BRANDED TO KILL

is a 1967 Japanese yakuza film directed by Seijun Suzuki and produced by the Nikkatsu Company. The film stars Joe Shishido as Goro Hanada, the Number Three Killer; Mariko Ogawa as Mami Hanada, his wife; Koji Nanbara as his client; and Annu Mari as Misako Nakajo, the fatalistic femme. The story follows Goro Hanada in his life as a contract killer. He falls in love with Misako who recruits him for a seemingly impossible mission. When the mission fails he becomes hunted by the phantom Number One Killer, whose methods threaten his sanity as much as his life.
The film was the 40th and final feature Suzuki directed for Nikkatsu. After its release on June 15, 1967, he was fired for making "movies that make no sense and no money". The ensuing lawsuit, protests and blacklisting made him into a counterculture hero. ''Branded to Kill'' first reached international audiences through the 1980s and 1990s at film festivals and retrospectives and by home video releases. Critics acknowledged the film for its unconventional style and confusing narrative. It has influenced filmmakers such as Jim Jarmusch, John Woo, Chan-wook Park, and Quentin Tarantino.
Suzuki directed the sequel ''Pistol Opera'' (2001). Nikkatsu included ''Branded to Kill'' in ''Style to Kill'' (2001) and ''Seijun Suzuki 48 Film Challenge'' (2006), two major theatrical retrospectives spotlighting the director.

Contents

Plot

Cast

Production

Style

Reception

Legacy

Home video

Soundtrack

Track listing

References

External links

Plot

Goro Hanada, the Japanese underworld's third-ranked hitman, and his wife, Mami, fly into Tokyo and are met by Kasuga, a former hitman turned taxi driver. Kasuga petitions Hanada to assist him in breaking back into the profession. Hanada agrees and the three go to a club owned by the yakuza boss Michihiko Yabuhara. The two men are hired to escort a client from Sagami Beach to Nagano. After the meeting, Yabuhara covertly seduces Hanada's wife. Hanada and Kasuga pick up the client and proceed towards their destination. En route Hanada spots an ambush. He dispatches a number of gunmen while Kasuga panics and flails about in hysterics. Foaming at the mouth he charges an ambusher, Koh, the fourth-ranked hitman, and they kill each other. Hanada leaves the client to secure Koh's car but hears three gunshots and rushes back to find the client is safe and three additional ambushers have been shot cleanly through the forehead. At a second ambush, Hanada kills more gunmen and sets Sakura, the second-ranked hitman, on fire. Sakura madly charges towards the client but is shot dead by him. Hanada's car breaks down on his way home. Misako, a mysterious woman with a deathwish, stops and gives him a ride. At home, he has rough sex with his wife, fueled by his obsession with sniffing boiling rice.

Yabuhara hires Hanada to kill four men, the first three being a customs officer, an ocularist and a jewellery dealer. Misako then appears at his door and offers him a nearly impossible contract to kill a foreigner, which he cannot refuse. During the job a butterfly lands on the barrel of his rifle causing him to miss his target and kill an innocent bystander. Misako tells him that, he will now lose his rank and be killed. Hanada makes plans to leave the country but is shot by his wife who then sets fire to their apartment and flees. However, his belt buckle stopped the bullet and he escapes the building. He finds Misako and they go to her apartment. After alternating failed attempts by him to seduce her and them to kill each other she succumbs to his advances when he promises to kill her. Afterward, he finds he cannot as he has fallen in love with her. In a state of confusion, he wanders the streets and passes out on the side of the road. The next day he finds his wife at Yabuhara's club. She tries to seduce him, then fakes hysteria and tells him Yabuhara paid her to kill him and that the three men he had killed stole from Yabuhara's diamond smuggling operation and the foreigner was an investigator sent by the supplier. Unmoved, Hanada kills her then gets drunk and waits for Yabuhara to return. Yabuhara arrives already dead with a bullet hole through the centre of his forehead.
Hanada returns to Misako's apartment where a film projector has been set up. It depicts Misako bound and tortured, then his former client who directs him to a breakwater the next day where he will be killed. Hanada submits to the demand but kills the killers instead. The former client arrives and announces himself the legendary Number One Killer. He says he will kill Hanada but, in thanks for the work he has done, is only giving a warning at present. Hanada holds up in Misako's apartment and Number One begins an extended siege, taunting Hanada with threatening phone calls and forbidding him to leave the apartment. Eventually, Number One moves in with the now exhausted and inebriated Hanada under the pretext that he is deciding how to kill him. They agree to a temporary truce and set times to eat, sleep and, later, to link arms everywhere they go. Number One suggests they eat out one day and then disappears during the meal. At the apartment, Hanada finds a note and another film from Number One stating he will be waiting at a gymnasium with Misako. He decides to kill Number One and claim the top rank. Hanada waits at the gymnasium but Number One does not show. As a bedraggled Hanada rises to leave, a tape recorder switches on explaining, "This is the way Number One works", he exhausts you and then kills you. Hanada puts a headband across his forehead and climbs into a boxing ring. Number One appears and shoots him. The headband stops the bullet and Hanada returns fire. Number One slumps to the ground but manages to shoot him a few times before dying. Hanada leaps around the ring declaring himself the new Number One. Misako enters the arena and, crazed, he instinctively shoots her dead then falls from the ring.^[1]

Cast

★ Joe Shishido as Goro Hanada, the Number Three Killer: a hitman with a fetish for the smell of boiling rice. He is gainfully employed by the yakuza until a butterfly lands on the barrel of his riffle during a "Devil's job". He misses his target and is marked for death—then descending into a world of alcohol and paranoia. Shishido has been called the face of Suzuki's films, owing in part to their frequent collaborations, this being among the most prominent. After middling success in Nikkatsu melodramas he underwent plastic surgery, enlarging his cheeks several sizes. He returned to tremendous success as a heavy and, soon thereafter, a star. Interview: Jo Shishido and Toshio Masuda

★ Koji Nanbara as the Number One Killer: the legendary hitman whose existence remains a subject of debate. Incognito, he employs the yakuza to provide bodyguards. Later, he reappears with the intention of killing Hanada, first trapping him in an apartment, then moving in with him, before their final showdown in a public gymnasium.

★ Isao Tamagawa as Michihiko Yabuhara: the yakuza boss that hires Hanada and seduces his wife. Upon the discovery that his diamond smuggling operation has been burgled, he employs Hanada to execute the guilty parties then adds him to the list when he flubs the job. His final appearance is with a bullet hole in his head.

★ Annu Mari as Misako Nakajo: the femme fatale with a penchant for dead butterflies and birds. She picks Hanada up in her open top convertible when his car breaks down in the rain. Under Yabuhara's direction she enlists him to kill a foreigner. She attempts to kill Hanada but falls in love with him, which instigates her capture and use as bait by Number One. Mari has said she was experiencing suicidal urges at the time she first read the script and the character captivated her. "I loved her name, but it was her first line 'My dream is to die' that had a profound impact on me. It was like lightning."

★ Mariko Ogawa as Mami Hanada: Hanada's wife who has a predilection towards walking around the house nude. Shortly after meeting Yabuhara she enters an affair with him. When her husband's career sours she attempts mariticide and flees—to be confronted later at Yabuhara's club.

★ Hiroshi Minami as Gihei Kasuga: formerly a ranked hitman who lost his nerve and took to drinking. After introducing Hanada to Yabuhara he joins the former in a dangerous chauffeur mission. His nerves get the better of him and he experiences a short-lived mental breakdown.

Production

Producer Kaneo Iwai planned ''Branded to Kill'' for Nikkatsu. The film was conceived as a low-budget hitman film, a subgenre of the studio's yakuza-oriented movies.^[2] Nikkatsu's standard B movie shooting schedule was applied, one week for pre-production, 25 days to shoot and three days for post-production. The budget was approximately 20 million yen.
Shortly before filming began, with the release date already set, the script was deemed "inappropriate" by the head office and contract director Seijun Suzuki was brought in to do a rewrite. Studio head Kyusaku Hori told Suzuki he had had to read it twice before he understood it. Suzuki suggested they drop the script but was ordered to proceed. Suzuki Battles Nikkatsu The rewrite was done with his frequent collaborator Takeo Kimura and six assistant directors, including Atsushi Yamatoya (who also played Killer Number Four). The eight men had worked under the joint pen name Hachiro Guryu ("Group of Eight") since the mid 1960s.
De woestijn onder de kersenbloesem—The Desert under the Cherry Blossoms, , Shigehiko, Hasumi, Uitgeverij Uniepers Abcoude, 1991, ISBN 90-6825-090-6 Nikkatsu was building leading man Joe Shishido into a star and assigned him to the film. They specified that the script was to be written with this aim. The film also marks Shishido's first nude scene. Suzuki originally wanted Kiwako Taichi, a new talent from the famous theatre troupe Bungakuza, for the female lead but she took a part in another film. Instead, Suzuki selected Annu Mari, another new actress who had been working in Nikkatsu's music halls. Suzuki Seijun: Still Killing
Suzuki did not use storyboards and disliked pre-planning. He preferred to come up with ideas either the night before or on the set as he felt that the only person who should know what is going to happen is the director. He also felt that it was sudden inspiration that made the picture. An example is the addition of the Number Three Killer's rice-sniffing habit. Suzuki explained that he wanted to present a quintessentially "Japanese" killer, "If he were Italian, he'd get turned on by macaroni, right?"^[3] Suzuki has commended Shishido on his similar drive to make the action scenes as physical and interesting as possible. The film was edited in one day, a task made easy by Suzuki's method of shooting only the necessary footage. He had picked up the habit during his years working as an assistant director for Shochiku when film stock remained sparse after the war.

Style

Like many of its yakuza film contemporaries, ''Branded to Kill'' shows the influence of the James Bond films and film noir,^[4] Cinematic Cool: Jean-Pierre Melville's Le Samouraï however, this is infused with satire, kabuki stylistics and a pop art aesthetic. Review: Branded to Kill It is further set apart from its peers, and Seijun Suzuki's previous films, through its gothic sensibilities, unusual atonal score and what artist and academic Philip Brophy called a "heightened otherness". Catalogue notes for screenings Suzuki employed a wide variety of techniques and claimed his singular focus was to make the film as entertaining as possible.
The film was shot in black and white Nikkatsuscope (synonymous with CinemaScope at a 2.35:1 aspect ratio). Due to the wide frame, moving a character forward did not produce the dynamic effect Suzuki desired. Instead, he relied on spotlight use and chiaroscuro imagery to compensate in creating action and suspense for the viewer. Conventional framing and film grammar were disregarded in favour of spontaneous inspiration. In editing, he frequently abandoned continuity, favouring abstract jumps in time and space as he found it made the film more interesting. Critic David Chute suggested that Suzuki's stylistics had intensified—in seeming congruence with the studio's repeated demands over the previous four years that he rein them in:

After discovering he cannot bring himself to kill Misako, a discombobulated Hanada wanders the streets. Animated starlings, rain and butterflies mask the screen, accompanied by corresponding sound effects.

Genre and industry conventions are satirized and mocked throughout the film. For example, Japanese censorship often involved masking prohibited sections of the screen. Here Suzuki preemptively masked his own compositions but animated them and incorporated them into the film's design. Branded to Thrill: The Delirious Cinema of Suzuki Seijun, , Tony, Rayns, Institute of Contemporary Arts, 1994, ISBN 0-905263-44-8 When Hanada is unable to kill Misako he wanders the streets and the screen is obscured by animated images and sounds associated with her. It contributes to the eclectic visual and sound design while signifying his obsessive love. Author Stephen Teo proposed that the antagonistic relationship between Hanada and Number One may be reflective of Suzuki's relationship with Kyusaku Hori, citing Number One's sleeping with his eyes open and and urinating where he sits then explaining these are techniques one must master to become a top professional. Seijun Suzuki: Authority in Minority

Reception

At the time of its Japanese theatrical release on June 15, 1967, 殺しの烙印 the film was popular, especially with college audiences, but not financially successful enough to appease Nikkatsu. The company had been criticized for catering to rebellious youths and contract director Suzuki had been drawing studio president Kyusaku Hori's ire for years as his work became increasing anarchic in style. On April 25, 1968, Suzuki received a telephone call from a company secretary informing him that he would not be receiving his salary that month. Two of Suzuki's friends met with Hori the next day and were told, "Suzuki's films were incomprehensible, that they did not make any money and that Suzuki might as well give up his career as a director as he would not be making films for any other companies." A student-run film society, Cine Club, was planning to include the film in a retrospective honouring Suzuki's works but Hori refused them and withdrew all of his films from circulation. With support from the Cine Club, similar student groups, fellow filmmakers and the general public—which included demonstrations—Suzuki, who had been under contract, sued Nikkatsu for wrongful dismissal. The case lasted three years, during which the circumstances under which the film was made came to light. It seems Suzuki had been made into a scapegoat as the company was in dire financial straits and attempting a mass restructuring. A settlement was reached on December 24, 1971 for one million yen, a fraction of his original claim, and a public apology from Hori. The events turned him into a legend. The retrospective eventually happened and the film, among others, played at midnight screenings to "packed audiences who wildly applauded." The Films of Seijun Suzuki However, Suzuki was blacklisted by the major studios and did not make another feature film until 1977 with ''A Tale of Sorrow and Sadness'', although he continued to direct small scale television productions. Branded to Thrill: The Delirious Cinema of Suzuki Seijun, , Tony, Rayns, Institute of Contemporary Arts, 1994, ISBN 0-905263-44-8

''Branded to Kill'' become widely available to North American audiences for the first time 32 years after its Japanese premiere with The Criterion Collection DVD.

''Branded to Kill'' reached international audiences through the 1980s and 1990s, featured in various film festivals and retrospectives dedicated wholly or partially to Suzuki, Branded to Kill followed later in the decade with home video releases. Four play - Japanese movie director Seijun Suzuki Critics and film enthusiasts regard it as arguably his most unconventional and revered Nikkatsu film. Branded to Kill Capsule It has been declared a masterpiece by the likes of writer and musician Chris D., composer John Zorn and film director Quentin Tarantino. Branded to Kill Tarintino Interview Writer and critic Tony Rayns noted, "Suzuki mocks everything from the clichés of yakuza fiction to the conventions of Japanese censorship in this extraordinary thriller, which rivals Orson Welles' ''Lady from Shanghai'' in its harsh eroticism, not to mention its visual fireworks." Modified comparisons to the films of a "gonzo Sam Fuller", or Jean-Luc Godard, assuming one "factor[s] out Godard's politics and self-consciousness", are not uncommon. Branded to Kill In a 1992 ''Rolling Stone'' magazine article, Jim Jarmusch affectionately recommended it as, "Probably the strangest and most perverse 'hit man' story in cinema." Innocent Influences, Guilty Pleasures Jasper Sharp of the Midnight Eye wrote, "[It] is a bloody marvellous looking film and arguably the pinnacle of the director's strikingly eclectic style."
However, the workings of the plot remain elusive to most. Sharp digressed, "to be honest it isn't the most accessible of films and for those unfamiliar with Suzuki's unorthodox and seemingly disjointed style it will probably take a couple of viewings before the bare bones of the plot begin to emerge." As Zorn has put it, "plot and narrative devices take a back seat to mood, music, and the sensuality of visual images." David Chute conceded that in labeling the film incomprehensible, "[i]f you consider the movie soberly, it's hard to deny the bosses had a point". On a conciliatory note, Rayns commented, "Maybe the break with Nikkatsu was inevitable; it's hard to see how Suzuki could have gone further in the genre than this."
Nikkatsu has since embraced the film, which it included in the 2001 retrospective ''Style to Kill'' alongside some 20 other of Suzuki's films. He appeared at the gala opening with star Annu Mari. In 2006, Nikkatsu celebrated the 50th anniversary of Suzuki's directorial debut by sponsoring the ''Seijun Suzuki 48 Film Challenge'' retrospective at the Tokyo International Film Festival. It showcased all of his films to date. He and Mari were once again in attendance.

Legacy

''Branded to Kill'' is one of Suzuki's most influential films, and has been acknowledged as a source of inspiration by such internationally renowned directors as Hong Kong's John Woo, South Korea's Chan-wook Park and America's Jim Jarmusch and Quentin Tarantino. Well, I told you she was different ... Jarmusch listed it as his favourite hitman film, alongside ''Le Samouraï'', Jim Jarmusch interviewed by Geoff Andrew (III) and thanked Suzuki in the screen credits of his own hitman film '' (1999). Most notably, Jarmusch mirrored a scene in which the titular hero kills a target by shooting from a basement up through a sink drain. He went so far as to screen the film for Suzuki when the two met in Tokyo. The Way of Jim Jarmusch Indie reservation Critics have noted ''Branded to Kill's influence on the films of Wong Kar-wai, such as his hitman film ''Fallen Angels'' (1995), Deep Seijun as well as Johnnie To's ''Fulltime Killer'' (2001). Fulltime Killer DVD Review However, ''Branded to Kill'' was most influential in its native Japan. The film's premise, in which hitmen try to kill each other in competition for the Number One rank, is spoofed in films such as Takeshi Kitano's ''Getting Any?'' (1995) and Sabu's ''Postman Blues'' (1997), which features a character named Hitman Joe. Tiger Tanaka - Interview with Japanese cult director Hiroyuki "Sabu" Tanaka ''Branded to Kill'' played a role in the development of the long-running Lupin III franchise. Lupin the 3rd: Castle of Cagliostro The film and the joint committee that formed around Suzuki after his dismissal were integral in the beginnings of the movement film, usually underground or anti-establishment films which focused on issues of import to audiences. Underground Cinema and the Art Theatre Guild
In 2001, Suzuki directed ''Pistol Opera'', a loose sequel to ''Branded to Kill''. The character Goro Hanada returns as a mentor figure to the new Number Three, played by Makiko Esumi. However, Hanada is played by Mikijiro Hira in place of Joe Shishido. Suzuki has said that the original intent was for Shishido to play the character again but that the film's producer, Satoru Ogura, wanted Hira for the role. The reasons for this remain unclear. Review: Pistol Opera Reviews were of a favourable nature equal to its predecessor. Jonathan Rosenbaum asked, "Can I call a film a masterpiece without being sure that I understand it? I think so ..." Review: Pistol Opera Although reviewer Elvis Mitchell felt its zeal fell slightly short of the original. Assassination Tangos

Home video

''Branded to Kill'' was initially made available in Japan by Nikkatsu in VHS format, first on February 10, 1987, 殺しの烙印 [1987 VHS] then a second version on June 10, 1994. 殺しの烙印 [1994 VHS] A DVD was released on October 26, 2001 in a series linked to the ''Style to Kill'' retrospective. 殺しの烙印 [DVD] In conjunction with the ''Seijun Suzuki 48 Film Challenge'', it was included in the first of two 6 film box sets which was released October 26, 2006. 鈴木清順監督自選DVD-BOX 壱
The first North American copies surfaced in the early 1990s at Kim's Video in New York in a video series titled ''Dark of the Sun'' devoted to obscure Asian cinema, assembled by John Zorn, Branded to Thrill albeit without English subtitles. "Guts of a Virgin" The Criterion Collection released the film on laserdisc in 1998, Branded to Kill followed by a DVD on February 23, 1999, both containing a 15 minute interview with Suzuki, poster gallery of Shishido films and liner notes by Zorn. Branded to Kill Home Vision Cinema release a VHS version on June 16, 2000. Branded To Kill Both companies conjunctively released ''Tokyo Drifter'' in all three formats in addition to a VHS collection packaging the two films together. The Seijun Suzuki Prepack
In the United Kingdom, Second Sight Films released a DVD on February 25, 2002 and a VHS on March 11, 2002. Branded to Kill Branded To Kill Yume Pictures released a new DVD on February 26, 2007 as a part of their Suzuki collection, featuring a 36 minute interview with the director, trailer gallery and liner notes by Tony Rayns. Branded to Kill

Soundtrack

Forty years after the film's original release, on February 23, 2007, the Japanese record label Think reissued the soundtrack on Compact Disc through its Cine Jazz series, which focuses on 1960s Nikkatsu action films. The music was culled from Naozumi Yamamoto's score. Atsushi Yamatoya, of the Group of Eight, sang the "Killing Blues" themes. Listings 27 through 29 are bonus karaoke tracks. 「和製ジャズ・ビートニク映画音楽傑作撰（日活編）」発売 「殺しの烙印」オリジナル・サウンドトラック

Track listing

No.	Transliteration	Japanese title	Romanization
1.	"Killing Blues (theme song)"	殺しのブルース （主題歌）	"Koroshi no bubrūsu (shudaika)"
2.	"Scotch and Hardboiled Rice Part 1"	スコッチとハードボイルド米pt1	"Sukocchi to haado boirudo kome paato wan"
3.	"Scotch and Hardboiled Rice Part 2"	スコッチとハードボイルド米pt2	"Sukocchi to haado boirudo kome paato tsū"
4.	"A Corpse in the Backseat"	死体バックシート	"Shitai bakku shiito"
5.	"The Hanada Bop"	ハナダ・バップ	"Hanada bappu"
6.	"Flame On Part 1"	フレーム・オンpt1	"Fureimu on paato wan"
7.	"Flame On Part 2"	フレーム・オンpt2	"Fureimu on paato tsū"
8.	"Manhater Part 1"	男嫌いpt1	"Otokogirai paato wan"
9.	"Manhater Part 2"	男嫌いpt2	"Otokogirai paato tsū"
10.	"Washing the Rice"	米を研げ	"Kome o toge"
11.	"The Devil's Job"	悪魔の仕事	"Akuma no shigoto"
12.	"Beastly Lovers"	野獣同士 （けだものどうし）	"Yajū dōshi (Kedamono dōshi)"
13.	"The Butterfly's Stinger Part 1"	蝶の毒針pt1	"Chō no dokushin paato wan"
14.	"The Butterfly's Stinger Part 2"	蝶の毒針pt2	"Chō no dokushin paato tsū"
15.	"Hanada's Stinger Part 1"	ハナダの針pt1	"Hanada no hari paato wan"
16.	"Hanada's Stinger Part 2"	ハナダの針pt2	"Hanada no hari paato tsū"
17.	"The Goodbye Look"	サヨナラの外観	"Sayonara no gaikan"
18.	"Napoleon Brandy"	ナポレオンのブランデー	"Naporeon no burandei"
19.	"Killing Blues (humming version)"	殺しのブルース （humming vers.）	"Koroshi no bubrūsu (hamingu baajon)"
20.	"Breakwater Shootout"	防波堤の撃合い	"Bouhatei no uchiai"
21.	"Killer's Bossa Nova"	殺し屋のボサノバ	"Koroshiya no bosa noba"
22.	"Something's Up"	何かが起る	"Nanika ga koru"
23.	"Beast Needs Beast"	獣は獣のように	"Kedamono wa kedamono noyōni"
24.	"Number One's Cry"	ナンバーワンの叫び	"Nanbaa wan no sakebi"
25.	"Destiny on the Tape Recorder"	テープレコーダーは運命の轍	"Teipu rekōdaa wa unmei no wadachi"
26.	"Killing Blues (ending theme)" (Atsushi Yamatoya)	殺しのブルース （エンディングテーマ） （大和屋竺）	"Koroshi no burūsu (endingu teima)" (Yamatoya Atsushi)
27.	"Title (karaoke version)"	タイトル （カラオケ vers.）	"Taitoru (karaoke baajon)"
28.	"Ending (karaoke version)"	エンディング （カラオケ vers.）	"Endingu (karaoke baajon)"
29.	"Title (sans serif version)"	タイトル （セリフなし vers.）	"Taitoru (serifu nashi baajon)"

References

1. Many reviews, including Tony Rayns', suggest that Hanada dies at the end of the film. This is supported by that fact that he is shot several times, including a visible wound to the chest above the heart, before he falls out of the ring. However, if the ending theme's lyrics and sound effects are to be taken literally, he escapes through "broken glass" and survives for the character's return in the sequel.
2. Outlaw Masters of Japanese Film, , Chris, D., I.B. Tauris, 2005, ISBN 1-84511-086-2
3. A Hundred Years of Japanese Film: A Concise History, with a Selective Guide to DVDs and Videos, , Donald, Richie, Kodansha International, 2005, ISBN 4-77002-995-0
4. Crime Wave: The Filmgoers' Guide to the Great Crime Movies, , Howard, Hughes, I.B. Tauris, 2006, ISBN 1-84511-219-9

External links

★ Criterion Collection essay by John Zorn

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★ ''Branded to Kill'' at the Japanese Movie Database