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.↩}