One simple question: What's the weirdest movie you've seen and where did it came from? *E.T.*? Well you're definitely on the amateur level for saying that is the weirdest. *Brazil*? Ok, you have some experience. Japan? Now that's what i'm looking for. Takashi Miike? Yeah, you definitely reached rock bottom if you've seen any of Miike's movies or any Japanese New Wave film, including *Funeral Parade of Roses*, *Woman in the Dunes*. And then there's the bottom of the pit of weird Japanese New Wave movies with a title you haven't heard of but it's Blu-ray cover catches your eyes with it's beautiful pink background and butterflies flying around it. A cheeky man with sunglasses staring at you. The bold colorful title, *BRANDED TO KILL* lays down onto the pit. You pick the Blu-ray up and gently lay the disc onto the player. It plays, and then random stuff happens. No, you're not stoned, you just started off with your first Suzuki film if you have no idea what is even going on with the editing.
Enter Suzuki, Destroyer of Nikkatsu.
Before *Branded To Kill* Nikkatsu was one of the oldest Japanese film companies of all time with directors like Shohei Imamura and Kon Ichikawa working for them with their famous films like *Burmese Harp* and the *Pigs, Pimps, and Prostitutes Trilogy*. Suzuki on the other hand, was a very hated director backed then when all Nikkatsu wanted from him was a low budget bad movie done in 28 days and to get all that money from the box office. And then after *Branded to Kill*, Nikkatsu literally turned into an adult film company that produced many bad low quality movies including an adult film sequel to *Branded to Kill* which was really unneeded for and just tells you how rotten Nikkatsu's mind has become after firing Suzuki and having a court battle with him. They later became bankrupt in the 90s or so. Nobody knows what Nikkatsu was anymore and nobody cares for the revival of Nikkatsu later in the 2000s, producing few films every few years or so. Suzuki had no intention on becoming a film director first off, but he later enjoyed doing it and he inspired many other famous directors including Jim Jarmusch, Nicolas Winding Refn, and none other than Quentin Tarantino himself for *Kill Bill* of course.
Branded To Kill is about a professional assassin who is number 3 on the ranks of assassins, and he must acquire the title of first place but the number one killer is after him. The problem with many of Suzuki's earlier films are that they are simple and very similar to each other with the same themes of yakuza or slice of life teenage drama. The only thing that makes Suzuki separate from all these other B-movie directors is that Suzuki uses a weird editing and visual style to catch it's audiences attention even if the movie is only 90 minutes long. Suzuki never intended to make his films surreal but it always ended up so as he himself claimed during an interview from the *Tokyo Drifter* Blu-Ray by Criterion. His earlier works show the best version of a used tale that's been passed down to many other films and making it the most visually stunning as possible. Branded to Kill is his final message and his big middle finger to Nikkatsu, eventually taking Nikkatsu down into hell but also being blackmailed from all the other major companies for 10 years as of that matter. It is truly saddening we will never be able to see a film like this ever again from him even if his sequel, *Pistol Opera* was released in Japan lasting a small amount of time and wasn't so big considering it was Suzuki's last few years in film before retiring with *Princess Raccoon*, a musical starring Zhang Ziyi.
*Branded to Kill* and *Tokyo Drifter* is truly 2 of Suzuki's best films and his most artistic also. Especially *Tokyo Drifter* being the most influential out of them all.*Branded To Kill* is that sweet apple juice that you drank as a child and pretending to be drunk with it. Enjoying the sweetness of it's taste and at the same time acting as a hard boiled detective who had a violent past, drinking alcohol during a cool December night with a drink at the bar. The film's style is definitely the definition of weird but probably not the weirdest now since Miike exists.
Now if you've seen the film or seen a few scenes of it, I know it's low budget and it didn't age the best and I agree with it but it still is that one piece of candy that sends you into the dimension of film that has been gone for a while, and that's pure entertainment. The film itself is not serious with a hidden meaning behind it and it is simply you like it or not. There doesn't have to be any symbolism put on here, just a bunch of dead butterflies with that gooey substance coming out and a dead bird stabbed through it's neck as a car freshener and you can call that entertainment since nothing in the world of *Branded to Kill* is important at all. It's all wacky and jazzy.
Enter Suzuki, Destroyer of Nikkatsu.
Before *Branded To Kill* Nikkatsu was one of the oldest Japanese film companies of all time with directors like Shohei Imamura and Kon Ichikawa working for them with their famous films like *Burmese Harp* and the *Pigs, Pimps, and Prostitutes Trilogy*. Suzuki on the other hand, was a very hated director backed then when all Nikkatsu wanted from him was a low budget bad movie done in 28 days and to get all that money from the box office. And then after *Branded to Kill*, Nikkatsu literally turned into an adult film company that produced many bad low quality movies including an adult film sequel to *Branded to Kill* which was really unneeded for and just tells you how rotten Nikkatsu's mind has become after firing Suzuki and having a court battle with him. They later became bankrupt in the 90s or so. Nobody knows what Nikkatsu was anymore and nobody cares for the revival of Nikkatsu later in the 2000s, producing few films every few years or so. Suzuki had no intention on becoming a film director first off, but he later enjoyed doing it and he inspired many other famous directors including Jim Jarmusch, Nicolas Winding Refn, and none other than Quentin Tarantino himself for *Kill Bill* of course.
Branded To Kill is about a professional assassin who is number 3 on the ranks of assassins, and he must acquire the title of first place but the number one killer is after him. The problem with many of Suzuki's earlier films are that they are simple and very similar to each other with the same themes of yakuza or slice of life teenage drama. The only thing that makes Suzuki separate from all these other B-movie directors is that Suzuki uses a weird editing and visual style to catch it's audiences attention even if the movie is only 90 minutes long. Suzuki never intended to make his films surreal but it always ended up so as he himself claimed during an interview from the *Tokyo Drifter* Blu-Ray by Criterion. His earlier works show the best version of a used tale that's been passed down to many other films and making it the most visually stunning as possible. Branded to Kill is his final message and his big middle finger to Nikkatsu, eventually taking Nikkatsu down into hell but also being blackmailed from all the other major companies for 10 years as of that matter. It is truly saddening we will never be able to see a film like this ever again from him even if his sequel, *Pistol Opera* was released in Japan lasting a small amount of time and wasn't so big considering it was Suzuki's last few years in film before retiring with *Princess Raccoon*, a musical starring Zhang Ziyi.
*Branded to Kill* and *Tokyo Drifter* is truly 2 of Suzuki's best films and his most artistic also. Especially *Tokyo Drifter* being the most influential out of them all.*Branded To Kill* is that sweet apple juice that you drank as a child and pretending to be drunk with it. Enjoying the sweetness of it's taste and at the same time acting as a hard boiled detective who had a violent past, drinking alcohol during a cool December night with a drink at the bar. The film's style is definitely the definition of weird but probably not the weirdest now since Miike exists.
Now if you've seen the film or seen a few scenes of it, I know it's low budget and it didn't age the best and I agree with it but it still is that one piece of candy that sends you into the dimension of film that has been gone for a while, and that's pure entertainment. The film itself is not serious with a hidden meaning behind it and it is simply you like it or not. There doesn't have to be any symbolism put on here, just a bunch of dead butterflies with that gooey substance coming out and a dead bird stabbed through it's neck as a car freshener and you can call that entertainment since nothing in the world of *Branded to Kill* is important at all. It's all wacky and jazzy.