Tokyo Drifter
| Tokyo Drifter | |
|---|---|
 Theatrical poster |
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| Directed by | Seijun Suzuki |
| Produced by | Tetsuro Nakagawa |
| Written by | Yasunori Kawauchi |
| Starring | Tetsuya Watari Chieko Matsubara Hideaki Nitani |
| Music by | So Kaburagi |
| Cinematography | Shigeyoshi Mine |
| Editing by | Shinya Inoue |
| Distributed by | Nikkatsu |
| Release date(s) | April 10, 1966 |
| Running time | 83 minutes |
| Country | Japan |
| Language | Japanese |
| Budget | US$20 million |
Tokyo Drifter (東京流れ者 Tōkyō nagaremono) is a 1966 yakuza film directed by Seijun Suzuki. The story follows Tetsuya Watari as the reformed yakuza hitman "Phoenix" Tetsu who is forced to roam Japan avoiding execution by rival gangs.
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[edit] Plot
Tetsuya "Phoenix Tetsu" Hondo is a member of a recently deactivated Yakuza gang. His boss, to which he holds absolute loyalty, Kurata, has given up the life of crime for himself and his syndicate.[1] Otsuka, a rival gang boss, attempts to recruit Tetsu into his organization, but is turned down. After failing, Otsuka sends an assassin to neutralize Tetsu, fearing he will interfere with a real estate scam. Looking to profit from the scheme himself and fearing that his group is threatened by his presence, Kurata asks Tetsu to leave and live the life of a drifter.[1]
Otsuka and Kurata join forces, and assign the successful hitman, "Viper" Tatsuzo, to kill Tetsu. Tetsu evades Viper and his hit squad a number of times and arrives at the establishment of Umetani, an ally of boss Kurata. Tetsu returns to Tokyo, confronting his boss who betrayed him. He kills everyone in the room besides his boss and former girlfriend. At the end of the movie, Kurata kills himself, and Tetsu refuses his former girlfriend Chiharu's plea to accompany him on his travels. He exits down a pure white hallway, explaining that he has a new allegiance to the wanderer lifestyle, and cannot abandon it for the company of another.[1]
[edit] Cast
- Tetsuya Watari as Tetsuya "Phoenix Tetsu" Hondo
- Chieko Matsubara as Chiharu
- Hideaki Nitani as Kenji Aizawa
- Tamio Kawaji as Tatsuzo The Viper
- Tsuyoshi Yoshida as Keiichi
- Ryuji Kita as Kurata
- Hideaki Esumi as Otsuka
- Eiji Go as Tanaka
[edit] Production
Nikkatsu bosses had been warning Suzuki to tone down his bizarre visual style for years and drastically reduced Tokyo Drifter's budget in hopes of getting results. This had the opposite effect in that Suzuki and art director Takeo Kimura pushed themselves to new heights of surrealism and absurdity. The studio's next move was to impose the further restriction of filming in black and white on his next two films, which again Suzuki met with even greater bizarreness culminating in his dismissal for "incomprehensibility".[2]
Because of budget limitations, Suzuki had to cut connecting shots out of many fights, leading to a need for more creative camera work.[3]
Various shots of Tokyo were used to establish the setting as the then-contemporary post-1964 Japan.[4] Suzuki drew inspiration from a wide variety of sources in making Tokyo Drifter, including the musical films of the 1950s, pop art, absurdist comedy, and surrealist film.[5]
[edit] Themes
Suzuki displays common themes found in Yakuza films, particularly the theme of loyalty, to parody the message and presentation of traditional Yakuza films. He uses his depictions of Yakuza relationships to show the inherent weakness of the archetype, particularly the possible abuses of power that can arise from unquestioning allegiance.[4] Further, the common theme of corporate corruption is also parodied in through exaggeration when the main character becomes an expendable retainer.[6] The conventions in the film further parody the conformity of theme and structure apparent in all Japanese film, but most notably in Yakuza films of the time,[5] particularly its excesses.[7]
However, Donald Richie theorizes that the only theme of the film is "delight in mayhem", and that it has no real meaning at all.[8]
[edit] Style
The mise en scène of Tokyo Drifter is highly stylized.[9] Film reviewer Nikolaos Vryzidis claims that the film crosses over into a number of different genres, but most resembles the avant gard films occurring in the 1960s.[5]
At times, the film draws a good deal of inspiration from westerns. The whistling of the main character Tetsu is reminiscent of cowboy heroes. Near the middle of the film, a large bar fight erupts; this scene is meant to directly parody western films, everyone in the saloon joins in the brawl against United States Navy sailors, and comical violence is used where no one is permanently injured, despite the large-scale violence of the scene.[10]
[edit] Setting
The majority of the film takes place in Tokyo, but portrays the city in a highly stylized manner.[11] The opening sequence consists of a mash of images from metropolitan Tokyo, meant to condense the feeling of the city into one sequence.[12]
[edit] Color symbolism
Color provides major symbolism throughout the film. The main character Tetsu wears white and light colored outfits throughout the film, and in the final scene, the color changes as each new person dies. These splashes of bright color contrast with the pure white of the costumes and surroundings.[13] The film opens in stylized black and white, which becomes vibrant color in all subsequent scenes.[10] This served to represent Tokyo post-1964 Summer Olympics.[12]
[edit] Reception
Richie denounced the film as "just another Yakuza film" with more style than most, but an overall lack of substance.[8] Vryzidis claims that Suzuki's later films, once the studio gave him more freedom, never reached the same level of artistic quality as Tokyo Drifter, where the studio attempted to impose a large amount of control over the project.[10]
Tetsu, the main character of the film, has also been well-received. One reviewer commented that he always looks "cool", even when he is not the toughest guy in the room.[7]
Stephen Barber called the visualization in Tokyo Drifter "bizarre and individual".[11] Douglass Pratt praised the film for its quirkiness and character.[3] He further stated that the plot of the film does not matter so much as "the gorgeous Pop Art sets, the bizarre musical sequences, the confusing but ballistic action scenes and the film's gunbutt attitude."[3]
[edit] Legacy
The film is considered ahead of its time, as it abandoned the themes of the Ninkyo eiga films popular at the time, and combines with themes from the later Jitsuroku eiga Yakuza films, which disavowed the romantic and nostalgic views of the Yakuza in favor of social criticism.[6]
Modern color aestheticism seen often in newer Japanese Japanese science fiction manga and anime grew in large part out of the Suzuki's films, with Tokyo Drifter being one of the most influential.[13]
[edit] Home video
The Criterion Collection released the film outside of Japan in DVD format in 1999.[14]
[edit] Soundtrack
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[edit] Footnotes
- ^ a b c Berra (2010), 282.
- ^ Desjardins (2005), 136–149.
- ^ a b c Pratt (2005), 1246.
- ^ a b Standish (2005), 300.
- ^ a b c Vryzidis (2010), 282.
- ^ a b Standish (2005), 301.
- ^ a b Bleiler (2004), 632.
- ^ a b Richie (2005), 288.
- ^ Standish (2005), 304.
- ^ a b c Vryzidis (2010), 283.
- ^ a b Barber (2005), 124.
- ^ a b Barber (2005), 125.
- ^ a b Richie (2005), 180.
- ^ "Tokyo Drifter". Online Cinematheque. New York City: The Criterion Collection. 2010. http://www.criterion.com/films/577. Retrieved 26 April 2010.
[edit] References
- Barber, Stephen (2005). Projected Cities. Clerkenwell: Reaktion Books. ISBN 186189127X. http://books.google.com/books?id=Gvwbsu8gkwAC&pg=PA131&dq=tokyo+drifter&lr=&as_drrb_is=q&as_minm_is=0&as_miny_is=&as_maxm_is=0&as_maxy_is=&as_brr=3&ei=3JXTS6PIBYSqywT-io24CQ&client=safari&cd=1#v=onepage&q=tokyo%20drifter&f=false. Retrieved 26 April 2010.
- Berra, John (2010). Directory of World Cinema: Japan. Fishponds: Intellect Publishing. http://books.google.com/books?id=mRrpfF6g3g0C&pg=PA282&dq=tokyo+drifter&hl=en&ei=eJXTS4jXD8OB8gbCkeHJDw&sa=X&oi=book_result&ct=result&resnum=4&ved=0CEMQ6AEwAw#v=onepage&q=tokyo%20drifter&f=false. Retrieved 26 April 2010.
- Bleiler, David (2004). TLA Video & DVD Guide: The Discerning Film Lover's Guide. New York City: Macmillan Publishers. ISBN 0312316909. http://books.google.com/books?id=ALPlnFpe3UoC&pg=PA632&dq=tokyo+drifter&lr=&as_drrb_is=q&as_minm_is=0&as_miny_is=&as_maxm_is=0&as_maxy_is=&as_brr=3&ei=3JXTS6PIBYSqywT-io24CQ&client=safari&cd=3#v=onepage&q=tokyo%20drifter&f=false. Retrieved 26 April 2010.
- Desjardins, Chris (2005). Outlaw Masters of Japanese Film. I.B. Tauris. ISBN 1-84511-086-2. http://www.ibtauris.com/ibtauris/display.asp?K=9781845110901.
- Pratt, Douglas (2005). Doug Pratt's DVD: Movies, Television, Music, Art, Adult, and More!. United States: UNET 2 Corporation. ISBN 1932916016. http://books.google.com/books?id=vxmg-LuBTWIC&pg=PA1246&dq=tokyo+drifter&lr=&as_drrb_is=q&as_minm_is=0&as_miny_is=&as_maxm_is=0&as_maxy_is=&as_brr=3&ei=3JXTS6PIBYSqywT-io24CQ&client=safari&cd=5#v=onepage&q=tokyo%20drifter&f=false. Retrieved 26 April 2010.
- Richie, Donald (2005). A Hundred Years of Japanese Film (Revised and Updated ed.). Tokyo: Kodansha International. ISBN 978-4-7700-2995-9.
- Standish, Isolde (2005). A New History of Japanese Cinema: A Century of Narrative Film. New York City: Continuum International Publishing Group. ISBN 0-8264-1709-4.
- Vryzidis, Nikolaos (2010). "Tokyo Drifter Critique". Directory of World Cinema: Japan. Fishponds: Intellect Publishing. http://books.google.com/books?id=mRrpfF6g3g0C&pg=PA282&dq=tokyo+drifter&hl=en&ei=eJXTS4jXD8OB8gbCkeHJDw&sa=X&oi=book_result&ct=result&resnum=4&ved=0CEMQ6AEwAw#v=onepage&q=tokyo%20drifter&f=false. Retrieved 26 April 2010.
[edit] External links
- Tokyo Drifter at the Internet Movie Database.
- Tokyo Drifter at AllRovi
- Tokyo Drifter at Rotten Tomatoes
- Tokyo Drifter essay at the Criterion Collection by Manohla Dargis.
- Tokyo Drifter at the Japanese Movie Database (Japanese).
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