Cover art for The Criterion Collection releases of BRANDED TO KILL and TOKYO DRIFTER. Photos courtesy of The Criterion Collection. © 1966-67 Nikkatsu CorporationNew Editions of BRANDED TO KILL and TOKYO DRIFTER Coming in December Source: The Criterion Collection, Image Entertainment Special Thanks to Jonathan Saba On December 13th, The Criterion Collection will reissue BRANDED TO KILL (?????, Koroshi no Rakuin, 1967) and TOKYO DRIFTER (?????, Tokyo Nagaremono, 1966) in new high-definition, digital restored DVD and Blu-ray editions. Both films were directed by Seijun Suzuki at the end of his tenure at Nikkatsu. The studio found Suzuki`s work “incomprehensible” but TOKYO DRIFTER and BRANDED TO KILL are now seen as high-water marks from the Japanese New Wave movement of the 1960s.
BRANDED TO KILL
Yakuza assassin Goro Hanada (Joe Shishido) and friends. Photo courtesy of The Criterion Collection. © 1967 Nikkatsu CorporationWhen 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 (Joe Shishido, the chipmunk-cheeked superstar from GATE OF FLESH) with a fetish for sniffing boiled rice 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. "Always witty, inventive, and dazzling to look at." — Geoff Andrew, Time Out "One of the most bizarre movies ever made, a wildly perverse and incredibly stylish one-of-a-kind deconstructionist yakuza thriller!" — TV Guide Director: Seijun Suzuki Cast: Joe Shishido, Mariko Ogawa, Annu Mari, Koji Nanbara 1967 • 91 minutes • Black & White • PCM Monaural • In Japanese with English subtitles • 2.35:1 aspect ratio (16x9 enhanced) Genres: Action/Adventure, Yakuza Rating: Not Rated Number of Disc: 1 SPECIAL FEATURES • New high-definition digital restoration with uncompressed monaural soundtrack • Video interviews with director Seijun Suzuki and Masami Kuzuu • Interview with Suzuki from 1997 • New interview with actor Joe Shishido • Original theatrical trailer • New and improved English subtitle translation • Booklet featuring an essay by critic and historian Tony Rayns BLU-RAY EDITION Catalog #: CC2087BD UPC: 715515090414 MSRP: $39.95 Release Date: 12/13/2011 DVD EDITION Catalog #: CC2088DDVD UPC: 715515090513 MSRP: $29.95 Release Date: 12/13/2011 SPINE #38
Photo courtesy of The Criterion Collection. © 1967 Nikkatsu CorporationTOKYO DRIFTER
Chiharu (Chieko Matsubara) and In this jazzy gangster film, reformed killer Phoenix Tetsu’s attempt to go straight is squashed when his former cohorts call him back to Tokyo to help battle a rival gang. This onslaught of stylized violence and trippy colors got director Seijun Suzuki in trouble with Nikkatsu studio heads, who were put off by his anything-goes, in-your-face aesthetic, equal parts Russ Meyer, Samuel Fuller, and Nagisa Oshima. TOKYO DRIFTER is a delirious highlight of the brilliantly excessive Japanese cinema of the sixties. "Thrilling—jaw-dropping eye-popping fantasia." — Manohla Dargis "Inspired lunacy." — Geoff Andrew, Time Out Director: Seijun Suzuki Cast: Tetsuya Watari, Chieko Matsubara, Hideaki Nitani, Tamio Kawachi, Tsuyoshi Yoshida 1966 • 82 minutes • Color • PCM Monaural • In Japanese with English subtitles • 2.35:1 aspect ratio (16x9 enhanced) Genres: Action/Adventure, Yakuza Rating: Not Rated Number of Disc: 1 SPECIAL FEATURES • New high-definition digital restoration with uncompressed monaural soundtrack • Video interviews with director Seijun Suzuki and Masami Kuzuu • Interview with Suzuki from 1997 • Original theatrical trailer • New and improved English subtitle translation • Booklet featuring an essay by film critic Howard Hampton BLU-RAY EDITION Catalog #: CC2085BD UPC: 715515090612 MSRP: $39.95 Release Date: 12/13/2011 DVD EDITION Catalog #: CC2086DDVD UPC: 715515090711 MSRP: $29.95 Release Date: 12/13/2011 SPINE #39
Tetsu takes on a rival gang in Tokyo. Photo courtesy of The Criterion Collection. © 1966 Nikkatsu CorporationAbout The Criterion Collection
Since 1984, the Criterion Collection, a continuing series of important classic and contemporary films, has been dedicated to gathering the greatest films from around the world and publishing them in editions that offer the highest technical quality and award-winning, original supplements. Each film is presented uncut, in its original aspect ratio, as its maker intended it to be seen. Criterion tracks down the best available film elements in the world, uses state-of-the-art telecine equipment and a select few colorists capable of meeting our rigorous standards, then takes time during the film-to-video digital transfer to create the most pristine possible image and sound. Supplements enable viewers to appreciate Criterion films in context, through audio commentaries by filmmakers and scholars, restored director’s cuts, deleted scenes, documentaries, shooting scripts, early shorts, and storyboards. To date, more than 150 filmmakers have made Criterion`s library of Director Approved DVDs, Blu-ray discs, and laserdiscs the most significant archive of contemporary filmmaking available to the home viewer.