Branded to Kill
Branded to Kill | |
---|---|
Directed by | Seijun Suzuki |
Written by | Hachiro Guryu[a] |
Produced by | Kaneo Iwai |
Starring |
|
Cinematography | Kazue Nagatsuka |
Edited by | Mutsuo Tanji |
Music by | Naozumi Yamamoto |
Production company | |
Distributed by | Nikkatsu |
Release date | June 15, 1967 |
Running time | 91 minutes |
Country | Japan |
Language | Japanese |
Budget | ¥20 million |
Branded to Kill (
Branded to Kill was designated by its production company and distributor, Nikkatsu, as a low-budget B movie. Dissatisfied with the original script, the studio called in Suzuki to rewrite and direct the film shortly prior to the start of production. Suzuki came up with many of his ideas for the project the night before or on the set while filming, and welcomed ideas from his colleagues; the screenplay is credited to Hachiro Guryu, a writing collective that consisted of Suzuki and seven other writers, including his frequent collaborators Takeo Kimura and Atsushi Yamatoya. Suzuki gave the film a satirical, anarchic and visually eclectic bent, which the studio had previously warned him away from. The brief turnaround Suzuki was given to make Branded to Kill meant that post-production on the film was completed only a day before its pre-scheduled release on June 15, 1967.
The initial critical and commercial failure of Branded to Kill prompted Nikkatsu to ostensibly fire Suzuki for making "movies that make no sense and no money".
By the 1980s, Branded to Kill had gained a strong international cult following; film critics and enthusiasts now regard it as an absurdist masterpiece.[4] It has been cited as an influence by filmmakers such as Jim Jarmusch, John Woo, Park Chan-wook, Quentin Tarantino and Nicolas Winding Refn, and composer John Zorn.[5] Branded to Kill inspired a loose 1973 Roman Porno remake directed by Yamatoya, Trapped in Lust , and a loose 2001 sequel, Pistol Opera, directed by Suzuki for Nikkatsu. The company has also hosted two major retrospectives spotlighting his career.
Plot
Goro Hanada, the Japanese underworld's third-ranked hitman, and his wife, Mami, fly into
Driving their client towards his destination, Hanada spots an ambush and dispatches several gunmen. Panicking, Kasuga attacks one of the ambushers, Koh, the fourth-ranked hitman, resulting in both of their deaths. Hanada leaves the client to secure Koh's car but hears three gunshots. Rushing back, he finds the client safe, while three additional ambushers have been shot through their foreheads. At another ambush, Hanada kills more gunmen and sets Sakura, the second-ranked hitman, on fire; the client shoots Sakura dead. On his way home, Hanada's car breaks down. Misako, a mysterious woman with a deathwish, gives him a ride. At home, Hanada has rough sex with Mami, fuelled by his fetish for smelling boiling rice.
Yabuhara hires Hanada to kill a customs officer, an ocularist and a jeweller. Hanada snipes the first from behind a billboard's animatronic cigarette lighter, shoots the second through a pipe drain when he leans over a sink, and blasts his way into the third's office, escaping on an advertising balloon. Misako then offers him a near-impossible contract to kill a foreigner. During the job, a butterfly lands on the barrel of his rifle, causing him to miss the target and kill a bystander. Misako tells Hanada that he will lose his rank and be killed. Preparing to leave Japan, he is shot by Mami, who sets fire to their apartment and flees. Hanada escapes, his belt buckle having stopped the bullet.
Reunited, Hanada and Misako alternate between failed attempts by him to seduce her and them to kill each other; she succumbs to his advances when he promises to kill her. Afterwards, Hanada realizes he loves Misako and is unable to kill her. Confused, he wanders the streets and passes out. The next day, he finds Mami at Yabuhara's club. She tries to seduce him, then fakes hysteria and tells him Yabuhara paid her to kill him and that the three men he had killed had stolen from Yabuhara's diamond smuggling operation, and the foreigner was an investigator sent by the supplier. Unmoved, Hanada kills her, gets drunk and waits for Yabuhara to return. Yabuhara arrives already dead with a bullet through his forehead.
Hanada returns to Misako's apartment, where a projected film shows her bound and tortured, and directs him to a breakwater, where he will be killed the following day. Hanada submits to the demand, but kills the assassins instead. The former client arrives, revealing himself to be the legendary Number One Killer. He intends to kill Hanada but, in thanks for his work, allows him a truce. As Hanada holes up in Misako's apartment, Number One taunts him with threatening phone calls and forbids him to leave the apartment. Eventually, Number One moves in with the now-exhausted Hanada under the pretext that he is deciding how to kill him. They set times to eat, sleep and, later, to link arms everywhere they go. Number One suggests they eat out one day, but disappears during the meal.
At the apartment, Hanada finds a note and another film from Number One, stating he will be waiting at a gymnasium with Misako. Hanada arrives at the gym, but Number One does not show. As Hanada prepares to leave, a tape recording explains that Number One exhausts his targets before killing them. Tying a headband across his forehead, Hanada climbs into a boxing ring. Number One appears and shoots him. The headband stops the bullet and Hanada returns fire; Number One manages to shoot him several times before dying. As Hanada triumphantly declares himself the new Number One, Misako enters the gym. Hanada instinctively shoots her dead, again declares himself Number One, then falls out of the ring.[8]
Cast
- Joe Shishido as Goro Hanada, the Number Three Killer: a hitman with a fetish for the smell of boiling rice. He is gainfully employed by the yakuza until a butterfly lands on the barrel of his rifle during a "Devil's job". He misses his target and is marked for death—then descends into a world of alcohol and paranoia. Shishido has been called the face of Suzuki's films, owing in part to their frequent collaborations, this being among the most prominent. After middling success in Nikkatsu melodramas he underwent plastic surgery, enlarging his cheeks several sizes. He returned to tremendous success as a heavy and, soon thereafter, a star.[9]
- Koji Nanbaraas the Number One Killer: the legendary hitman whose existence remains a subject of debate. Incognito, he employs the yakuza to provide bodyguards. Later, he reappears with the intention of killing Hanada, first trapping him in an apartment, then moving in with him, before their final showdown in a public gymnasium.
- Isao Tamagawa as Michihiko Yabuhara: the yakuza boss that hires Hanada and seduces his wife. Upon the discovery that his diamond smuggling operation has been burgled, he employs Hanada to execute the guilty parties then adds him to the list when he flubs the job. His final appearance is with a bullet hole in his head.
- Annu Mari as Misako Nakajo: the femme fatale with a penchant for dead butterflies and birds. She picks Hanada up in her open top convertible when his car breaks down in the rain. Under Yabuhara's direction she enlists him to kill a foreigner. She attempts to kill Hanada but falls in love with him, which instigates her capture and use as bait by Number One. Mari has said she was experiencing suicidal urges at the time she first read the script and the character captivated her. "I loved her name, but it was her first line 'My dream is to die' that had a profound impact on me. It was like lightning."[10]
- Mariko Ogawa as Mami Hanada: Hanada's wife who has a predilection towards walking around the house nude. Shortly after meeting Yabuhara she enters an affair with him. When her husband's career sours she attempts mariticide and flees—to be confronted later at Yabuhara's club. This was Mariko Ogawa's only film appearance.[11]
- mental breakdown.
Production
Suzuki did not use
Themes and style
Like many of its yakuza film contemporaries, Branded to Kill shows the influence of the
Genre conventions are satirized and mocked throughout the film.
The film industry is a subject of satire as well. For example, Japanese censorship often involved masking prohibited sections of the screen. Here Suzuki preemptively masked his own compositions but animated them and incorporated them into the film's design.[6] In the story, after Hanada finds he is unable to kill Misako he wanders the streets in a state of confusion. The screen is obscured by animated images with accompanying sounds associated to her. The effects contributed to the eclectic visual and sound design while signifying his obsessive love. Author Stephen Teo proposed that the antagonistic relationship between Hanada and Number One may have been analogous of Suzuki's relationship with studio president Kyūsaku Hori. He compared Hanada's antagonizers to those who had been pressuring Suzuki to rein in his style over the previous two years. Teo cited Number One's sleeping with his eyes open and urinating where he sits, which the character explains as techniques one must master to become a "top professional."[7]
The film was shot in black and white Nikkatsuscope (synonymous with CinemaScope at a 2.35:1 aspect ratio). Due to the wide frame, moving a character forward did not produce the dynamic effect Suzuki desired. Instead, he relied on spotlighting and chiaroscuro imagery to create excitement and suspense. Conventional framing and film grammar were disregarded in favour of spontaneous inspiration. In editing, Suzuki frequently abandoned continuity, favouring abstract jumps in time and space as he found it made the film more interesting.[2] Critic David Chute suggested that Suzuki's stylistics had intensified—in seeming congruence with the studio's demands that he conform:
You can see the director reusing specific effects and pointedly cranking them up a notch. In Our Blood Will Not Allow It, the two battling brothers had a heart-to-heart in a car that was enveloped, just for the hell of it, in gorgeous blue moiré patterns of drenching rain. This "lost at sea" effect is revived in Branded to Kill but there's no sound at all in this version of the scene, except for the gangsters' hushed voices, echoless, plotting some fresh betrayal in a movie-movie isolation chamber.[28]
Reception
Branded to Kill was released to Japanese theatres on June 15, 1967,
"Suzuki makes incomprehensible films.
Suzuki does not follow the company's orders.
Suzuki's films are unprofitable and it costs 60 million yen to make one.
Suzuki can no longer make films anywhere. He should quit.
Suzuki should open a noodle shop or something instead."
A student
Branded to Kill first reached international audiences in the 1980s, featuring in various film festivals and retrospectives dedicated wholly or partially to Suzuki,[23][35][36] which was followed by home video releases in the late 1990s.[37] It garnered a reputation as one of his most unconventional, revered Nikkatsu films and an international cult classic.[38][39] It has been declared a masterpiece by the likes of film critic Chuck Stephens,[40] writer and musician Chris D.,[12] composer John Zorn[5] and film director Quentin Tarantino.[41] Writer and critic Tony Rayns noted, "Suzuki mocks everything from the clichés of yakuza fiction to the conventions of Japanese censorship in this extraordinary thriller, which rivals Orson Welles' Lady from Shanghai in its harsh eroticism, not to mention its visual fireworks."[6] Modified comparisons to the films of a "gonzo Sam Fuller",[28] or Jean-Luc Godard, assuming one "factor[s] out Godard's politics and self-consciousness",[23][28] are not uncommon.[22] In a 1992 Rolling Stone magazine article, film director Jim Jarmusch affectionately recommended it as, "Probably the strangest and most perverse 'hit man' story in cinema."[42] Jasper Sharp of the Midnight Eye wrote, "It is a bloody marvellous looking film and arguably the pinnacle of the director's strikingly eclectic style."[20]
However, the workings of the plot remain elusive to most. Sharp digressed, "To be honest it isn't the most accessible of films and for those unfamiliar with Suzuki's unorthodox and seemingly disjointed style it will probably take a couple of viewings before the bare bones of the plot begin to emerge."[20] As Zorn has put it, "plot and narrative devices take a back seat to mood, music, and the sensuality of visual images."[5] Japanese film historian Donald Richie thus encapsulated the film, "An inventive and ultimately anarchic take on gangster thrillers. The script flounders midway and Suzuki tries on the bizarre for its own sake."[43] David Chute conceded that in labeling the film incomprehensible, "If you consider the movie soberly, it's hard to deny the bosses had a point."[28] On a conciliatory note, Rayns commented "Maybe the break with Nikkatsu was inevitable; it's hard to see how Suzuki could have gone further in the genre than this."[6]
After another unrelated 10-year hiatus, Suzuki and Nikkatsu reunited for the Style to Kill retrospective, held in April, 2001, at Theatre Shinjuku in Tokyo. It featured 28 films by Suzuki, including Branded to Kill.[4][44] Suzuki appeared at the gala opening with star Annu Mari.[45] Joe Shishido appeared for a talk session at an all-night, four-film screening.[4] An accompanying Branded to Kill visual directory was published.[46] The following year, the Tanomi Company produced a limited edition 1/6 scale "Joe the Ace"[47] action figure based on Shishido's character in the film, complete with a miniature rice cooker.[48] In 2006, Nikkatsu celebrated the 50th anniversary of Suzuki's directorial debut by hosting the Seijun Suzuki 48 Film Challenge retrospective at the 19th Tokyo International Film Festival. It showcased all of his films. He and Mari were again in attendance.[10][49][50]
Legacy
As one of Seijun Suzuki's most influential films, Branded to Kill has been acknowledged as a source of inspiration by such internationally renowned directors as
Associated films
Prior to the release of Branded to Kill, Suzuki and the other members of Hachiro Guryu began developing a
In 1973, Nikkatsu released
Thirty-four years after the original release of Branded to Kill, Suzuki directed
Home video
Branded to Kill was initially made available in Japan by Nikkatsu in
The first North American copy surfaced in the early 1990s at
Criterion released Branded to Kill on
Soundtrack
Branded to Kill | |
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Soundtrack album by Naozumi Yamamoto | |
Released | February 23, 2007 |
Genre | Soundtrack, jazz |
Label | Think |
Forty years after the film's original release, on February 23, 2007, the Japanese record label Think issued the soundtrack on Compact Disc through its Cine Jazz series, which focused on 1960s Nikkatsu action films. The music was culled from Naozumi Yamamoto's score. Atsushi Yamatoya wrote the lyrics for the "Killing Blues" themes. Listings 27 through 29 are bonus karaoke tracks.[81][82]
Track listing
No. | Translation | Japanese title | Romanization |
---|---|---|---|
1. | "Killing Blues (theme song)" | 殺しのブルース (主題歌) | Koroshi no burūsu (shudaika) |
2. | "Scotch and Hardboiled Rice pt1" | スコッチとハードボイルド米pt1 | Sukocchi to hādoboirudo kome pāto wan |
3. | "Scotch and Hardboiled Rice pt2" | スコッチとハードボイルド米pt2 | Sukocchi to hādoboirudo kome pāto tsū |
4. | "A Corpse in the Backseat" | 死体バックシート | Shitai bakkushīto |
5. | "The Hanada Bop" | ハナダ・バップ | Hanada bappu |
6. | "Flame On pt1" | フレーム・オンpt1 | Fureimu on pāto wan |
7. | "Flame On pt2" | フレーム・オンpt2 | Fureimu on pāto tsū |
8. | "Manhater pt1" | 男嫌いpt1 | Otokogirai pāto wan |
9. | "Manhater pt2" | 男嫌いpt2 | Otokogirai pāto tsū |
10. | "Washing the Rice" | 米を研げ | Kome o toge |
11. | "The Devil's Job" | 悪魔の仕事 | Akuma no shigoto |
12. | "Beastly Lovers" | 野獣同士 (けだものどうし) | Kedamono dōshi |
13. | "The Butterfly's Stinger pt1" | 蝶の毒針pt1 | Chō no dokushin pāto wan |
14. | "The Butterfly's Stinger pt2" | 蝶の毒針pt2 | Chō no dokushin pāto tsū |
15. | "Hanada's Barb pt1" | ハナダの針pt1 | Hanada no hari pāto wan |
16. | "Hanada's Barb pt2" | ハナダの針pt2 | Hanada no hari pāto tsū |
17. | "The Goodbye Look" | サヨナラの外観 | Sayonara no gaikan |
18. | "Napoleon Brandy" | ナポレオンのブランデー | Naporeon no burandē |
19. | "Killing Blues (humming vers.)" | 殺しのブルース (humming vers.) | Koroshi no burūsu (hamingu bājon) |
20. | "Breakwater Shootout" | 防波堤の撃合い | Bōhatei no uchiai |
21. | "Killer's Bossa Nova" | 殺し屋のボサノバ | Koroshiya no bosa noba |
22. | "Something's Up" | 何かが起る | Nanika ga koru |
23. | "Beasts Are as Beasts" | 獣は獣のように | Kedamono wa kedamono no yō ni |
24. | "Number One's Cry" | ナンバーワンの叫び | Nanbā Wan no sakebi |
25. | "The Tape Recorder Has the Track of Destiny" | テープレコーダーは運命の轍 | Teipu rekōdā wa unmei no wadachi |
26. | "Killing Blues (ending theme)" (Atsushi Yamatoya) |
殺しのブルース (エンディングテーマ) (大和屋竺) |
Koroshi no burūsu (endingu tēma) (Yamatoya Atsushi) |
27. | "Title (karaoke vers.)" | タイトル (カラオケ vers.) | Taitoru (karaoke bājon) |
28. | "Ending (karaoke vers.)" | エンディング (カラオケ vers.) | Endingu (karaoke bājon) |
29. | "Title (dialogue-free vers.)" | タイトル (セリフなし vers.) | Taitoru (serifu nashi bājon) |
Notes
- ^ Hachiro Guryu (具流八郎, lit. 'Group of Eight') is the collective pen name for Seijun Suzuki, Takeo Kimura, Atsushi Yamatoya, Yōzō Tanaka, Chūsei Sone, Yutaka Okada, Seiichirō Yamaguchi and Yasuaki Hangai.[1]
Citations
- ^ 川勝正幸 (2001). "ピストルオペラ Review" (in Japanese). テレビ東京 Cinema Street. Archived from the original on 2023-03-25. Retrieved 2007-10-24.
具流八郎(鈴木+木村威夫+大和屋竺+田中陽造+曽根+岡田裕+山口清一郎+榛谷泰明)
- ^ a b c d e f Suzuki, Seijun (Interviewee) (1999). Branded to Kill interview (DVD). The Criterion Collection. Archived from the original on 2023-08-03. Retrieved 2009-06-14.
- ^ , p. 4.)
- ^ a b c Schilling, Mark (April 2001). "Journey to the center of the human volcano". The Japan Times. Archived from the original on 2007-12-08. Retrieved 2007-10-05.
- ^ a b c John, Zorn (February 1999). "Branded to Kill". Criterion. Archived from the original on 2023-08-03. Retrieved 2015-11-04.
- ^ ISBN 0-905263-44-8.
- ^ a b Teo, Stephen (July 2000). "Seijun Suzuki: Authority in Minority". Sense of Cinema. Archived from the original on April 3, 2007. Retrieved 2007-04-16.
- ^ ISBN 1-880656-76-0. Archived from the originalon October 17, 2007.
- ^ Sharp, Jasper; Nutz, Stefan (August 2005). "Interview: Jo Shishido and Toshio Masuda". Midnight Eye. Archived from the original on 2007-03-12. Retrieved 2007-04-15.
- ^ a b c d Brown, Don (October 23, 2006). "Suzuki Seijun: Still Killing". Japan Film News. Ryuganji.net. Archived from the original on 2014-11-09. Retrieved 2014-11-09.
- ^ "小川万理子" [Mariko Ogawa]. JMDB. Archived from the original on 7 April 2019. Retrieved 13 January 2013.
- ^ ISBN 1-84511-086-2.[dead link]
- ^ a b Suzuki, Seijun (Interviewee) (1999). Tokyo Drifter interview (DVD). The Criterion Collection. Archived from the original on 2009-06-11. Retrieved 2009-06-14.
- ^ a b c d Ueno, Kohshi. "Suzuki Battles Nikkatsu". The Films of Seijun Suzuki. Cinefiles. p. 8. Archived from the original on 2023-11-20. Retrieved 2007-04-02.
- ^
Hasumi, Shigehiko (January 1991). "Een wereld zonder seizoenen—A World Without Seasons". De woestijn onder de kersenbloesem—The Desert under the Cherry Blossoms. Uitgeverij Uniepers Abcoude. pp. 7–25. ISBN 90-6825-090-6.
- ^ ISBN 4-7700-2995-0. Archived from the originalon November 21, 2008.
- ^ 殺しの烙印 (ころしのらくいん (in Japanese). Nikkatsu. Archived from the original on September 27, 2011. Retrieved 2007-07-01.
- ISBN 1-84511-219-9. Archived from the originalon September 28, 2007.
- ^ Trifonova, Temenuga (March 2006). "Cinematic Cool: Jean-Pierre Melville's Le Samouraï". Senses of Cinema. Archived from the original on January 28, 2007. Retrieved 2007-04-11.
- ^ a b c d Sharp, Jasper (March 2001). "Review: Branded to Kill". Midnight Eye. Archived from the original on 2007-04-03. Retrieved 2007-04-11.
- ^ a b c Brophy, Philip (2000). "Catalogue notes for screenings". A Lust For Violence: Seijun Suzuki. Philip Brophy. Archived from the original on 2007-09-27. Retrieved 2007-09-03.
- ^ a b Blaise, Judd (2008). "Branded to Kill". Movies & TV Dept. The New York Times. Archived from the original on 2008-05-22. Retrieved 2007-04-11.
- ^ a b c Rayns, Tony. "Branded to Kill". Cinefiles. Archived from the original on 2023-11-20. Retrieved 2007-04-03.
- ISBN 0-253-31961-7.
- ^ a b c Taylor, Rumsey (July 2004). "Branded to Kill". notcoming.com. Archived from the original on 2012-10-22. Retrieved 2007-10-01.
- ^ a b Erickson, Glenn (July 2002). "Branded to Kill". DVD Talk. Retrieved 2007-04-05.[permanent dead link]
- ^ a b Gilvear, Kevin (April 2007). "Branded to Kill". DVD Times. Archived from the original on 2007-05-01. Retrieved 2007-05-16.
- ^ a b c d
Chute, David (1994). "Branded to Thrill". Branded to Thrill: The Delirious Cinema of Suzuki Seijun. Institute of Contemporary Arts. pp. 11–17. ISBN 0-905263-44-8.
- ^ 殺しの烙印 (in Japanese). Japanese Movie Database. Archived from the original on 2007-04-21. Retrieved 2007-04-02.
- ^ ISBN 978-0-415-32848-7. Archived from the originalon 2013-02-03.
- ^ Schilling, Mark (September 2003). Ibid, pp. 128–130.
- ISBN 0-905263-44-8.
- ^ a b c Hirasawa, Go (August 2005). "Underground Cinema and the Art Theatre Guild". Midnight Eye. Archived from the original on 2012-05-06. Retrieved 2007-08-23.
- ^ Willemen, Paul. "The Films of Seijun Suzuki". Cinefiles. p. 1. Archived from the original on 2023-11-20. Retrieved 2007-04-02.
- ^ ISBN 0-905263-44-8.
- ISBN 978-1-903254-43-1. Archived from the originalon October 11, 2008.
- .)
- ^ Rosenbaum, Jonathan. "Branded to Kill Capsule". Chicago Reader. Archived from the original on 2007-09-29. Retrieved 2007-04-03.
- ^ Schilling, Mark (June 2001). "Lord, bless this cinematic mess". The Japan Times. Archived from the original on 2007-12-08. Retrieved 2007-10-06.
- ^ Stephens, Chuck. "The Smell of Hard-boiled Rice: PFA screens a few (too few) of Seijun Suzuki's hard-to-catch B-movie powder kegs". Cinefiles. Archived from the original on 2023-11-20. Retrieved 2007-10-04.
- ^ Machiyama, Tomohiro (October 2004). "Tarantino Interview". Japattack. p. 2. Archived from the original on 2012-02-09. Retrieved 2007-04-13.
- ^ Hertzberg, Ludvig. "Innocent Influences, Guilty Pleasures". The Jim Jarmusch Resource Page. Archived from the original on 2007-12-15. Retrieved 2007-04-13.
- ^ Richie, Donald (2005). Ibid, p. 267.
- ^ "Line-up" (in Japanese). Seijun Suzuki Retrospective: Style to Kill. 2001. Archived from the original on 2001-03-11. Retrieved 2007-10-05.
- ^ Casey, Chris (2001). "Mari Annu". Nikkatsu Action Lounge. Archived from the original on 2007-11-26. Retrieved 2007-10-05.
- ISBN 4-939102-21-1.
- ^ "Joe the Ace" (エースのジョー Eisu no Jō) is a popular nickname under which Shishido is known in Japan.
Schilling, Mark (September 2003). Ibid, pp. 128–130. - ^ 『エースのジョー』1/6アクションフィギュア (in Japanese). Tanomi. Archived from the original on September 19, 2007. Retrieved 2007-10-06.
- ^ "Seijyun Suzuki Retrospective". Tokyo International Film Festival. Archived from the original on 2007-07-01. Retrieved 2007-09-30.
- ^ 鈴木清順 48本勝負 (in Japanese). Cinemavera Shinbuya. 2006. Archived from the original on October 8, 2007. Retrieved 2007-10-05.
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- ^ Andrew, Geoff (November 1999). "Jim Jarmusch interviewed by Geoff Andrew (III)". Guardian Unlimited. Archived from the original on 2006-12-12. Retrieved 2007-04-03.
- ^ Wilonsky, Robert (March 2000). "The Way of Jim Jarmusch". Miami New Times. Archived from the original on 2007-09-29. Retrieved 2007-04-03.
- ^ "Indie reservation". Guardian Unlimited. March 2001. Archived from the original on 2023-11-20. Retrieved 2007-04-13.
- ^ Kurei, Hibiki. "Deep Seijun". Real Tokyo. Archived from the original on 2004-10-27. Retrieved 2007-04-03.
- ^ Grady, Pam. "Fulltime Killer DVD Review". Reel.com. Archived from the original on December 11, 2004. Retrieved 2007-04-03.
- ^ Klinger, Gabe (October 2000). "Tiger Tanaka – Interview with Japanese cult director Hiroyuki "Sabu" Tanaka". Senses of Cinema. Archived from the original on August 7, 2007. Retrieved 2007-08-12.
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- ISBN 9780231204378.
- ^ Sharp, Jason (2014). Trapped in Lust, Hachirō Guryū and the Case of the Missing Auteur (booklet). Arrow Films. p. 22. FCD942.
- ^ Sharp, Jason (2014). Trapped in Lust, Hachirō Guryū and the Case of the Missing Auteur (booklet). Arrow Films. p. 23. FCD942.
- ^ Knowles, Harry (March 2001). "A new Seijun Suzuki film in the works! PISTOL OPERA OF DEATH!!!". Ain't It Cool News. Archived from the original on 2007-12-07. Retrieved 2007-10-05.
- ^ Mes, Tom (October 2001). "Review: Pistol Opera". Midnight Eye. Archived from the original on 2007-02-05. Retrieved 2007-03-18.
- ^ Rosenbaum, Jonathan (August 2003). "Review: Pistol Opera". Chicago Reader. Archived from the original on 2007-09-29. Retrieved 2007-04-16.
- ^ Mitchell, Elvis (June 2003). "Assassination Tangos". The Village Voice. Archived from the original on November 7, 2007. Retrieved 2007-04-16.
- amazon.co.jp. Archivedfrom the original on 2007-09-29. Retrieved 2007-06-05.
- ^ "殺しの烙印 [1994 VHS]" (in Japanese). amazon.co.jp. Archived from the original on 2007-09-29. Retrieved 2007-06-05.
- ^ "殺しの烙印 [DVD]" (in Japanese). amazon.co.jp. 26 October 2001. Archived from the original on 2007-09-29. Retrieved 2009-06-22.
- ^ The three films in the Style to Kill DVD series released on October 26, 2001, are Branded to Kill, Tokyo Drifter and Youth of the Beast.
"Style to Kill" (in Japanese). Nikkatsu. Archived from the original on 2009-08-14. Retrieved 2009-06-22. - ^ "鈴木清順監督自選DVD−BOX壱 (DVD)" (in Japanese). Nikkatsu. Archived from the original on February 12, 2008. Retrieved 2009-06-23.
- ^ Chute, David. "Branded to Thrill". Cinefiles. p. 3. Archived from the original on 2023-11-20. Retrieved 2007-04-06.
Two of Suzuki's films, Branded to Kill and Wild Youth (aka Youth of the Beast) are available in a video series devoted to Japanese cinematic exotica, 'Dark of the Sun,' assembled by musician John Zorn for Kim's Video in New York
- ^ Price, Ed (August 1993). "Guts of a Virgin". John Zorn and film. WNUR-FM Jazz Web. Archived from the original on 2007-07-25. Retrieved 2007-04-06.
- ^ Pratt, Doug (June 1998). "Branded to Kill". DVDLaser.com. Archived from the original on 2007-09-27. Retrieved 2007-04-05.
- ISBN 0780020502.
- ^ "The Seijun Suzuki Prepack". Internet Archive. April 2002. Archived from the original on 2002-04-01. Retrieved 2007-04-05.
- ^ Foster, Dave (February 2002). "Branded to Kill". DVD Times. Archived from the original on 2005-04-27. Retrieved 2007-04-05.
- ^ "Branded To Kill". amazon.co.uk. Archived from the original on 2007-07-05. Retrieved 2007-06-05.
- ^ "Branded To Kill". Madman Entertainment. Archived from the original on 2008-08-12. Retrieved 2009-06-26.
- AllRovi. Archived from the originalon January 13, 2012. Retrieved December 23, 2011.
- ^ "Branded to Kill [DVD & Blu-ray] [1967]". amazon.co.uk. Archived from the original on 2023-08-04. Retrieved 2021-06-21.
- ^ 「和製ジャズ・ビートニク映画音楽傑作撰(日活編)」発売 (in Japanese). Jazz Tokyo. March 2007. Archived from the original on April 18, 2008. Retrieved 2009-06-13.
- ^ 「殺しの烙印」オリジナル・サウンドトラック (in Japanese). CD Journal. Archived from the original on 2007-09-30. Retrieved 2007-04-06.
External links
- Branded to Kill at IMDb
- Branded to Kill at AllMovie
- Branded to Kill at Rotten Tomatoes
- Branded to Kill at the Japanese Movie Database (in Japanese)
- Branded to Kill: Reductio Ad Absurdum an essay by Criterion Collection