There’s no other way to say this: Branded To Kill (Seijun Suzuki\Kazue Nagatzuka) is the weirdest, most ridiculous movie I have ever seen!
Ostensibly a gangster story, it also shows shards of the spy genre, noir, horror, science fiction and softcore porn. I might’ve added comedy to that list, but it would’ve been purely unintentional. And that’s where rationality ends. From start to finish, nothing about it makes sense. Narratively and structurally, it bounces all over the place. Characters come and go like tourists off a ferry. When they pause for a moment, they behave in the most inexplicable of ways. The best that can be said about the cinematography is that it was shot anamorphically, in black and white. The English subtitles were of no help, though even if I understood Japanese, I’m sure it wouldn’t have made things any clearer.
Naturally, the film has become something of an ironic cult hit among the goatee-and-porkpie hat crowd. And get this – Criterion thought so much of it that they gave it one of their grand DVD releases in 1999. Normally, I consult their library of refined titles for inspiration and new ideas. In this case, I got a master class in what not to do the next time out. Approaching it from an abstract point of view is of no help, either. It just further compounds the confusion.
Yet, there’s something about Branded To Kill that sticks with you…a mood, a feeling, something intangible that keeps needling you long after seeing it. That couldn’t possibly have been part of the filmmakers’ gameplan. Despite the efforts of many talented people to manufacture this element over the years, it cannot be done. It has to come about separately, and of its own accord. As cinematographers, we can only hope to be in that place where lightning strikes…and that it hits upon something worthwhile, not something we’ll be mocked for in years to come.
Once again, this goes to prove that there’s something to admire in everything, no matter how flighty or useless it might seem on the surface. Believe me, Branded To Kill hits those notes as hard as a flying mallet!