulpy noir, western and musical in less than an hour and a half. In fairness, the plot isn't particularly high in the filmmakers mind, but I don't particularly care. When something looks this good it doesn't matter (though if you think it will, you may wish to avoid).
One of the directors who I think this reminds me of is Godard. It's probably not quite so (deliberately) reductive as the superb Bande A Part [1964] [DVD] or Breathless [DVD] [1959] but the elevation of style in this movie is a joy to behold. "Style over substance" can sometimes be used pejoratively, but in the case of this (as well as the Godard films) it is the highest of compliments. Film (obviously!) is a visual medium and when done right the foregrounding of style in a film can leave the viewer grinning from ear to ear. This film is one of them.
Fans of 60s cool will love this. A joy.
5 of 7 people found the following review helpful
Format:DVD|Amazon Verified Purchase
Seijun Suzuki's definitive masterpiece, a unique meld of genre movie, stylistic invention and gruelling extremity that infects your life like no 'noir' this side of Poni Black. A hitman movie that transcend its own cool and burns up your screen ecry time you see it-clearly an inspiration for John Woo and takshi Kitano, but way ahead of either. Absolutely unmissable!!
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