303- Branded To Kill (1967)

Rating: 7.4
Runtime: 91
Language: Japanese / hardcoded English subs
Country: Japan
Color: Black & White
IMDb Link: http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0061882/

Director: Seijun Suzuki
Cast:
Jo Shishido ... Hanada Goro
Mariko Ogawa ... Mami Hanada
Anne Mari ... Misako
Koji Nambara ... Number 1 Killer
Isao Tamagawa ... Michihiko Yabuhara
Hiroshi Minami ... Gihei Kasuga

Description: Goro Hanada, a hitman who is sexually aroused by the smell of boiling rice, is recruited by a mysterious woman for a mission. Things go awry (as they tend to in these movies) and he finds himself on the run from the phantom "Number One Killer"

The plot sounds simple enough, but "Branded To Kill" is about as close to traditional Yakuza pictures as Godard’s "Alphaville" is to science fiction. "Branded to Kill" is a cinematic masterpiece that transcends its genre.

Suzuki paid a price for his brilliance, however, and was fired for “incomprehensibility” and "making movies which make no sense and no money" (aren't those always the best kind of movies, though?)

After BTK he was unable to find work in film for ten years. This blacklisting had the effect, however, of making him a countercultural hero.

This film is his seminal work; a genre film where the genre is merely a point of departure. Film critics and enthusiasts now regard it as an absurdist masterpiece. While the critics were busy fawning over names like Kurosawa and Ozu, Suzuki, especially his late works for Nikkatsu - unsuccessful and unnoticed at the time - went on to influence the next generation of Japanese "genre absurdists" like Takeshi Miike. As his cult grew filmmakers outside Japan began discovering his work, and he's been cited by a veritable "who's who" of cult directors like Jim Jarmusch, Chan-wook Park and Quentin Tarantino, just to name a few. He's a bit like a Japanese Samuel Fuller, crossed with a Japanese Godard.

Download Links:
http://rapidshare.com/files/88149486/BrandedToKill.part1.rar
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http://rapidshare.com/files/88204850/BrandedToKill.part6.rar
http://rapidshare.com/files/88208971/BrandedToKill.part7.rar

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