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Branded to Kill Seijun Suzuki The film that led Seijun Suzuki's studio to fire him. Mocking everything from censorship to gangster films, this twisted vision of Japan's underworld follows Hanada Goro, the mob's "No. 3 Killer," as he loses his grip on his career, women and reality and the "No. 1 Killer" makes Goro the target of a cruel cat-and-mouse game. Through it all, Suzuki thwarts logic and convention with stunning visual tricks and disorienting narrative leaps. With its blues score, brilliant black-and-white cinematography and dark humor, Branded to Kill is a triumph of style and purpose. "Suzuki's masterwork. Terse, deadpan, and terrific" (Kevin Thomas, Los Angeles Times). Japanese with English subtitles. Japan, 1967, 91 mins. DVD $44.95
Seijun Suzuki: The Taisho Trilogy Seijun Suzuki While foreign audiences have been quick to embrace Seijun Suzuki's manic, 60s-era yakuza thrillers, Japanese critics often favor this trilogy of films from the early 1980s and 90s--cerebral, supernatural tales that maintain the unique stylistic palette of works like Tokyo Drifter and Branded to Kill. Zigeunerweisen (1981, 148 mins.) inaugurated the trilogy in playful fashion. The film tells of a Japanese professor whose encounter with a serial killer leads him into the arms of beautiful ghost. Kagero-Za (1981, 139 mins.) is a wildly inventive love story, based on a tale by Kyoka Izumi. The film tells of a playwright in 1926 Tokyo who crosses paths with a luminous apparition. Finally, Yumeji (1991, 128 mins.) reimagines the life of painter-poet Yumeji Takehisa. Kenji Sawada plays the artist as a philandering adventurer trying to escape his demons. 3-DVD set. Letterboxed. Includes Suzuki interview, Suzuki biography and filmography, trailers, art and image galleries, essays, and more. In Japanese with English subtitles. Japan, 1980-1991, 415 mins. DVD $99
Fighting Elegy Seijun Suzuki Rejecting the standards of subject matter, visual style and narrative conventions of the Japanese cinema of the time, Seijun Suzuki turned his exploitation genre assignments into wildly original efforts that still manage to startle with their visceral power. This film follows a group of violent high school kids in the early 1930s as they fill their days with constant fighting and personal conflicts. Also known as Violence Elegy and Elegy for a Quarrel. Made the same year as Suzuki's classic, Tokyo Drifter. The DVD is a Criterion Collection Edition, letterboxed, and includes trailer, new essay by film critic Tony Rayns, new English subtitle translation, and more. In Japanese with English subtitles. Japan, 1966, 93 mins. DVD $44.95
Gate of Flesh Seijun Suzuki A harsh and riveting tale from director Seijun Suzuki, who pushed the boundaries of genre films in Japan with his forceful, visually dynamic features. At the close of World War II, a group of prostitutes ally themselves with a gang of organized criminals in an attempt to break away from their pimp. When their plan falls through, the pimp sets out to take brutal revenge on the women. A typically staggering exercise from a stylistic rebel. The DVD is a letterboxed Criterion Collection Edition and includes video interviews with Seijun Suzuki and art director Takeo Kimura, essay by film critic Chuck Stephens, trailer, stills gallery, and more. Japanese with English subtitles. Japan, 1964, 90 mins. DVD $44.95
Kagero-Za Seijun Suzuki A career highlight for maverick Japanese director Seijun Suzuki, the second entry in his Taisho Trilogy is a radically disjointed, wildly inventive patchwork drama set in 1926 Tokyo. Based on a story by Kyoka Izumi, the film chronicles a playwright's (Yusaku Matsuda) growing obsession with a beautiful enchantress (Eriko Kasuda) who floats through his life like a ghost. As he pursues a romantic connection to the corporeal spirit, the playwright realizes that he is being led to his demise. "Filled with luminous images and fierce eroticism" (London Film Festival). In Japanese with English subtitles. Japan, 1981, 139 mins. DVD $44.95
Kanto Wanderer Seijun Suzuki A young yakuza's ethics and motives are put to the test when he lands in the middle of a violent power struggle between rival gang bosses. As he tries to maintain control, a woman from his past emerges and threatens to destroy his world. Beautifully filmed by the famed yakuza director, Seijun Suzuki. In Japanese with English subtitles. Japan, 1963, 96 mins. DVD $37.95
Princess Raccoon Seijun Suzuki Director Seijun Suzuki mixes a broad range of musical styles, from Kabuki theatre to rock 'n' roll and operetta, in this magical, romantic musical. Tanuki-hime (Zhang Ziyi) is a raccoon spirit princess who falls in love with Amechiyo (Jo Odagiri), a human prince banished from his father's kingdom. In Japanese with English subtitles. Japan, 2005, 125 mins. DVD $44.95
Story of a Prostitute Seijun Suzuki A prostitute and an enlisted soldier fall into an obsessive relationship in a small Manchurian garrison during the Sino-Japanese War. A harrowing tale of brutal and oppressive love, told with vigorous style by director Seijun Suzuki, Japan's great iconoclast of genre films. A remarkable work from a true original. The DVD is a letterboxed Criterion Collection Edition and includes video interviews with Seijun Suzuki, production designer Takeo Kimura, and film critic Tadao Sato, essay by film critic David Chute, trailer, and more. Japanese with English subtitles. Japan, 1965, 96 mins. DVD $44.95
Story of Sorrow and Sadness Seijun Suzuki Following his dismissal from Japan's Nikkatsu Studio in the late 1960's for allegedly making "incomprehensible" films, director Seijun Sukuzi successfully sued the studio, but was blacklisted from the Japanese film industry as a result. The self-financed, Story of Sorrow and Sadness, filmed in 1977, was Suzuki's return to directing after ten years of exile and shows a director still very much in top form. As stylized and idiosyncratic as his earlier works, the film loosely follows the bizarre story of a young woman athlete who is victimized by big business and the media. The DVD is a Region-free edition and will play on US and Canadian players, is letterboxed, and includes traditional Chinese subtitles, a collectible hardbill, and a director's biography and filmography. In Japanese with English subtitles. Japan, 1977, 93 mins. DVD $59
Tattooed Life Seijun Suzuki The permanent symbol of the yakuza life - the tattoo - becomes a mark of shame in this gritty, Japanese gangster flick set in the 1930's. When a hitman is attacked by one of his past target's thugs, his peaceful younger brother comes to the rescue, killing one of the attackers. The two flee to Manchuria, where they must hide their tattoos and take everyday jobs to avoid the police and the mob. In Japanese with English subtitles. Japan, 1965, 90 mins. DVD $37.95
Tokyo Drifter Seijun Suzuki With its visual daring and breathless action, Tokyo Drifter represents the best of Suzuki's outrageously inventive yazuka films. The conventional story--about a gangster who honors the old code long after it has been abandoned by the new mob--spins deliriously out of control. Hunted by mobsters and his own bosses, the pop-idol hero pouts, poses and sings through a mad chase across Japan. Disordered, violent and irreverent, Tokyo Drifter succeeds marvelously as a thriller and a parody. Japanese with English subtitles. "A jaw-dropping, eye-popping fantasia. Astonishes with style even as it hammers home points about the struggle for individualism" (LA Weekly). Japanese with English subtitles. Japan, 1966, 83 mins DVD $44.95
Underworld Beauty Seijun Suzuki An ex-con gangster wastes no time getting back into the business in this yakuza actioner from Seijun Suzuki (Pistol Opera). Upon release from prison, Miyamoto immediately recovers a stash of stolen diamonds he hid before going in, which perks the interest of the local crime boss. In Japanese with English subtitles. Japan, 1958, 87 mins. DVD $37.95
Youth of the Beast Seijun Suzuki After a policeman and a female companion are found dead in a hotel room, a mobster discovers the killings were engineered by the policeman's wife, whose secret life as a top narcotics boss was about to be revealed. A patently stylish blend of visual invention and violence from Japan's groundbreaking genre expert, Seijun Suzuki. Also known as Wild Youth. The DVD is a Criterion Collection Edition, letterboxed, and includes trailer, new essay by film critic Howard Hampton, new English subtitle translation, and more. Japanese with English subtitles. Japan, 1963, 90 mins. DVD $44.95
Yumeji Seijun Suzuki The final installment in Seijun Suzuki's Taisho Trilogy is, like its predecessors, a supremely inventive ghost story. Suzuki reimagines the life of painter and poet Yumeji Takehisa (1884-1934) as an interlocking sequence of decadent, absurdist adventures. Kenji Sawada plays the handsome hero, who woos countless lovers when he's not trying to outrun a bevy of supernatural terrors. With Tomoko Mariya, Masumi Miyazaki, and Tamasaburo Bando. The haunting theme music was later borrowed by Wong Kar-Wai for In the Mood for Love. In Japanese with English subtitles. Japan, 1991, 128 mins. DVD $44.95
Zigeunerweisen Seijun Suzuki The ambitious first entry in Seijun Suzuki's Taisho Trilogy nabbed Best Picture honors at the 1981 Japanese Academy Awards. Set during the run-up to WWII, the cerebral, challenging drama stars Toshiya Fujita as Aochi, a Japanese professor of German, who encounters his long-lost friend Nakasono (Yoshio Harada) while on a seaside holiday. A suspected serial killer, Nakasono leads Aochi into a sinister maze of treachery and deceit in which a mutual obsession with a beautiful geisha (Naoko Otani) morphs into an encounter with the supernatural. "Playful, sensuous and performed and shot with elan" (Time Out Film Guide). In Japanese with English subtitles. Japan, 1980, 148 mins. DVD $44.95