Branded to Kill
Branded to Kill | |
---|---|
![]() The original Japanese theatrical poster. | |
Directed by | Seijun Suzuki |
Written by | Hachiro Guryu |
Produced by | Kaneo Iwai |
Starring | Joe Shishido Koji Nanbara Annu Mari Mariko Ogawa |
Cinematography | Kazue Nagatsuka |
Edited by | Mutsuo Tanji |
Music by | Naozumi Yamamoto |
Distributed by | Nikkatsu |
Release dates | ![]() |
Running time | 98 min |
Country | Japan |
Language | Japanese |
Budget | JPY 20 million |
Branded to Kill (殺しの烙印, Koroshi no rakuin) is a 1967 Japanese yakuza eiga and the 40th and final film directed by Seijun Suzuki for the Nikkatsu Company. It stars Joe Shishido as the rice-sniffing "Number Three Killer", Mariko Ogawa as his wife, Koji Nanbara as the mysterious stranger he is hired to protect and Annu Mari as the fatalistic femme who recruits him for a seemingly impossible mission. When the job goes wrong he finds himself hunted by the phantom Number One Killer with his sanity as much imperiled as his life.
After its release, Nikkatsu president Kyusaku Hori notoriously fired Suzuki for making "movies that make no sense and no money."[1] With support from fellow filmmakers, student protesters and the general public, Suzuki successfully sued the company for wrongful dismissal but did not direct another feature for 10 years. However, the event made him into a countercultural icon. The film first reached international audiences through the 1980s and 1990s by way of film festival and retrospective screenings and home video releases. It has been acknowledged as an influence by such filmmakers as Jim Jarmusch, John Woo, Chan-wook Park and Quentin Tarantino, and is renowned by critics and enthusiasts worldwide for its unconventional style, rather confusing narrative and arguably as his greatest and best known work. In 2001, Suzuki directed the sequel, Pistol Opera, which evoked similar reactions, minus the controversy.
Synopsis
Goro Hanada, the Japanese underworld's third-ranked hitman, and his wife, Mami, return to Tokyo from a trip. They are met at the Haneda Airport by Kasuga, a former hitman turned taxi driver. Kasuga petitions Hanada to assist him break back into the profession and has lined up a meeting with yakuza boss Michihiko Yabuhara. Hanada agrees and they drive to Yabuhara's club. The two are offered 5 million yen, half in advance, to escort a man from Sagami Beach to Nagano. After the deal is agreed upon Yabuhara covertly seduces Hanada's wife. En route to pick up the client Hanada discovers that Kasuga is an alcoholic and unsuitable for the job. They pick up the client and proceed to their destination. Hanada spots a makeshift roadblock at an underpass, he wakes Kasuga from a drunken stupor and rams the offending car. He then orders Kasuga to watch the client, runs from the car and dispatches a number of gunmen who had staged the ambush. Kasuga panics and flails about in hysterics. Foaming at the mouth he charges an ambusher, Koh, the fourth-ranked hitman, and they kill each other. Hanada leaves the client to get another car but hears three gun shots and rushes back to find the client is safe and three ambushers have been shot cleanly through the forehead. They come upon another ambush near their destination, Hanada kills more gunmen and sets Sakura, the second-ranked hitman, on fire who madly runs towards the car and is shot dead by the client.
![](http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/thumb/c/c2/Annu_Mari_and_Jo_Shishido_in_Branded_to_Kill.jpg/300px-Annu_Mari_and_Jo_Shishido_in_Branded_to_Kill.jpg)
Returning home, Hanada's car breaks down in the rain and he meets Misako, a mysterious woman with a deathwish, who offers him a ride. Once home, he has rough sex with his nymphomaniac wife, fueled by his obsession with sniffing boiling rice. Yabuhara hires him to kill four men, the first three are a customs officer, an ocularist and a jewelry dealer. Next, Misako appears at his door and offers him a nearly impossible job to kill a foreigner, which he cannot refuse. During the job a butterfly lands on the barrel of his rifle causing him to miss his target and kill an innocent bystander. Misako tells him that, because of his error, he will lose his rank and be killed. Hanada returns home and makes plans to leave the country but his wife shoots him, sets fire to their apartment and flees. His belt buckle having deflected the bullet, he escapes the building and staggers away. He finds Misako and they go to her apartment. They take alternate turns at he seducing her and them trying to kill each other. She finally succumbs to his advances after he promises to kill her. Afterwards, he finds he cannot kill her as he has fallen in love with her. In a state of confusion, he wanders the streets all night, passing out on the sidewalk. The next day he finds his wife at Yabuhara's club. She tries to seduce him, then faints. He urinates on her. She fakes hysteria and tells him Yabuhara paid her to kill him and that the three men he had been hired to kill stole from Yabuhara's diamond smuggling operation and the fourth was a foreign investigator sent by the supplier. He shoots her twice and she slumps against a toilet, her wig swirling in the water. Hanada gets drunk and waits for Yabuhara to return. When he does, he falls to the ground with a bullet hole in the centre of his forehead.
Hanada returns to Misako's apartment where a film projector has been set up. It displays a nude, bound Misako being tortured with butane torches and the man he had escorted to Nagano tells him that five men will meet him at a pier at 3:00 the next day and kill him. Hanada goes to the pier but kills the men. The man from the film arrives and announces that he is the legendary Number One Killer and will kill Hanada but, in thanks for the work he has done, is only warning him at present. He then gives Hanada a ride back to Misako's apartment. Number One begins to taunt him with threatening phone calls. After a long standoff, Number One comes to the apartment and announces that he will stay there while deciding how to kill Hanada. They agree to a temporary truce and decide on times to eat, sleep and, later, to link arms everywhere they go, including the toilet. At a restaurant, Number One disappears, leaving a wig swirling in a toilet. Back at the apartment, Hanada finds a note telling him Number One will be waiting for him at Etsuraku Park Gymnasium between 1:00 and 3:00 a.m., and a film depicting a heavily bandaged Misako which tells him he can see her there before he is killed. He decides he can claim Number One's rank and goes to the gymnasium to await his opponent. At 3:00, Number One has not shown and an exhausted Hanada goes to leave. Suddenly, a tape recording comes on explaining, "This is the way Number One works", he exhausts you and then kills you. Hanada puts one of Misako's headbands across his forehead and climbs into a boxing ring. Number One appears and shoots him. Hanada returns a shot, the headband having stopped the bullet. Number One manages a few more shots before dying. Hanada leaps around the ring declaring himself the new Number One Killer when Misako enters the arena on crutches and, crazed, he instinctively shoots her, then falls from the ring.[2]
Production
Kaneo Iwai planned the film for the Nikkatsu Company. It was set as a low-budget hitman film, a subgenre of the studio's yakuza-oriented movies.[3] Shortly before production was scheduled to begin, with a release date already set, it was deemed "inappropriate" by the head office and Suzuki was called in to rewrite the script. Studio head Kyusaku Hori told him he had had to read it twice before he understood it. Suzuki suggested they drop the script but was ordered to proceed.[4] The company was building Joe Shishido into a star and he was assigned to the film. The script was to be rewritten keeping this in mind. It also marks his first nude scene. Suzuki originally wanted Kiwako Taichi, a new talent from the famous theatre troupe Bungakuza, for the female lead but she took a part in another film.[1] Instead Suzuki selected Annu Mari for the role, another new actress who had been working in Nikkatsu's music halls.[5]
It was given a week for pre-production, 25 days to shoot and 3 days for post-production. The budget was approximately 20 million yen. Suzuki did not use storyboards and came up with most ideas either the night before or on the set. He felt that the only person who should know what is going to happen is the director and that inspiration made the picture.[6] One example of his script changes is the addition of the Number Three Killer's rice-sniffing habit, he explained that he wanted to present a quintessentially "Japanese" killer, "If he were Italian, he'd get turned on by macaroni, right?".[7] Suzuki has commended Shishido on his similar drive to make the action scenes as physical and interesting as possible. The film was edited in one day, a task made easy by Suzuki's method of shooting only the necessary footage. He had picked up the habit during his years working as an assistant director for Shochiku when film stock remained sparse after the war.[1]
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, while delivering on a "Devil's job", a butterfly lands on the barrel of his riffle and causes him to miss his target and kill a bystander. Marked for death, he descends into a world of alcohol and paranoia. Shishido has been called the face of Suzuki's film, 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, and returned to tremendous success as a heavy and, soon thereafter, a star.[8]
- Koji Nanbara as 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 laying siege to 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 discovering his diamond smuggling operation has been burgled, he hires Hanada to execute the guilty parties and adds him to the list when he flubs the job.
- Annu Mari as Misako Nakajo: the femme fatale with a penchant for dead butterflies and starlings. In her open top convertible, she picks up Hanada when his car brakes down under a heavy 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."[5]
- 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 turns sour she betrays him in a mariticidal manner and flees to be confronted later at Yabuhara's club.
- Hiroshi Minami as Gihei Kasuga: formerly a ranked hitman who has since lost his nerve and taken to drinking. After introducing Hanada to Yabuhara, he joins the former in an escort mission. His nerves get the better of him and he is permanently retired.
Style
The influence of film noir permeated the film, as it did many of its contemporaries,[9] meshed with a pop art aesthetic.[10] Suzuki employed a wide variety of techniques and has claimed his his singular focus was to make the film as entertaining as possible.[1] It 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 desired so he relied on spotlight use and monochromatic images to compensate in creating action and suspense for the viewer. Conventional framing and film grammar were disregarded in favour of spontaneous inspiration. In editing, he frequently abandoned continuity, favouring abstract jumps in time and space as he found it made the film more interesting.[1] Critic David Chute suggested that Suzuki's stylistics had intensified—in seeming congruence with the studio's repeated demands over the previous four years that he rein them in:
![](http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/thumb/5/5e/Branded_to_Kill_screenshot.jpg/300px-Branded_to_Kill_screenshot.jpg)
"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."[11]
Genre and industry conventions are satirized and mocked throughout the film. 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.[12] When Hanada is unable to kill Misako he wanders the streets and the screen is obscured by animated images and sounds associated with her. It contributes 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 be reflective of Suzuki's relationship with Hori, citing Number One's sleeping with his eyes open and and urinating where he sits then explaining these are techniques one must master to become a top professional.[13]
Reception
At the time of its Japanese theatrical release on June 15, 1967,[14] the film was popular, especially with college audiences, but not financially successful enough to appease Nikkatsu. The company had been criticized for catering to rebellious youths and Suzuki had been drawing Hori's ire for years as his work became increasing anarchic in style.[7] On April 25, 1968, Suzuki received a telephone call from a company secretary informing him that he would not be receiving his salary that month. Two of Suzuki's friends met with Hori the next day and were told 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."[4] A student-run film society, Cine Club, was planning to include the film in a retrospective honouring Suzuki's works but Hori refused them and withdrew all of his films from circulation. With support from the Cine Club, similar student groups, fellow filmmakers and the general public—which included demonstrations—Suzuki, who had been under contract, sued Nikkatsu for wrongful dismissal. The case lasted three years, during which the circumstances under which the film was made came to light. It seems Suzuki had been made into a scapegoat as the company was in dire financial straits and attempting a mass restructuring. A settlement was reached on December 24, 1971 for one million yen, a fraction of his original claim, and a public apology from Hori.[4] The events turned him into a legend. The retrospective eventually happened and the film, among others, played at midnight screenings to "packed audiences who wildly applauded."[15] However, Suzuki was blacklisted by the major studios and did not make another feature film until his 1977 A Tale of Sorrow and Sadness, although he continued to direct small scale television productions.[16]
Branded to Kill reached international audiences through the 1980s and 1990s, featured in various film festivals and retrospectives dedicated wholly or partially to Suzuki,[16][17] followed later in the decade with home video releases.[18] Critics and film enthusiasts regard it as arguably his most unconventional and revered Nikkatsu film.[19] It has been declared a masterpiece by the likes of writer and musician Chris D., composer John Zorn and film director Quentin Tarantino.[3][20][21] Critic and historian 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."[12] Modified comparisons to the films of a "gonzo Sam Fuller",[11] or Jean-Luc Godard, assuming one "factor[s] out Godard's politics and self-consciousness",[11][17] are not uncommon.[22] In a 1992 Rolling Stone magazine article, Jim Jarmusch affectionately recommended it as, "Probably the strangest and most perverse 'hit man' story in cinema."[23] 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."[10]
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."[10] As Zorn has put it, "plot and narrative devices take a back seat to mood, music, and the sensuality of visual images."[20] David Chute conceded that in labeling the film incomprehensible, "[i]f you consider the movie soberly, it's hard to deny the bosses had a point".[11] 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."[12]
Nikkatsu has since embraced the film, which it included in the 2001 retrospective Style to Kill alongside some 20 other of his film. Suzuki appeared at the gala opening with start Annu Mari. In 2006, Nikkatsu celebrated the 50th anniversary of his directorial debut by sponsored the Seijun Suzuki 48 Film Challenge retrospective at the Tokyo International Film Festival, showcasing all of his films to date. Suzuki and Mari once again attended.[5] The two events coincided with multiple title DVD releases honouring the director. Branded to Kill was included in both.
Legacy
As one of Suzuki's most influential films, often listed alongside his Tokyo Drifter, it has been acknowledged as a source of inspiration by such internationally renowned directors as Hong Kong's John Woo, South Korea's Chan-wook Park and America's Jim Jarmusch and Quentin Tarantino.[24] Jarmusch listed it as his favourite hitman film, alongside Le Samouraï,[25] and thanked Suzuki in the screen credits of his own 1999 hitman film Ghost Dog: The Way of the Samurai. Most notably, Jarmusch mirrored a scene in which the titular hero kills a target by shooting from a basement up through a sink drain. He went so far as to screen the film for Suzuki when the two met in Tokyo.[26][27] Critics have noted Branded to Kill's influence on the films of Wong Kar-wai, such as his 1995 hitman film Fallen Angels,[28] as well as Johnnie To's 2001 Fulltime Killer.[29] It is also spoofed in Takeshi Kitano's 1995 Getting Any?.
In 2001, Suzuki directed a sequel, Pistol Opera. It loosely continues the original's premise, in which hitmen try to kill each other in competition for the rank of Number One Killer. The character Goro Hanada returns as a mentor figure for the new Number Three, played by Makiko Esumi. However, Hanada is played by Mikijiro Hira in place of Joe Shishido. Suzuki has said that the original intent was for Shishido to play the character again but that the film's producer, Satoru Ogura, wanted Hira instead. The reasons for this remain unclear.[30] Reviews were of a favourable nature equal to its predecessor. Jonathan Rosenbaum asked, "Can I call a film a masterpiece without being sure that I understand it? I think so ..."[31] Although Elvis Mitchell maintained its zeal fell slightly short of the original.[32]
Home Video
Branded to Kill was initially made available in Japan by Nikkatsu in VHS format, first on February 10, 1987, then a second version on June 10, 1994. A DVD was released on October 26, 2001 in a series linked to the Style to Kill retrospective. In conjunction with the Seijun Suzuki 48 Film Challenge, it was included in the first of two 6 film box sets which was released October 26, 2006.
The first North American copies surfaced in the early 1990s at Kim's Video in New York in a video series titled Dark of the Sun devoted to obscure Asian cinema, assembled by John Zorn,[33] albeit without English subtitles.[34] The Criterion Collection released the film on laserdisc in 1998,[35] followed by a DVD on February 23, 1999, both containing a 15 minute interview with Suzuki, poster gallery of Shishido films and liner notes by Zorn.[36] Home Vision Cinema release a VHS version on June 16, 2000. Both companies conjunctively released Tokyo Drifter in all three formats in addition to a VHS collection packaging the two films together.[37]
In the United Kingdom, Second Sight Films released a DVD on February 25, 2002 and a VHS on March 11, 2002.[38] Yume Pictures released a new DVD version on February 26, 2007 as a part of their Suzuki collection, featuring an interview with the director, trailer gallery and liner notes by Tony Rayns.[39]
Soundtrack
Untitled | |
---|---|
Forty years after the film's original release, on February 23, 2007, the Japanese record label Think reissued the soundtrack on Compact Disc through its Cine Jazz series, which focuses on 1960s Nikkatsu action films. The music was culled from Naozumi Yamamoto's score. Listings 27 through 29 are bonus tracks.[40][41]
Track listing
No. | Transliteration | Japanese title | Romanization |
---|---|---|---|
1. | Killing Blues (theme song) | 殺しのブルース (主題歌) | Koroshi no bubrūsu (shudaika) |
2. | Scotch and Hardboiled Rice Part 1 | スコッチとハードボイルド米pt1 | Sukocchi to haado boirudo kome paato wan |
3. | Scotch and Hardboiled Rice Part 2 | スコッチとハードボイルド米pt2 | Sukocchi to haado boirudo kome paato tsū |
4. | A Corpse in the Backseat | 死体バックシート | Shitai bakku shiito |
5. | The Hanada Bop | ハナダ・バップ | Hanada bappu |
6. | Flame On Part 1 | フレーム・オンpt1 | Fureimu on paato wan |
7. | Flame On Part 2 | フレーム・オンpt2 | Fureimu on paato tsū |
8. | Manhater Part 1 | 男嫌いpt1 | Otokogirai paato wan |
9. | Manhater Part 2 | 男嫌いpt2 | Otokogirai paato 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) | Yajū dōshi (Kedamono dōshi) |
13. | The Butterfly's Stinger Part 1 | 蝶の毒針pt1 | Chō no dokushin paato wan |
14. | The Butterfly's Stinger Part 2 | 蝶の毒針pt2 | Chō no dokushin paato tsū |
15. | Hanada's Stinger Part 1 | ハナダの針pt1 | Hanada no hari paato wan |
16. | Hanada's Stinger Part 2 | ハナダの針pt2 | Hanada no hari paato 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 burandei |
19. | Killing Blues (humming version) | 殺しのブルース (humming vers.) | Koroshi no bubrūsu (hamingu baajon) |
20. | Breakwater Shootout | 防波堤の撃合い | Bouhatei 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. | Beast Needs Beast | 獣は獣のように | Kedamono wa kedamono noyōni |
24. | Number One's Cry | ナンバーワンの叫び | Nanbaa wan no sakebi |
25. | Destiny on the Tape Recorder | テープレコーダーは運命の轍 | Teipu rekōdaa wa unmei no wadachi |
26. | Killing Blues (ending theme) (Yamatoya Atsushi) |
殺しのブルース (エンディングテーマ) (大和屋竺) |
Koroshi no burūsu (endingu teima) (Yamatoya Atsushi) |
27. | Title (karaoke version) | タイトル (カラオケ vers.) | Taitoru (karaoke baajon) |
28. | Ending (karaoke version) | エンディング (カラオケ vers.) | Endingu (karaoke baajon) |
29. | Title (sans serif version) | タイトル (セリフなし vers.) | Taitoru (serifu nashi baajon) |
References
- ^ a b c d e Suzuki, Seijun (interviewee) (1999). Branded to Kill interview (DVD). The Criterion Collection.
- ^ Many reviewers and viewers, including Tony Rayns, suggest that Hanada dies at the end of the film. This is supported by that fact that he is shot several times, including a visible wound to the chest above the heart, before he falls out of the ring and that yakuza film conventions stipulate the hero die at the film's end. However, if the ending theme's lyrics and sound effects are to be taken literally, he escapes through "broken glass" and survives for the character's return in the sequel.
- ^ a b D., Chris (2005). "Seijun Suzuki". Outlaw Masters of Japanese Film. I.B. Tauris. pp. p. 142. ISBN 1-84511-086-2.
{{cite book}}
:|pages=
has extra text (help) - ^ a b c Ueno, Kohshi. "Suzuki Battles Nikkatsu". The Films of Seijun Suzuki. Cinefiles. pp. p. 8. Retrieved 2007-04-02.
{{cite web}}
:|pages=
has extra text (help) - ^ a b c Brown, Don. "Suzuki Seijun: Still Killing". Japan Film News. Ryuganji.net. Retrieved 2007-04-03.
- ^ Suzuki, Seijun (interviewee) (1999). Tokyo Drifter interview (DVD). The Criterion Collection.
- ^ a b Richie, Donald (2005). A Hundred Years of Japanese Film: A Concise History, with a Selective Guide to DVDs and Videos. Kodansha International. pp. p. 108. ISBN 4-77002-995-0.
{{cite book}}
:|pages=
has extra text (help) - ^ Sharp, Jasper (2005). "Interview: Jo Shishido and Toshio Masuda". Midnight Eye. Retrieved 2007-04-15.
{{cite web}}
: Unknown parameter|coauthors=
ignored (|author=
suggested) (help); Unknown parameter|month=
ignored (help) - ^ Trifonova, Temenuga (2006). "Cinematic Cool: Jean-Pierre Melville's Le Samouraï". Sense of Cinema. Retrieved 2007-04-11.
{{cite web}}
: Unknown parameter|month=
ignored (help) - ^ a b c Sharp, Jasper (2001). "Review: Branded to Kill". Midnight Eye. Retrieved 2007-04-11.
{{cite web}}
: Unknown parameter|month=
ignored (help) - ^ a b c d
Chute, David (1994). "Branded to Thrill". Branded to Thrill: The Delirious Cinema of Suzuki Seijun. Institute of Contemporary Arts. pp. pp. 11-17. ISBN 0-905263-44-8.
{{cite book}}
:|pages=
has extra text (help) (available online, missing p. 2 for which the text can be found in an earlier version available here) - ^ a b c Rayns, Tony (1994). "1967: Branded to Kill". Branded to Thrill: The Delirious Cinema of Suzuki Seijun. Institute of Contemporary Arts. pp. p. 42. ISBN 0-905263-44-8.
{{cite book}}
:|pages=
has extra text (help) (available online) - ^ Teo, Stephen (2000). "Seijun Suzuki: Authority in Minority". Sense of Cinema. Retrieved 2007-04-16.
{{cite web}}
: Unknown parameter|month=
ignored (help) - ^ "殺しの烙印" (in Japanese). Japanese Movie Database. Retrieved 2007-04-02.
- ^ Willemen, Paul. "The Films of Seijun Suzuki". The Films of Seijun Suzuki. Cinefiles. pp. p. 1. Retrieved 2007-04-02.
{{cite web}}
:|pages=
has extra text (help) - ^ a b Rayns, Tony (1994). "Biography". Branded to Thrill: The Delirious Cinema of Suzuki Seijun. Institute of Contemporary Arts. pp. p. 46. ISBN 0-905263-44-8.
{{cite book}}
:|pages=
has extra text (help) (available online) - ^ a b Rayns, Tony. "Branded to Kill". Cinefiles. Retrieved 2007-04-03.
- ^ Hampton, Howard. "Four play - Japanese movie director Seijun Suzuki". Find Articles. Retrieved 2007-04-11.
- ^ Rosenbaum, Jonathan. "Branded to Kill Capsule". Chicago Reader. Retrieved 2007-04-03.
- ^ a b Zorn, John (1999). "Branded to Kill". The Criterion Collection. Retrieved 2007-04-03.
- ^ Machiyama, Tomohiro (2004). "Tarintino Interview". Japattack. pp. p. 2. Retrieved 2007-04-13.
{{cite web}}
:|pages=
has extra text (help); Unknown parameter|month=
ignored (help) - ^ Blaise, Judd. "Branded to Kill". The New York Times. Retrieved 2007-04-11.
- ^ Hertzberg, Ludvig. "Innocent Influences, Guilty Pleasures". The Jim Jarmusch Resource Page. Retrieved 2007-04-13.
- ^ Kermode, Mark (2006). "Well, I told you she was different ..." Guardian Unlimited. Retrieved 2007-04-13.
{{cite web}}
: Unknown parameter|month=
ignored (help) - ^ Andrew, Geoff (1999). "Jim Jarmusch interviewed by Geoff Andrew (III)". Guardian Unlimited. Retrieved 2007-04-03.
{{cite web}}
: Unknown parameter|month=
ignored (help) - ^ Wilonsky, Robert (2000). "The Way of Jim Jarmusch". Miami New Times. Retrieved 2007-04-03.
{{cite web}}
: Unknown parameter|month=
ignored (help) - ^ "Indie reservation". Guardian Unlimited. 2001. Retrieved 2007-04-13.
{{cite web}}
: Unknown parameter|month=
ignored (help) - ^ Kurei, Hibiki. "Deep Seijun". Real Tokyo. Retrieved 2007-04-03.
- ^ Grady, Pam. "Fulltime Killer DVD Review". Reel.com. Retrieved 2007-04-03.
- ^ Mes, Tom (2001). "Review: Pistol Opera". Midnight Eye. Retrieved 2007-03-18.
{{cite web}}
: Unknown parameter|month=
ignored (help) - ^ Rosenbaum, Jonathan (2003). "Review: Pistol Opera". Chicago Reader. Retrieved 2007-04-16.
{{cite web}}
: Unknown parameter|month=
ignored (help) - ^ Mitchell, Elvis (2003). "Assassination Tangos". The Village Voice. Retrieved 2007-04-16.
{{cite web}}
: Unknown parameter|month=
ignored (help) - ^ Chute, David. "Branded to Thrill". Cinefiles. pp. p. 3. Retrieved 2007-04-06.
{{cite web}}
:|pages=
has extra text (help) - ^ Price, Ed (1993). ""Guts of a Virgin"". John Zorn and film. WNUR-FM Jazz Web. Retrieved 2007-04-06.
{{cite web}}
: Unknown parameter|month=
ignored (help) - ^ Pratt, Doug (1998). "Branded to Kill". DVDLaser.com. Retrieved 2007-04-05.
{{cite web}}
: Unknown parameter|month=
ignored (help) - ^ Erickson, Glenn (2002). "Branded to Kill". DVD Talk. Retrieved 2007-04-05.
{{cite web}}
: Unknown parameter|month=
ignored (help) - ^ "The Seijun Suzuki Prepack". Internet Archive. 2002. Retrieved 2007-04-05.
{{cite web}}
: Unknown parameter|month=
ignored (help) - ^ Foster, Dave (2002). "Branded to Kill". DVD Times. Retrieved 2007-04-05.
{{cite web}}
: Unknown parameter|month=
ignored (help) - ^ "Yume Pictures Announce Seijun Suzuki and Yasuzo Masumura Line-up". JP Review. 2006. Retrieved 2007-04-05.
{{cite web}}
: Unknown parameter|month=
ignored (help) - ^ "「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. 2007. Retrieved 2007-04-06.
{{cite web}}
: Unknown parameter|month=
ignored (help) - ^ "「殺しの烙印」オリジナル・サウンドトラック" (in Japanese). CD Journal. Retrieved 2007-04-06.
External links
- Criterion Collection essay by John Zorn
- Branded to Kill at IMDb
- Branded to Kill at AllMovie
- Branded to Kill at Rotten Tomatoes
- Template:Ja icon Branded to Kill at the Japanese Movie Database