Japanese cult filmmaker Suzuki Seijun has been accused of producing “movies that make no sense and no money.” It’s just one of the many reasons audiences around the world continue to rediscover him. Streaming giant Stan Australia will highlight a handful of his films from 4 October as part of THE SEIJUN SUZUKI COLLECTION.
The films Stan has selected all come from a period that Suzuki was working with the notorious studio Nikkatsu, purveyor of the finest exploitation films in Japan. The earliest film screening, YOUTH OF THE BEAST (1963), is a boundary-pushing yakuza film that signaled a stylistic leap forward for Japanese films. By contrast, the erotically-driven GATE OF FLESH (1964) has often brutal depictions of sexual culture that will rock modern sensibilities.
Undoubtedly, two of the highlights of the program are TOKYO DRIFTER (1966) and BRANDED TO KILL (1967), where Suzuki threw out the text books and explored an often surreal approach to the crime genre, with spontaneous stylistic inspirations from noir to westerns.
A selection of Seijun’s films are also playing at various locations around Australia as part of the Japanese Film Festival Australia program. “The amazing thing is,” said Margarett Cortez, Program Coordinator the JFF in a recent interview with The Reel Bits, “after watching a Suzuki Seijun film, is that it’s hard to believe that he made these films in the ’60s and in the 50s.”
Three of the films also star Shishido Jo, whose artificially enlarged cheekbones have been described as everything from “ruggedly handsome” and “chipmunk like.” They really do need to be seen to be believed, but despite their initial shock to the system, he really does command the screen as Suzuki’s No. 1 Hitman.
Stan will commence their season from 4 October 2017. JFF’s retrospective season begins 1 October 2017 with BRANDED TO KILL at the Art Gallery NSW and then travelling around the country.
