Branded to Kill

Branded to Kill

Directed by Seijun Suzuki • 1967 • Japan
Starring Joe Shishido, Koji Nanbara, Isao Tamagawa

When Japanese New Wave bad boy Seijun Suzuki delivered this brutal, hilarious, and visually inspired masterpiece to the executives at his studio, he was promptly fired. BRANDED TO KILL tells the ecstatically bent story of a yakuza assassin with a fetish for sniffing steamed rice (the chipmunk-cheeked superstar Joe Shishido) who botches a job and ends up a target himself. This is Suzuki at his most extreme—the flabbergasting pinnacle of his sixties pop-art aesthetic.

Branded to Kill
  • Branded to Kill

    Directed by Seijun Suzuki • 1967 • Japan

    When Japanese New Wave bad boy Seijun Suzuki delivered this brutal, hilarious, and visually inspired masterpiece to the executives at his studio, he was promptly fired. Branded to Kill tells the ecstatically bent story of a yakuza assassin with a fetish f...

Extras

  • Seijun Suzuki and Masami Kuzuu on BRANDED TO KILL

    In this interview, recorded in July 2011, director Seijun Suzuki and assistant director Masami Kuzuu recall the production and release of BRANDED TO KILL.

  • Joe Shishido on BRANDED TO KILL

    This interview with BRANDED TO KILL star Joe Shishido was recorded in July 2011.

  • Seijun Suzuki

    The following interview with director Seijun Suzuki was recorded during a retrospective of his work by the Japan Foundation and Los Angeles Filmforum at the Nuart Theatre in Los Angeles in March 1997.