Branded to Kill (1967)

☆ ☆ ☆ ½

Branded to Kill (1967) – S. Suzuki

Not sure if Seijun Suzuki was on acid or insane when he made this film.  Branded to Kill is less a coherent narrative and more an opportunity for weird and audacious stylistic choices.  Sure, it’s about a hit-man and a bungled job but there is barely enough plot to hold onto here (don’t even try!).  Instead, it’s best to let the cinemascope images wash over you – or arrest you.  There isn’t really a consistent style – pop art is what the critics say – but instead a variety of different choices:  POV shots, shots from above, truly odd angles, experiments with light and darkness, odd patterns laid over the shot, large close ups, distant wide-shots, basically the whole gamut with an emphasis on weird.  Obtuse sex and violence figure prominently.  The problem with all this, even though it can be exhilarating, is that it is just all piled on with no attention to plot or characterization.  It feels…abstract and distancing.  So, in that respect, the film simply falls apart.  Suzuki lost his job because of this one.