Tokyo Drifter

In the waning days of Japan's studio system, Suzuki, who never turned down a script, got this little piece of generic B-movie yakuza junk. But instead of making a generic film, he took everything out of the script that didn't make for a cool scene in his head and just left in the bits that had visual potential. Then he just let his art department go crazy, giving the sets bizarre impressionistic colours and layouts and lit them just as strangely, just going for flat-out style. It works.

This movie is fun. But dumb. But fun. But really dumb. The plot is pretty much incomprehensible and at times it just feels silly, not cool. It's entertaining, but not much else.

I found it almost impossible to follow the plot in the first half hour or so. The story got a bit more comprehensible after that, but even at the end I wasn't sure who was dead or alive and who betrayed who. None of it matters much anyway, 'cause Suzuki is all about the style. Once again the very end is the best part of the film.

Japanese gangster Suspiria

"Branded to Kill" had a philosophy behind it: death drive of the character and search of meaning through endless challenges with a pop-art style. This one fails to build up an elaborate character, nor an interesting and thrilling plot. Plus, it even lacks the originality of the former's style. All coming together makes this a little more than absolute thrash. Sorry Suzuki, I love you but this one is too sloppy.

Tetsu "the Phoenix" (Tetsuya Watari) joins with his boss (Ryuji Kita) in attempting to go legitimate and leave the yakuza lifestyle behind, but their rivals aren't about to make that easy for them. A cult by virtue of its madcap mise-en-scene and startling use of color, it does provide a fair amount of eye candy throughout, but not enough to overcome the lack of dramatic strength; in the end, despite its brief running time and undeniable high points, it grows tedious.

Tokyo Drifter operates less as a movie and more of a meditation on the themes of loyalty and honor in yakuza eiga. Suzuki gets a lot of flak for making "incomprehensible" movies, but I don't think that's entirely fair. This plot is a fairly generic "former hitman on the run" story, which most of his movies are anyway. Drifter is very, very different because it shows Suzuki finally losing his last fuck, and having no more to give. Visually stunning, and pretty important too.

Respect it for being so ahead of its time, but don't enjoy it very much.

Extremely raw and wild. It's pretty much all style and no substance, but the end result is a very entertaining and unique film.

For a film that's only 80 minutes long, it seems to take forever to get through. It looks good, sure, but the plot is incomprehensible and just difficult to follow, considering it's such a simple idea...i think.

I liked it. It's got a unique and eclectic style with a new wave feel and it's a pretty fun.

Does it make a lick of sense? Nope. Did it stop me from enjoying it a helluva lot? Nope. Not nearly as great as Branded to Kill though.

Great final sequence.

The plot is all over the place and although there are some nice, stylized scenes, this didn't do it for me. Nice bar fight though.

The plot IS impossible to follow. The style does make up for a bit of it, but I need a lot more character development than this gave me. I just didn't care about anybody very much.

One of the best kitsch experiences I've ever had!

Not as zany and surreal as Branded to Kill, but still pretty good.

This film started well and was going fine until the bar fight seen where it all went a bit silly.All in all it wasnt a bad film with some great sets and use of colours providing some good visuals.

It's stylish, but unlike "Branded to Kill", where one can truly immerse oneself in the totality of style, and style becomes the substance, "Tokyo Drifter" is a more script-reliant yakuza film and its visual beauty doesn't quite cover up the mediocrity of the script.

A unique yakuza film that has a tremendous sense of style — especially in the use of color and the set design but also in the hyper-kinetic action sequences — but the editing is so haphazard and the way that the narrative is told is kind of a mess, frankly. It's less style over substance and more style with jumbled, sloppy substance. I wish I was able to actively enjoy it more instead of mostly finding the experience frustrating.

As we follow every gangster in Japan trying to get a piece of Tetsu the Phoenix, in Tokyo and in the countryside, lotta beautiful and colorful shit happens all the time. People dancing in jazz clubs, Chiharu, Tetsu's love interest -- although he resists staying with her -- singing, punching and gunfighting and double-crossing. All in a vivid, unique fashion featuring amazing camerawork and flashy action stuff you just wouldn't see easily in any other film.

Good looking movie with a curious editing style. That probably explains its continuing cultural cachet. The dialogue and story came across as childish.

It's all about the style. Definitely an inspiration for heaps of directors known now.

Hard to follow at times but overall pretty damn solid.

The aesthetics are SO good and the story is SUCH nonsense

I had to adjust to get into this one. Firstly because the scheming at the start is incomprehensible, tho the plot later reveals itself to be very simple. . Secondly and most importantly, because of the artificial style that differs from the previous Suzuki's more conventional genre movies. With its empty sets, posed mis-en-scenes, bright colors, big jumps in editing and repeating folkpop theme song, this produces the ultimate pop art musical version of the so-called "borderless action" movie.

Magnificent assault on both pre-Capitalist traditionalism and Capitalist materialism, throwing shade on both while undermining the conventions of its genre and Bougeois Modernity. I don't get the complaints about the plot's incomprehensibility. I found it straightforward.

Gonzo yakuza film where the noble samurai -- I mean, bodyguard thug -- chooses to walk a more respectable path, although he keeps getting tempted by events and people that try to drag him back into the underworld (including a beautiful lounge singer who only knows one song). Suzuki himself seemed to know the plot was filled with interchangeable characters, so each of them tend to wear identifiable clothes in every shot. Enjoyable enough, especially the stylized ending.

Definitivamente não é todo dia que você vê um filme de yakuza que é um musical estilizado ao mesmo tempo. Box Versátil A Arte de Seijun Suzuki.

That was... alright I guess. Apart from a handful of striking scenes, the visuals didn't really do much for me, and the combination of colorfully vivid, dramatic lighting, obviously fake, stagey, sets, soap opera levels of melodrama, and constant singing gave me a weird Hollywood/Broadway musical vibe - not really my thing. Maybe it was just a case of me expectations being in the completely wrong place but I honestly felt like I was watching West Side Story instead of a serious crime drama.

great song.

There are certainly moments where the plot goes off the rails and things just happen that make you scratch your head, wondering why they thought it would be cool to include that. But it's also stylish, jazz-influenced and Yakuza... so it has that going for it. When it sticks to its strengths, it's really awesome, but the leaps in logic/sense keeps it from being a truly amazing movie. Still, most of the movie is gorgeous but some scenes are awe-inspiring.

"Tokyo Drifter's" strength lies not in its narrative or its cohesion, but in the sheer creativity behind its presentation, photography, and visual style--from black-and-white to contrasting hues of color.

Despite its outstanding style, I admired the spirit behind the film more than the film itself.

85.500

An acid dream !

A japanese jazz-infused stylish noir tale about rival gangs with one man caught in the middle. What's not to like?

Really cool gangster film, if I saw this a couple years ago I really would've loved it. Anyway, it's mostly style that makes this one great, not that that's a bad thing. A bunch of fantastic visuals, good scenes and the occasional moment of badass silliness.

Sweet art direction.

I thought of Tarantino while watching this (especially the more B-movie expressions+creative filmmaking aspects of the film). My guess is you have to like filmmaking to get into this, so fans of more mainstream crime/action films should probably avoid this.

This movie rules so hard.

Tokyo Drifter's balls-to-the-wall attitude more than make up for its choppy editing and gimmicky cinematography. The bloody climactic battle had me laughing with glee.

Classic 60's yakuza flick about Tetsu, a former gangster who gets drawn back into the criminal life when a rival gang tries to swindle his ex-boss. He spends most of his time brooding or brawling, or hanging out at the club with his lounge singer girlfriend. It's a pretty standard tale of tough guys, double crosses and revenge but it's visually inspired. Suzuki makes use of spare sets with bright colors and creative lighting to give it a unique look, and the theme music is excellent.

Yet another Seijun Suzuki flick that creaks and groans until its visually dazzling conclusion, this time an amazing set piece. Again, if you have the patience, the climax alone is well worth the price of admission. Still looking forward to Branded to Kill, as it seems to be the favorite around here.

I really liked the photography. The beginning and ending scenes were especially beautiful.

L'intrigue est confuse et semble relativement peu intéressante, mais elle est un excellent prétexte à des scènes toujours porté par la recherche du "cool", et, ici, l'esthétique de Suziki est peut-être ici à son apogée.

This really grew on me. I love a stylish exaggeration on genre conventions.

I'll have to watch it again to catch the details of the plot, but this one sure was a lot of fun.

Best theme song ever written.

I might have liked it better if I could make any sense of it.

The direction and photography are bizarre, but so bold that you can't help but have a lot of fun. There are times when it seems like a bit too much for its own good, and sometimes I laughed when I don't think I was supposed to, but mostly it's just really cool.

The beginning is far out but the plot is not as crazy as many have made it out to be. It actually makes quite a bit of sense, but perhaps you've had to of seen a lot of Japanese gangster flix to really understand it. The only real problems this film has is its lack of budget and production time.

bizarre pop-art-yakuza-movie-musical. love it!

Maybe the best bar brawl on film.