Recently getting a Blu-Ray player,I've been wanting to finally dig into some epic box sets. Learning of a director's viewing challenge taking place on ICM, I got set to go back to the early days of Seijun Suzuki.
View on the film:
For a title which was not given any special treatment by the studio, Arrow present an impressive transfer, where spots only appear a handful of times, on a otherwise pristine picture,with the audio remaining clean for the whole journey.
On the fifth title he made being credited under his real name and working with regular cinematographer Kazue Nagatsuka for the third time, directing auteur Seijun Suzuki takes an early surf on the Japanese New Wave (JNW) with his distinctive, hip and quirky ultra-stylisation,listening to the conversations the passengers have before they set off behind the long leg of a woman placed at the centre of the screen.
Getting on the bus with a excellent ensemble cast,Suzuki displays a wonderful early ease of twisting the looming shadows of a Film Noir atmosphere with his unique off-beat comedic asides, rolling the bus down in stark strands of light turning the tension among the passengers to boiling point, and rolling it up with panning shots towards a couple trying to keep their words under breath, not only due to being worried about a trench coat-wearing baddie, but also afraid their partners will catch them red handed having a affair.
Cheekily having a passenger say she is travelling to attend a "New Faces" contest being held by a major studio, (Nikkatsu used New Faces contest to find the next upcoming stars) the screenplay by Goro Tanada,Rokuro Tsukiji & Koichi Saito (who later directed the magnificent The Rendezvous (1972-also reviewed) ticket the shuttle bus takeover by two hard-nose Noir gangsters, with a thrilling Road Movie microcosm of post-war Japanese society.
Igniting a row on the bus from a passenger telling others to stop singing "Red Songs", the writers listen in on sharp JNW- flavoured dialogue and situations, openly dropping Westerns references in exchanges,a baby being held at gunpoint (!) and a bickering old timer telling a younger passenger that he should not be unemployed, due to the man (wrongly) believing the same chances he had still exists on the eight hour ride of terror.
View on the film:
For a title which was not given any special treatment by the studio, Arrow present an impressive transfer, where spots only appear a handful of times, on a otherwise pristine picture,with the audio remaining clean for the whole journey.
On the fifth title he made being credited under his real name and working with regular cinematographer Kazue Nagatsuka for the third time, directing auteur Seijun Suzuki takes an early surf on the Japanese New Wave (JNW) with his distinctive, hip and quirky ultra-stylisation,listening to the conversations the passengers have before they set off behind the long leg of a woman placed at the centre of the screen.
Getting on the bus with a excellent ensemble cast,Suzuki displays a wonderful early ease of twisting the looming shadows of a Film Noir atmosphere with his unique off-beat comedic asides, rolling the bus down in stark strands of light turning the tension among the passengers to boiling point, and rolling it up with panning shots towards a couple trying to keep their words under breath, not only due to being worried about a trench coat-wearing baddie, but also afraid their partners will catch them red handed having a affair.
Cheekily having a passenger say she is travelling to attend a "New Faces" contest being held by a major studio, (Nikkatsu used New Faces contest to find the next upcoming stars) the screenplay by Goro Tanada,Rokuro Tsukiji & Koichi Saito (who later directed the magnificent The Rendezvous (1972-also reviewed) ticket the shuttle bus takeover by two hard-nose Noir gangsters, with a thrilling Road Movie microcosm of post-war Japanese society.
Igniting a row on the bus from a passenger telling others to stop singing "Red Songs", the writers listen in on sharp JNW- flavoured dialogue and situations, openly dropping Westerns references in exchanges,a baby being held at gunpoint (!) and a bickering old timer telling a younger passenger that he should not be unemployed, due to the man (wrongly) believing the same chances he had still exists on the eight hour ride of terror.