Branded to KillRice never smelled so nice! Seijun Suzuki's Branded to Kill is a semi-surreal "yakuza" (Japanese gangster) film about the "Number 3" hitman, Goro Hanada (Joe Shishido), who bungles a job and is marked for death by his erstwhile employer. Goro's life falls into disarray after he crosses paths with a beautiful--if obsessively bleak--young woman named Misako Nakajo (Annu Mari), who gave him the impossible hit in the first place. As Goro's career spirals down the toilet, so does his sanity, leading to a psychological game of cat-and-mouse with the "Number 1" assassin.
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The story goes that after Suzuki delivered Branded to Kill to Nikkatsu (the studio that would publish it), he was fired and blacklisted. Quite the strong reaction; why? Well, the story continues that they were expecting some standard action B-movie, without any depth...the kind of movie that comes and goes, and just puts butts in seats--nothing special. Suzuki had a reputation for rubbing the studio against the grain with his eccentric yet exciting action movies (including the earlier Youth of the Beast, also with Shishido), so his response makes Branded to Kill seem more than a little like a spit in the face of those expectations...and we're all the better for it. Branded to Kill is one of the most unorthodox gangster movies ever made, and yet I feel that it's Western counterpart would be John Boorman's Point Blank. Both were made in the Sixties, and both maintain this kind of surreal, existential angst throughout. These are not action movies that follow formulae; instead, they feel more like a fevered dream. Hanada is...eccentric for a mobster/hitman to say the least. He has an obsessive fetish for sniffing cooking rice. The chipmunk-cheeked Shishido (who--and I'm not kidding--had plastic surgery to make his cheeks even bigger) has said that he felt that it was appropriate for a Japanese hitman to have a fondness for something that was a staple of Japanese cuisine, suggesting that if he were Italian, he "might sniff macaroni". Huh. Well, idiosyncrasies aside, Branded to Kill is a major departure in form from other yakuza movies of the era, if not in plot, then in presentation. Sure, the idea of the hunter becoming the hunted is a mainstay of crime movies, but that all seems incidental to the enjoyment of Branded to Kill. It starts simple enough. The opening enka music is punctuated by soundbites of, presumably, Hanada killing his targets, along with the corresponding gunshots. Unusual, but not truly "surreal". Then, he decides to help out a colleague named Gihei Kasuga (Hiroshi Minami) who has fallen prey to drink, helping him escort a man (Koji Nanbara) who is the target of the "Number 2" (named "Sakura") and "Number 4" ("Ko") hitmen, who are teaming up to snuff him out. Again, pretty standard fare. But on the job, Kasuga loses his cool and leaves Hanada to clean up the mess in spectacular, explosive fashion. After that, things start getting really weird.
The narrative structure starts breaking down after the first act. Hanada spends a lot of time frolicking around (but never in) his bed with his attractive, new wife, Mami (Mariko Ogawa), who has a penchant for running around their home in her birthday suit. (Predictably, Hanada sniffs rice to get into the mood.) Then, Hanada's point of contact for "The Organization", a man by the name of Michihiko Yabuhara (Isao Tamagawa), tasks him to assassinate several men who seemingly have no obvious connection to one another. Hanada goes about his business, including by way of some of the most unorthodox and even hilarious methods. (Yes, he actually unseats the drain pipe at his victim's optometry office to shoot him as he goes to wash his hands. Or how about that bit where he reclines on the weather balloon?!) And for no reason, he is given a lift in the rain by Misako--in a convertible, mind you--and decides to accept an impossible job from her: to assassinate a man she'll be walking alongside for a period of only three seconds. Symbolism comes to the forefront from this point on. A butterfly lands on the barrel of his rifle, somehow weighing enough to cause him to shoot an innocent bystander instead of the intended target. Well, Misako, it turns out, is obsessed with butterflies; her apartment is positively littered with them, and they are all pinned to the walls along with other small birds. After Mami tries to kill Hanada--she's been having an affair with Yabuhara, it turns out--the disgraced killer stumbles his way to Misako's home, where she degrades him and threatens to kill him with poison needles (is this a drug connection?), while he tries to convince her to sleep with him. (?!) And wait, there's more! Dejected and miserable, he turns to drink himself, while seeking out Yabuhara to exact his revenge...only to have that yanked away from him, too. Despite the weirdness, Branded to Kill doesn't ignore its genre roots. It has a spectacular shootout on a pier, with Hanada employing some innovative ways to close the distance to his enemies. But where is this all going? After this elaborate set piece, "Number 1" shows up, and somehow gets Hanada to hole up in an apartment, where he starts going crazy. Number 1 reveals his identity--you probably already guessed who it is--and essentially wears down Hanada's resolve, but in the weirdest ways. For instance, when Number 1 visits Hanada, they discuss not leaving one another's sight, even to go to the bathroom. Number 1 clearly doesn't have any reservations about relieving himself, much to the befuddlement of Hanada (and the audience), living up to his name. The final showdown at the boxing ring is rich with metaphor, but also shows that Hanada is more cagey than he lets on...even if he does lose his focus in the throes of his frenzy. What all of this means is that Branded to Kill is essentially a look into the deteriorating mindset of a professional killer. His confused worldview is manifested with strange jump cuts, odd visual details--like overlays of graphical representations of butterflies and the rain--and other things. What might appear to be merely a directorial flourish or quirkiness instead becomes an abstract depiction of madness--a novel way to explore a gangster film. Bravo to Suzuki-san for bucking the trend, because this oddball masterpiece has gone on to inspire many more filmmakers, giving them permission to break the genre mold and deliver more complex and unique films as a result.
Recommended for: Fans of yakuza movies, but especially for fans who are willing to look past what appears at first blush to be nonsense, yet is in fact a jazzy riff on action movies that says more about the protagonist's inner world than rote exposition could. Branded to Kill is fun, strange, violent, filled with sex and nudity, and requires an open mind to interpret its broader themes. In short, bring the kids!
The narrative structure starts breaking down after the first act. Hanada spends a lot of time frolicking around (but never in) his bed with his attractive, new wife, Mami (Mariko Ogawa), who has a penchant for running around their home in her birthday suit. (Predictably, Hanada sniffs rice to get into the mood.) Then, Hanada's point of contact for "The Organization", a man by the name of Michihiko Yabuhara (Isao Tamagawa), tasks him to assassinate several men who seemingly have no obvious connection to one another. Hanada goes about his business, including by way of some of the most unorthodox and even hilarious methods. (Yes, he actually unseats the drain pipe at his victim's optometry office to shoot him as he goes to wash his hands. Or how about that bit where he reclines on the weather balloon?!) And for no reason, he is given a lift in the rain by Misako--in a convertible, mind you--and decides to accept an impossible job from her: to assassinate a man she'll be walking alongside for a period of only three seconds. Symbolism comes to the forefront from this point on. A butterfly lands on the barrel of his rifle, somehow weighing enough to cause him to shoot an innocent bystander instead of the intended target. Well, Misako, it turns out, is obsessed with butterflies; her apartment is positively littered with them, and they are all pinned to the walls along with other small birds. After Mami tries to kill Hanada--she's been having an affair with Yabuhara, it turns out--the disgraced killer stumbles his way to Misako's home, where she degrades him and threatens to kill him with poison needles (is this a drug connection?), while he tries to convince her to sleep with him. (?!) And wait, there's more! Dejected and miserable, he turns to drink himself, while seeking out Yabuhara to exact his revenge...only to have that yanked away from him, too. Despite the weirdness, Branded to Kill doesn't ignore its genre roots. It has a spectacular shootout on a pier, with Hanada employing some innovative ways to close the distance to his enemies. But where is this all going? After this elaborate set piece, "Number 1" shows up, and somehow gets Hanada to hole up in an apartment, where he starts going crazy. Number 1 reveals his identity--you probably already guessed who it is--and essentially wears down Hanada's resolve, but in the weirdest ways. For instance, when Number 1 visits Hanada, they discuss not leaving one another's sight, even to go to the bathroom. Number 1 clearly doesn't have any reservations about relieving himself, much to the befuddlement of Hanada (and the audience), living up to his name. The final showdown at the boxing ring is rich with metaphor, but also shows that Hanada is more cagey than he lets on...even if he does lose his focus in the throes of his frenzy. What all of this means is that Branded to Kill is essentially a look into the deteriorating mindset of a professional killer. His confused worldview is manifested with strange jump cuts, odd visual details--like overlays of graphical representations of butterflies and the rain--and other things. What might appear to be merely a directorial flourish or quirkiness instead becomes an abstract depiction of madness--a novel way to explore a gangster film. Bravo to Suzuki-san for bucking the trend, because this oddball masterpiece has gone on to inspire many more filmmakers, giving them permission to break the genre mold and deliver more complex and unique films as a result.
Recommended for: Fans of yakuza movies, but especially for fans who are willing to look past what appears at first blush to be nonsense, yet is in fact a jazzy riff on action movies that says more about the protagonist's inner world than rote exposition could. Branded to Kill is fun, strange, violent, filled with sex and nudity, and requires an open mind to interpret its broader themes. In short, bring the kids!