Branded to Kill / 殺しの烙印 (1967)

Branded to Kill has an interesting story behind it, and an almost incomprehensible story within it.

Although the story behind the film should not affect the film itself when presented standalone, it does inform the understanding of it and it may explain some of the approaches taken^[1]. More importantly, it is quite fun. This was made in the era of the double feature for Japanese films and cinemas so the studios had a separate slate of directors for the "feature" film and the supporting film - the B-movie. These would be cheaper made, quick to do and not particularly challenging for producers or viewers. There was a studio template (as there was in the US for B-movies) which you would basically stick to. Seijun Suzuki was one of these directors but he tried to play with the conventions as much as he could - push those boundaries. Sometimes, he overstepped the mark and made some terrible films as judged by the company and so was treading on thin ice. Of course, the quality, in this case, was subjective and some of Suzuki's films had been well received. After making a few films that the management were not happy with, his budget was cut and he ended up making Tokyo Drifter^[2]. This film enraged the company even further and his next movie, Branded to Kill, was downgraded to black and white. When even this was so bad that the studio president felt compelled to say that 

"Suzuki's films were incomprehensible, that they did not make any money and that Suzuki might as well give up his career as a director as he would not be making films for any other companies." 

and refuse to release the film, you knew it was bad. Suzuki was then also told that he would not be paid and was effectively fired from the studio for this film - the straw that broke the camel's back. Suzuki then sued the company for wrongful dismissal and although this was proven, he struggled within the industry and was effectively blacklisted for about a decade^[3] and didn't make another film until 1977.

Set in a 1960's Tokyo, when it was made, Branded to Kill follows an assassin ranked no 3 in the underworld and so in the employ of gangsters as and when required. He is a mercenary, or maybe a ronin, and the requirement seems quite regular to me. Being no.3, he is fairly competent at his job and seems to have the trappings of underworld success with a rather nice flat and the obligatory trophy wife^[4]. When a planned hit goes awry for one of the strangest of reasons, No 3 becomes one of the hunted.

The start of the plot^[5] is fairly comprehensible and that is all that you need to get a sense of the film but to say it then veers away from that would be an understatement and it inventively plays with the nature of film. The thing about avant-garde things is that if they are genuinely the front of a push, the old avant-garde eventually becomes the mainstream. I don't think that Branded to Kill is mainstream now but some of the more delirious sections are going to be easier to comprehend for more modern audiences. And bearing in mind that it feels kind of different now, I am not sure I can even imagine how out there it was in the 60's. - and the 60's was pretty out there anyway!

I really enjoyed the film, it felt like a ride throughout and it is not taxing on the brain unless you want it to be. It is well, and interestingly, shot and the look is striking - especially for an old B-movie. There are countless nonsensical sections (indeed the crux of the plot - the assassination gone awry is ridiculous in itself) but they hang together to give a nice feel to the film which is internally consistent. This is helped by the length of it as there is not a huge amount of time to run through the whole thing and you never get lost in it. I watched a remastered blu-ray release and it was a clean picture which seemed to do justice to the relatively clean look to the film and I was consistently struck by how exotic Tokyo (I didn't really understand the geography of it all though but I don't really know what Tokyo was like in that era) felt throughout. The characterisation is paper-thin in many ways with quite clear cues to point to a character, such as No 3's strange love of the smell of boiling rice, but again this all works within the context of the film. It reminded me quite a lot of a few videogame plots actually and I can't help but think that it is influential in that capacity, although maybe unwittingly. No More Heroes, a 2007 Wii game, in particular, has the numbered assassins as a central theme.

The real question has to be "Should you watch it?" and I would say, "Yes". If you have reached this point in the review, "yes". But first, watch the trailer:

<sup>1. I watched this film without knowing the backstory and so my later comments are made on the film itself, not the package of film and backstory.↩
2. It seems like an age away, but I used to be a member of lovefilm and they would send DVDs in the post to me as a library system. It was quite good and they had a huge range of films which also included some more esoteric films - like this one. I used it to watch a fair few films that I had barely heard of and one was called Tokyo Drifter which was a very strikingly made film with harsh, stylistic colour schemes and very clean imagery. I thought it was sensational and bought this film, Branded to Kill, in error as I had thought it was Tokyo Drifter. I was a little disappointed when it was shown in black & white but thought it might have been a little like the Wizard of Oz in being both colour and black and white. I was wrong.</sup>↩

^{3. In many ways, some Japanese industries are very closed and the film industry seems to be quite protectionist with a cartel almost operating to deal with people that don't play the studio game. This seems to have been the case to a lesser or greater degree with Sawajiri Erika and Kubozuka Yousuke stepping out of line and then finding roles a little less frequently than their undoubted abilities would suggest. I wonder if it is mere coincidence that has impressed me so about them?↩}

^{4. A wife that is a fan of both conspicuous consumption and being naked.↩}

^{5. I am not a fan of an actual plot synopsis for reviews.↩}

Norway In A Nutshell

I left Stockholm rather early on a 0555 train to Oslo and so headed off to Stockholm Central for a rather long journey. I find trains quite comforting to travel on and so I was not too bothered about the length or time as I knew I could relax on the train. It was also before daybreak so I didn’t miss much scenery in the early part. The scenery was not particularly interesting – but still quite compelling and I also had wi-fi access^[1] so I decided to book parts of the rest of my trip. I was travelling in Norway for the scenery and was, effectively, wanting to do the “Norway in a Nutshell” tour which is a journey taking in some remarkable scenery through some fjords between the two biggest cities in Norway – Oslo and Bergen. It is quite possible to do this in one day from Oslo to Bergen as the timetabling is designed around this for each leg and there is also enough spacing to take into account any delays (the legs apparently wait for the previous one in the event of delays). The journey is on a normal train to Myrdal which is the starting point for the Flamsbana line to Flam. From Flam, you then take a boat through the fjord to Gudvangen from where you take a bus to Voss to rejoin the train line to Bergen. Doing this in one day, however, is reliant on there being enough tickets for each leg and, horror of horrors, the trains were booked out between Oslo and Bergen. I had not booked previously as the website for the boat trip had a huge warning about there being an issue with the connection at Gudvangen so had contacted the company who then told me it was an out of date warning. But this had delayed my booking and suddenly, there was not a good way of getting to Bergen. Or was there?

I decided that Oslo was not worth the effort and decided to book a train to Flam that day instead and so a single hour in Oslo later, I was on the train to Bergen. It is kind of nice to be able to be this flexible but I did feel that I missed out a little on Oslo (not that I had heard much positive about it). The train ride was quite pleasant and comfortable (I had booked “komfort” class as this was supposedly more space and hot drinks inclusive, which seemed sensible) with great scenery to Myrdal. I was quite surprised to reach Myrdal at how small the area seemed to be – the station seemed to be a rural outpost and I could see hardly any buildings around the station. I had assumed that it would be a town of some sort on the mainline but there was very little there. I waited at the station until the Flamsbana train arrived and the ride was fantastic. As it was not so busy, I was able to switch between the left and right side windows as I wanted to until we had wound our way down to Flam.

Flam is a very small village which is effectively a port, a train station and a car park with some tourist shops around it - the population was supposedly 250. I was quite surprised at this and headed to my hostel which was basically just outside the car park for the night – as there was nothing else to do!

The next morning, I made my way to the tourist information counter and asked about timetables for my journey. I was in the off-peak season which meant there was just one boat across the fjord at 3pm. And it was 9am. The other thing that was available at the centre was a “tour” to a viewpoint above the fjord at Stegastein which I thought I may as well do in the absence of other things. I also went to the Flam railway museum and walked to the church and back which was partially back the way that the railway came. It was just passing time, but it was enjoyable enough.

At about 2pm, Flam suddenly had loads of coaches arrive and the shops were full of people that had arrived for the boat (and would no doubt be collected at the other side) which actually felt quite weird. It was as if this village was actually a large terminal for the boat (and train) that just happened to be open-air. Some pictures that I saw in the museum and the postcards on sale elsewhere did suggest that this tiny village was used to seeing huge numbers of people and massive cruise liners so I should not have been surprised.

The boat was enjoyable with the fjord being stunning as we passed through and saw the sheer rock faces close up. This is better told by pictures though so have a look there.

The remainder of the journey to Bergen was relatively standard. The hordes did, indeed, mainly get collected at the other end and I boarded a bus^[2] to Voss. At Voss, after a short wait and a ticket machine that didn’t accept banknotes, I was onto a train to Bergen to arrive in the dark.

Oslo and Flam 2015 - click for photo album

Bergen is the second biggest city in Norway but still not particularly large with a population of approximately 260,000 (which is about the size of Luton – which to be fair does have its own airport). The traditional centre of Bergen is the “Fish Market” and it was also a major trading port for the Hanseatic (Trading) League. I did not know much of Bergen other than this and it also being where Robbie Fowler scored one of my favourite goals against Brann Bergen (which you can see here) so I asked at the hotel about the area and decided to walk through Bryggen and up Mount Fløyen for a view down on to Bergen - again this is better told through the medium of the photograph^[3]. There seemed a lot of people enjoying the walk in the park and it seemed a jovial atmosphere although there were also quite a number of serious walkers with appropriate clothing and sticks. The view was really great and I enjoyed the walk enough to not take the funicular back down. For the more adventurous (and appropriately dressed...) there are hikes beyond Mt Fløyen but I was not feeling particularly adventurous and was getting a bit hungry. The fish market seemed an easy place to go in order to feel both less hungry and less adventurous. There are lots of popular food stall which seem to be aimed at tourists but are popular with all and there are not that many tourists anyway.

In order to leave Bergen, you have to get to the airport, and this is usually by airport bus which I planned to take at about 6 to give plenty of time for a 830 flight. I had been told that the airport bus was every twenty minutes but I went to check when exactly they were just before I went to collect my bags. And there, I discovered that there were no buses at all between 5:40 and 7:00 which seemed a remarkable gap to me. As it was 5:30 then, I made a dash^[4] for the hotel and collected my bags to return in time (rather red-faced) for the bus.

Bergen Airport is absolutely tiny. I arrived and there were only three more flights that day (which was instant explanation for the huge gap in service) and no self check-in counters for British Airways. I knew this as I walked around looking for them (and walked into the baggage reclaim area, so small is the airport. So I checked in and waited having walked through a large duty free area^[5] which was plentifully stocked. The return to Heathrow, as always, reminded me of the differing scale of London to the cities I had visited – some find considerable comfort in that scale. I think I count myself amongst them.

Bergen 2015 - click for photo album

^{1. This is quite common on the railways, stations and airports throughout my recent journeys. It is usually free which is surprising when they are usually state run and I have been told, repeatedly, that state run infrastructure is unable to provide “innovation”. This contrasts with the “free” wi-fi on British trains which is all but non-existent.↩}

^{2. Incidentally, I was told that they would accept credit card payment but did not – and I had no cash on me at all. Luckily, the driver told me that he would take cash as there was a cash machine at Voss station but I could have been stranded there…↩}

^{3. Annoyingly, I arrived at night and took a number of night time shots in the city centre but then deleted them inadvertently later on. I think it was the only time I used my tripod too so it is even more annoying seeing as I went to the trouble of taking it.↩}

^{4. There was another person, a fairly smartly dressed (but casual) man, doing something similar and he was checking and was happy to get the 7pm bus. As it happened, I noticed him get on my flight too and he was the only person in the whole of business class. He was obviously a more relaxed traveller than me.↩}

^{5. Norway is not in the EU, though it is part of the Schengen area http://ec.europa.eu/dgs/home-affairs/what-we-do/policies/borders-and-visas/schengen/index_en.htm meaning that there was no border control at all between Stockholm and Oslo on the train. This does mean, however, that the tax-free area in the airport can be very good for passengers.↩}

Stockholm 2015

From Helsinki, the boat to Stockholm, I had heard, was something of a party boat. With the price of alcohol being significantly padded by tax in both Sweden and Finland, a spot of tax-free shopping^[1] can help people lose their inhibitions. There are two major companies that run these routes - Viking and Silja. The overnight from Stockholm to Helsinki leaves in the late afternoon from both cities with an approximately 18 hours in transit. This does not sound too appealing but it can be an enjoyable 18 hours and is incomparable to flights of similar length. The ticket has to include a cabin and so it can be quite cheap if you are sharing (rooms of up to four people) - my ticket was officially a return as I was on a two night mini-cruise as it was cheaper than a single (At €99 rather than €120). Apparently, Viking used to offer the crossing without a cabin and so it really attracted a "party crowd" and so they attract that kind of split even now.

The cruise element is quite well done, I think (although I have never been on a cruise) and we all had to wait before entering to have a photo taken (on sale later...) . Once through the doors, there was live music being played as you walked in to the "promenade". Running pretty much the length of the ferry was a full height (probably five or six storeys) atrium from which you could enter a number of shops and restaurants and there were other bars and a sauna on different floors. It would definitely be quite easy to pass time and, due to the relatively low prices of the alcohol and standard price of the restaurants, it would not be too expensive.

As I left Helsinki, it was bathed in a beautiful, golden light and so I headed to the deck as soon as I had put my bags in the cabin. It was not too cold and there was plenty of space to stand and take photos before we left. I stayed on the deck for a few hours as we left and also to wait for sunset and it got significantly colder over that time. I headed back down at about 7 get myself sorted and charge some stuff before I walked around and had dinner^[2]. After eating in one of the many restaurants, I went back to my room quite early and was annoyed to hear a lot of terrible Eurodance style music. It is rare to have good music played loudly^[3] and this was not one of those rare occasions. When I came out of the room later, there were a number of beer cans strewn along the corridors.

I got up relatively early to enjoy breakfast and the approach to Stockholm which was a great introduction to the city, especially as the front section of the deck was open for the morning.

Stockholm has two ferry terminals for Helsinki boats and I was, of course, the one that was further away from the city centre. But, even so, it was not so far from the centre and only three or four stops on the metro to the city terminal^[4] so I headed there and then to my hotel to drop my bag off^[5]. The Viking ferry terminal is near Gamla Stam which is the "old town" for Stockholm and is basically a small island^[6] in the centre of the Stockholm conurbation that Stockholm was basically seeded from. This was where I headed for a "free walking tour". There were a few of us and the guide was Ukrainian doing the tour in English. It was nice to walk around and see the area (which I could easily do myself) but the tour itself was a little disappointing and lacking in truly interesting moments. I would say it is the worst tour I have been on and I can barely remember anything from it.

After this tour, I spent some more time in the area myself, checking out the parliament buildings and also the Nobel prize museum, and then went to the south. It was walking without purpose again.

The next day, I went to Skansen and the Vasa museum which are both on an island which appears to be a tourist haven with a number of museums (which in many ways is like the museum island in Berlin). The Vasa museum is about a Viking ship that was rescued from the sea a number of years ago and the museum details the rescue and some more aspects about the trade, generally, at the time. In all honesty, it was an OK museum but it did not grab me particularly and I was a little confused by the very strong reviews I had seen of it. I guess I just didn't find it evocative enough. Unlike Skansen which is an outdoor museum which seems to recreate aspects of Swedish history in a number of historical, or faux-historical buildings. There is also a zoo there although it is mainly Scandinavian animals kept as it is meant to be a museum of Scandinavia (there are a few others though).

After spending a bit longer in Skansen than I expected, I went off to Sodermalm to have a look and take in a few "viewpoints". I felt this was quite nice to walk through and also enjoyed the views as there are some high points and very steep paths, some supplanted by steps. I think Sodermalm is an area that is being regenerated and it seemed to have that feeling of being quite "hip" and post-industrial in some ways. The coast that faces Gamla Stam is quite a transport hub with a major metro station, and a relatively complicated road junction which must take away some of the potential grandeur of the place. There are also a number of boats moored up near here with accommodation for tourists and these are apparently some of the most fun (and cheap) hostels in the city. I can imagine that and they looked welcoming enough and maybe that is where I would return to.

From Stockholm, I was due to leave quite early in the morning to go to Oslo on the train and I returned relatively early.

Stockholm 2015 – click for photo album

<sup>1. This is achieved with a stop at Mariehamn which is outside the EU VAT area and so this tax free shopping is allowed. I would imagine that this is a major boon for these ferry crossings.↩
2. Although early, some passengers had clearly spent some time in their rooms getting themselves ready for making a night of it and I rather awkwardly shared a lift with a bevy of glammed up beauties (they looked very young and excited) while wearing a big coat. They then awkwardly walked around as the only people dressed up.↩
3. When I moved to Kentish Town a few years ago, one of the first Friday nights, I went to sleep quite late at about 1am and I could hear some music - not too loud in my flat and only really noticeable when going to sleep. I was initially a little annoyed but after a second or so, I realised that it was Abbey Road by The Beatles and my annoyance faded away very quickly. I rather enjoyed it.↩
4. When I got there, I realised that I had left something quite important on the ferry and so rushed back to the ferry - I was very lucky here to have booked a round trip...↩
5. I was actually able to check in as a room was ready so this was a good service by Hotel Micro. Stockholm is fairly expensive so the Hotel Micro concept was very good. It is not quite capsule hotel style, but the rooms are small with space for little more than the bed and a small table. These kinds of places are ideal for someone like me and Micro is actually in the basement of another hotel so the services are the same as for that hotel.↩
6. Stockholm is made up of 14 islands.↩</sup>

Helsinki 2015

As I got off the flight, the first thing I thought of was "aren't these stairs rather shallow?". And they were. It is not something you notice usually, but it was the first thing.

I was late into Helsinki and that meant I was definitely going to be late to meet my cousin. And late I was, but he knew this already as I had told him. It seems barely plausible that this would have caused major problems in the past but we were connected (via the internet in the air) while I was on my way so it was not a huge problem. I got the train into Helsinki Central but not before getting the bus. Helsinki airport prides itself (link) on the compact scale of it, saying that it is a very easy airport to navigate but I found the exit quite unclear. There was not a sign to the trains and I needed to actually get a bus to the train station. There were also buses but it seemed to make sense to go by train. I wanted to get a day pass as I knew I would be travelling around and the airport transport was included in the zone. Once I got to the train station, rather farcically, you could only buy single tickets as there was no ticket machine or even ticket office - just what appeared to be a stall selling tickets. I asked about passes and the lady said that it was not possible until I reached Helsinki. The station was still in the process of being built, but I think they should have got this right! After this, I walked through the station being hewn from rock all the way down - it was quite impressive. The station had two platforms and both went to the same place but in opposite directions. I was confused by this and the signage was generally quite poor but the airport station sits, effectively, at one end of a loop with Helsinki Central at the other. Once I had worked this out, a young lady came and asked me how to buy a ticket... I told her that I got mine from upstairs (it was quite a long walk) but someone kindly interjected that it was possible to buy on the train. It is interesting, when travelling, how variable the quality of signs and directions are but it took me far longer to work out what to do than it should have. Helsinki Central is a beautiful station so it is a great introduction to the city proper.

I found my cousin (hereafter, C) waiting outside as planned - this part had worked like clockwork. We hadn't seen each other for almost ten years so I was just glad that I could recognise him[1]. We exchanged pleasantries and then we set off in search of something to eat (quickly) and to try and extract something of Helsinki from the day within the few hours of daylight remaining by wandering.

C lived in Espoo which is theoretically a town outside Helsinki[2] and so we needed to get out of Helsinki by bus from Kampi (an area near the centre with a large bus station).

I got up much later than I wanted to but a plan is a plan and we had planned to go to the nearby Nuuksio national park. It seemed close enough but the journey was quite long as we needed to get two buses and neither was frequent so we waited for a long time at each[3]. The bus there eventually full and then emptied a stop or two before the end and so, in the spirit of adventure, we also got off and walked. It was a place to walk, so why not?

A good few hours later, including some time getting lost, time had pleasantly passed by. I was often told to "get lost" as a child and this is advice I have always taken to heart and so it was quite an enjoyable walk around the park along some well signposted[4] trails.

We returned to Helsinki later for the evening for no particular reason.

I was leaving Helsinki on the third day and, as chance would have it, C was leaving Espoo on that day too (to move to Vantaa) and so we said our goodbyes in the morning as I headed to Helsinki for a day of wandering[5] after dropping my bag off at the station[6]. My boat out of town was at 5pm and I was told that to get to the terminal for 4pm would be sensible so I planned a few hours of walking around based on that. 

I started out near Market Square which is where many people seem to consider the centre of the city is. Here, there are a number of fishy items for sale and some food and drink. It is also quite near Helsinki Cathedral which is white and so even the redevelopment of one side of it using white cloth to cover it is quite well hidden. The took me towards the docks and here I wandered in quite a quiet area in the sun to look back on Helsinki. This reminded me a little of a much ranier day in Zurich actually. I also went to the Olympic stadium area and a Rock cathedral which were both distraction enough for me and involved taking the tram for part of the way. There was not a huge desirre to traipse around so I made my way to the boat after a little detour to collect my bag and have some food and then walked down to the terminal from Market Square.

I boarded the boat and thought, "these stairs are rather shallow" again.
And so on to Stockholm ->

Helsinki 2015 - click for photo album

<sup>1. I speak, fluently, one language but I can speak Bengali a fair amount. Last time I saw C, I was in Bangladesh and my relationship with him has always been in Bengali but I was not really sure what to do here. I am quite awkward with these kinds of things and I have a terrible memory for how my relationships are manifested which is most obvious with female friends. I find it really hard to remember if I have a nodding, hugging, kissing or just inane smiling welcome with them. It is easier with male friends as it is usually nothing at all as I have a rational dislike of handshakes with friends. How do people remember? If you could drop me a line in the comments or directly to help me with a system, that would be great.↩
2. Finland is so centralised in terms of population that the 3 biggest cities (Helsinki (~625k), Espoo (~265k) and Vantaa(~210k)) in the country are all basically next to each other within the “capital region”. I would not go as far as saying it is exactly a megalopolis as the greater Tokyo-Yokohama conurbation is, but it is all connected in the sense that it seems that they serve each other. Finland’s population is about 5.5m and with some other smaller towns in the capital region taking the population to about 1.5m – the capital region has over a quarter of the whole population.↩
3. I don't usually wait for buses for very long when I am abroad but I caught myself waiting as I do in London. What this meant was that I was looking the wrong way - in the opposite direction to the traffic and at all the people (the stop sign was still at that end). It was quite odd but I could not break the habit throughout the trip. Public transport muscle memory - if only there was a compound noun for that. There probably is in German.↩
4. I am, however, colourblind and mixing red and brown up does not always aid navigation.↩
5. I had changed my plans for the Monday as I felt that I should spend some more time in Helsinki after the slight delay on Saturday. I was going to go to Turku, which was the old capital and also had a ferry to Stockholm, but I had seen little of the sights in Helsinki.↩
6. The Finnish Railways company is called VR and the logo is remarkably similar to the JR of Japanese Railways. On this, the most flimsy of reasons, I assumed that lockers would be plentiful at the station as they are at most major JR stations. I was right.↩</sup>