45. Caliber Samurai - The Cinema of Seijun Suzuki

ARTICLE - Underated Suzuki: Ten Lesser Known Works

2012-02-04T20:03:00.000-08:00

The great folks over at Mubi.com posted an article listing some of Seijun Suzuki's lesser known films, ten in fact. It's a pretty good, but predictable, list except for the welcome shout out to the criminally unseen Heat Haze Theater. Check out the article here.

PICS - A VERY SUZUKI CHRISTMAS

2012-02-01T19:32:00.000-08:00

I couldn't help but post this lovely little Christmas gem showing a very happy gentleman showing off his mint in the box Tokyo Drifter Blu-ray on Christmas morning. Will must have been a very good boy this year indeed. Congrats!

VIDEO - BLUE SCHOLAR'S "SEIJUN SUZUKI" MUSIC VIDEO

2012-02-01T19:16:00.000-08:00

The duo known as the Blue Scholars has released the music video for their rap single "Seijun Suzuki". Check out the Tokyo Drifter bookends and the surreal image of a gangster eating fried chicken off the tip of a samurai sword. Yep I typed that sentence.

NEWS - "Drive" director Nicolas Winding Refn digs Suzuki

2011-10-25T13:07:00.000-07:00

As a part of the Criterion Collections ongoing Top Ten series, Danish director Nicolas Winding Refn cites Tokyo Drifter as his number one favorite Critertion release. Sitting at the bottom at number ten is Branded to Kill. Nicolas has created a very tasty Suzuki sandwich with some lovely meaty choices in the middle.

Check out his entire Top 10 here

ARTICLE - EVERYTHING GOES WRONG Review

2011-10-05T15:49:00.000-07:00

Over at TCM's fantastic Movie Morlocks page you'll find an indepth review of Seijun Suzuki HULU Plus exclusive film Everything Goes Wrong. Author Kimberly Lindbergs gifts us a number of crisp screen captures and a great plot breakdown. Like I mentioned, this is a Criterion Collection "online-only" release for HULU Plus subscribers only. Lucky for us Kim details how you can see it for free by signing up for a temporary “Plus” account with Hulu.com. So what excuse do you have now...zip...zilch...zero. Check out the article here.

NEWS - Branded to Kill + Toyko Drifter Blurays from Criterion in December

2011-09-19T13:32:00.000-07:00

Branded to Kill (Bluray)

Tokyo Drifter (Bluray)

Christmas has come early! The Criterion Collection has just announced that both Branded to Kill and Tokyo Drifter are coming to Bluray on December 13. Along with the eagerly awaited new HD transfers of the films, the discs will include new interviews and essay booklets. Check out our online Amazon store to get your preorders in now, and stay tuned for any updates as they come down the pipeline.

NEWS - "Everything Goes Wrong" now streaming on Hulu Plus!!!

2011-08-21T14:32:00.000-07:00

Thanks to Hulu Plus and the Criterion Collection, Seijun Suzuki's 1960 film Everything Goes Wrong is now available to watch online. This marks the first time the film has been released in North America. This film and the entire Criterion collection are now available online exclusively to Hulu Plus subscribers.

Criterion has stated it will continue to release more films in it's catalog exclusively through the streaming service only, making Hulu the only spot available to watch them. If your not yet a subscriber to Hulu Plus, check out a free preview of this Suzuki rarity.

EBAY - Rare and odd Suzuki directed Karate videos

2011-08-19T16:05:00.000-07:00

It appears that hidden deep within the filmography of Seijun Suzuki is a long lost instructional karate video featuring the late great master Tetsuhiko Asai. I'm guessing this odd rarity was produced in the mid to late 70's during Suzuki blacklisted period and till now hasn't appeared on any list of Suzuki's works. These VHS videos are currently up for sale on eBay for the insane price of six hundered dollars! I'd like to believe these videos are forgotten trippy masterpieces of nonlinear story telling featuring Tetsuhiko Asai as the reincarnated spirit of a sadomasochistic karate fighting hitman out for revenge with nothing but a his fists, his privites and a theme song that he must always whistle when entering a room. But, they're probably just boring karate instructional videos. A man can dream.

NEWS - New HD Remasted Edition of Branded to Kill on the way!

2011-08-03T13:35:00.000-07:00

In celibration of the 100th anniversary of Nikkatsu Studios, they're releasing a series of dvds called Great 20 Movie Classics. Lucky for us, release Number 8 is the classic story of everyone's favorite Number 3 hitman, Branded to Kill. According to retailer cdJapan, October 4th, 2011 will see the release of a new HD remastered dvd of Seijun Suzuki's Branded to Kill. Few details are available, except that it will put you back twenty three bucks (plus shipping) and that it is Region 2.

We'll be watching for any new details as the release date looms closer.

NEWS - Seijun Suzuki marries woman 48 years his junior

2011-06-28T14:13:00.000-07:00

Filmmaker Seijun Suzuki has announced that he has married a woman 48 years younger than himself.

The 88-year-old movie director said he and the 40-year-old woman registered their marriage about seven years ago after initially becoming acquainted when the woman, who was a fan of his, asked for his autograph.

In an interview, Suzuki said: "This is a private matter so I do not want to reveal too much." This public announcement marks the largest age difference between a celebrity couple.

An official source close to the couple said: "He lives a very dangerous man, to marry and take care of his wife is a good thing, bless all the people around them." Over the last years Suzuki has been confined to a wheelchair, he was suffering from emphysema, and has also been seen using a portable oxygen pump, yet insiders reveal that the presence of his wife is a great encouragement.

NEWS - Happy 88th Birthday Seijun Suzuki

2011-05-24T09:41:00.000-07:00

Born Seitaro Suzuki, on May 24, 1923, Seijun Suzuki is very much still alive and well at the ripe old age of eighty-eight today. Even though Suzuki has all but retired from the business of movie making, due to his deteriorating health, he did attend the 2008 Tokyo Project Gathering, looking for funding for a future film project titled A Goldfish of the Flame. Hopefully he'll grace us with a new film in the coming year, but until then, I speak for all fans when I wish Suzuki-san the best of health and a happy birthday.

VIDEO - Seijun Suzuki Music Videos

2011-05-19T15:18:00.000-07:00

I don't normaly like music videos made from movie clips, but the people over at The Fantastic Ordinary frankensteined togther Seijun Suzuki's 1977 film Story of Grief and Sorrow with a moody tune from Agoria – Heart Beating (Featuring Kid A) into a transfixing piece of art unto itself.

I personally think this video is better then the movie itself. You should also check out their other Suzuki music video which stitches together Braned to Kill and a remix of Feist.

Suzuki's images really lend themselves for use in music videos, I just wish more people would reappropiate these classic shots in original material like Jim Jarmush did in Ghost Dog.

ARTICLE - Edinburgh Film Festival Program (1988)

2011-05-17T13:16:00.000-07:00

Induldge in a wealth of selections from Paul Willeman’s 1988 anthology of pieces about Suzuki, with scattered references to Branded to Kill. These articles were used in the program notes for the 1988 Edinburgh Film Festival's Suzuki Seijun film series. Check here for the complete article pages.

NEWS - Nikkatsu plans world tour to celebrate 100th anniversary

2011-05-16T12:51:00.001-07:00

Seijun Suzuki's namesake studio, Nikkatsu, is turning 100 in 2012, and to celebrate they're are planning a world tour of some of its iconic films.

The tour will kick off this October at the Lincoln Center in New York City, before moving to France’s Nantes Festival des 3 Continents (Nov 22-29) and Paris’ Cinematheque Francaise in December. It will then roll on to other cities in the US, Europe and Asia before culminating in Tokyo early next year.

Highlights of the tour include a digitally restored version of Tricksters: The Last Days Of The Samurai Era, directed by Yuzo Kawashima in 1957. It would be surpirsing if Nikkatsu didn't include at least one of Suzuki's films, but as of now no offical list of films has been announced. Check here for the whole story.

NEWS - Pale Flower on Criterion Bluray and DVD May17th

2011-05-13T13:24:00.000-07:00

Among the many Japanese New Wave yakuza films of the swinging sixties, Pale Flower most compliments the style and tone of Seijun Suzuki. The people over at DVD Beaver have a great review of the Criterion Collection's new Bluray release of this Masahiro Shinoda classic Any fan of Suzuki's work will love this stylistic pitch-black crime powder keg. Show Criterion your support by picking this baby up over at Suzuki Swag store, and just maybe they'll find it in thier hearts to mint some Suzuki films on Bluray in the future.

ARTICLE - The article that started 45. Cailber Samurai

2011-01-10T16:06:00.000-08:00

I started the original 45. Caliber Samurai while at college in 1999 as part of a film studies class. Our assignment was to create and publish a website based on a film director. Simple enough, yet it seemed pointless to erect yet another internet shrine to the likes of Tarentino, Kurbick or Lynch. No, I wanted to create a site for a director that had absolutely no presence on the internet at all. Thus, while combing thru the pages of the latest issue of Art Forum magazine I saw it, the striking black and white photo of a grinning Japanese gangster with chipmunk-like cheeks holding a gun pointed right between my eyes. (see photo right)

The gangster was Jo Shishido, the movie was Branded to Kill, and the article that accompanied it was about savant director Seijun Suzuki. Its title was Four Play and it was, along with Criterion's recent DVD releases, the only major English language source material about Seijun Suzuki published in the USA to that date. How can you not be intrigued after reading this introduction...

"Urine picturesquely running down a hit man's socks into his wing-tip shoes, a systematic pillow girl servicing an army battalion on the Manchurian frontier, a cold-blooded killer getting aroused sniffing at a pot of rice, a frustrated student pounding a piano’s keys with his erect penis."

Needless to say, I was hooked. At once, I knew my director of choice and thus began my obsession with everything Seijun Suzuki. So now dear reader I give you the article that inspired this site, from the pages of Art Forum, April 1999, Four Play by Howard Hampton.

UPDATE - Suzuki Swag store updated!

2010-12-26T14:15:00.000-08:00

We've just updated our merchandise page with new sections on Japanese cinema books and the acting career of our man Suzuki. You can now also purchase Region 2 / PAL DVDs through our Amazon american store. Go buy yourself something nice with all that Christmas money grandma sent you.

VIDEO - Branded to Kill stage play Butterfly, Butterfly, Kill Kill Kill! online

2010-12-21T12:39:00.000-08:00

Remember that stage adaptation of Branked to Kill, Butterfly, Butterfly, Kill Kill Kill!, we told you about a few months ago? Well if you weren't lucky enough to see it live we have the abridged play online for you to watch right NOW! Even abridged, this is still a great treat to watch for any fan of Suzuki's twisted masterpiece. Check out the whole shabang below!

NEWS - "Killer No. 3" Joe Shishido turns 77

2010-12-06T15:20:00.000-08:00

A very happy birthday to "the dirty joker," Ace Shishido! The star of serveral of Suzuki's best films, including Branded to Kill, is still acting (even with the removal of his signiture cheek inplants). Find out more about this action star, cookbook author and all around good guy in this interview on The Criterion Collection Blog.

NEWS - Is Criterion rereleasing Branded to Kill?

2010-11-15T12:57:00.000-08:00

While hacking away at my lengthy Netflix instant watch queue this weekend I decided to re-watch Branded to Kill. To my surprise I found that Criterion has taken the effort to remaster the film for the first time in it's original anamorphic widescreen. Other noticable differences from Criterion's subpar dvd release include the inclusion of the company's new C logo and improved subtitling font. I have not yet noticed if Criterion went to the trouble of retranslating the subtitles, which like the picture quality of the original dvd release where shabby first generation Criterion laser disc rips.

So does this mean a Criterion rerelease is in the works? Many of Criterion's Netflix instant watch selections have not been given this treatment which leads me to believe that they have future plans for both Branded to Kill and Tokyo Drifter. Both film's images have been given a subtle but noticeable upgrade, and even with the restrictions of streaming, look superior to their dvd brethren. We'll be contacting Criterion for more details, but it looks like hope is not dead for those wishing for a Criterion-sized remastering of two of Suzuki's best films.

ARTICLE - The Fall and Rise of Seijun Suzuki

2010-11-08T20:24:00.000-08:00

Chris MaGee over at the The Toronto J-Film Pow-Wow blog has just posted a two part series on the career of Seijun Suzuki. Chris has done a great job at condensing the many ups and downs of Suzuki's fifty plus filmography into a great little read along with some nice behind the scenes photos. Stop by, give it a read and remember to drop him a kind word in the comments if you digged as much as I did.

The Fall and Rise of Seijun Suzuki: Part 1
The Fall and Rise of Seijun Suzuki: Part 2

UPDATE - New Features in Filmography Page

2010-10-14T14:30:00.000-07:00

Now you can access links to posters, trailers and dvds for many of the films directly on our Filmography page using the links under their synopsis. It's now easier then ever to overload on all your favorite Suzuki films. As always, if you know or have any Suzuki related media shoot us an email and we'll add it to the site.

MUSIC - Punk cover of the Tokyo Drifter Theme

2010-10-07T09:20:00.000-07:00

Check out this rocking live cover of Tokyo Nagaremono, the them to Tokyo Drifter, by the Japanese Academic Punks w/TOKYO BIG BEAT JUNKY.

NEWS - Seijun Suzuki Was Here

2010-09-30T16:33:00.000-07:00

Check out this Flicker photo by user anilatac, showing a present day look at a location used in Suzuki's Zigeunerweisen. The specific location is reported as being near the Myohoji Temple in Kamakura.

VIDEO -Tokyo Drifter Theme Performed on Tugaru Jamisen

2010-09-24T12:20:00.000-07:00

Because the fans demanded it, here is a video of an anonymous shut in playing the Tokyo Drifter theme on what appears to be the Japanese version of a jug band guitar. Enjoy fellow shut ins, enjoy.

REVIEW - Bunrake rocks TIFF Midnight Madness Suzuki style

2010-09-21T19:53:00.000-07:00

The good people over at Twitch Film have posted their review of the action noir film Bunraku which, "plays like the bastard child of Seijun Suzuki and the Wachowski Brothers and of the two key influences, the Suzuki is the most immediately apparent."

The review goes on to call Bunraku, "Theatrical in the extreme, one of the most heavily art designed English language films made in decades." Even though I missed this film while at the Toronto International Film Festival this year, I definatly feel that Bunraku may just tickle the fancy of many a discerning Suzuki fans . Here's a link to the full review.

NEWS - Branded to Kill stage play

2010-09-03T10:51:00.000-07:00

Butterfly, Butterfly, Kill Kill Kill! is a new play inspired by Seijun Suzuki's "incomprehensible" masterpiece, Branded to Kill. They describe it as, "a yakuza noir featuring monstrous puppets, mystic sex rituals, yellowface assassins, wildly stylized violence, and a live electro-jazz-exotica score."

We are happy to announce that even though they have just wrapped up there successful run at the New York International Fringe Festival, they've met there fundraising goal in order to continue there wildly imaginative stage antics. Follow the link to find out more about the show and the troop (Depth Charge) that produced it. Be sure to show your support.

Butterfly, Butterfly, Kill Kill Kill! - Official Website with info and trailers

PHOTO - Rare glimpse at Seijun Suzuki protest rally (1968)

2010-08-28T19:53:00.000-07:00

Seijun Suzuki paid a price for being a maverick filmmaker. Fired for "incomprehensibility" after making Branded to Kill, he was unable to work in the film industry for ten years. He eventually sued Nikkatsu Studio for illegal termination and won.

During the long court battle, a film youth group named "The Cine Club" protested Suzuki's harsh treatment and took to the streets in protest. Unfortunately, the damage to Suzuki's repetition was to severe and he was relegated to directing television movies until his triumphant return with Zigeunerweisen (1980).

Below is a rare glimpse of Suzuki marching with "The Cine Club" during this troubling time in this career.

The Cine Club (シネクラブ研究会) protesting the illegal termination
of Seijun Suzuki's contract with Nikkatsu, 1968.

REVIEW - Film Expression: Irezumi Ichidai (Tattooed Life) 1965

2010-08-28T18:31:00.000-07:00

Film Expression: Irezumi Ichidai (Tattooed Life) (1965): " As a cinema stylist Seijun Suzuki has no rival. Loyal only to his own artistic whims Suzuki’s filmography is reple..."

REVIEW - Film Expression: Kanto Mushuku (Kanto Wanderer) 1963

2010-08-28T18:27:00.000-07:00

Film Expression: Kanto Mushuku (Kanto Wanderer) (1963): " “The way of the yakuza is to wear red clothes or white…” If one were to make a clear distinction between the cine..."

REVIEW - The Fighting Delinquents (1960)

2010-08-28T16:06:00.000-07:00

The good people at over at Midnight Eye have posted their review of Suzuki's first color film (1960's) Fighting Delinquents. It's been out on DVD in the UK for a few years now, but has seen little critical love until now.

Check out the review here.