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Tokyo Drifter
R0 - America - Criterion Collection Review written by and copyright: Pat Pilon (22nd January 2005). |
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The Film
 Right off the review I'll say that this movie probably takes a few viewings before its message would come across. I thought it to be about someone wanting to change, about tradition versus modernity, about new and old values. Maybe it's just a jumble of images with no particular point. I may be completely off, but I think this movie has a lot in it, so you can read just about what you want. This movie follows a man whose boss has disbanded his gang and has reformed to be a legitimate citizen. It's a pretty simple storyline but some more things happen. This movie is completely off-the-wall. It has odd angles, great sets with vibrant colours, fun characters, a nice style and a crazy way of storytelling. One of the things that passed through my head was "man, I'll bet anything Takashi Miike took some pointers from this guy". Some of the stuff really is crazy. Mr. Miike is way more wild but this movie was done back in 1966 so I doubt director Seijun Suzuki could have pulled off what Mr. Miike's pulling off now. The movie is just a lot of fun. What goes on isn't as important as how it's shown, I think. The premise isn't all that original - many movie have mobsters trying to go straight. The visuals in this movie are just great. The sets are just weird, with a great minimalist look. (The budget probably didn't allow for anything else, but they're still great despite that.) The movie goes from one place to another without really telling you what it's doing. You have to make the connections yourself. You have to say, "okay, I guess this happened between the last scene and this scene" even though it's not shown. It kind of threw me off at first, but I got used to it after a while. It certainly something refreshing.
Video
2.00:1 letterbox (non-anamorphic). This movie has a bizarre frame. The picture is squished at the sides but okay in the middle, and the aspect ratio isn't exactly 1.85:1 and isn't exactly 2.35:1. The print was about 33 years old when it was transferred and it shows, but it's a lot better than some other 33 year old transfers I've seen. There are specks but not much. There are two or three small streaks. The colours and the black level are very strong and come out very nicely.
Audio
The sound is only Japanese Dolby Digital 2.0 mono. You hear the dialogue clearly, you hear the guns and piano clearly, and you hear the score clearly. That's all that's important. There's no kick, of course, but it's only mono. You can't expect miracles for things like that. Includes optional subtitles in English.
Extras
Interview with Seijun Suzuki, this lasts around 20 minutes. It's rather slow moving at first but it picks up. Mr. Suzuki is an interesting fellow to listen to and he seems a very easygoing man. He talks about making movies, about Nikkatsu, about the budget, about the Tokyo Drifter star, Tetsuya Watari, and about the present state of Japanese cinema ('present' being 1997, when the interview took place). It's all very interesting. You hear that the average budget for Mr. Suzuki's movies was 20-23 million yen (US$ 170,000-195,000 today, but I don't know how the yen compared with the dollar back in 1966). You hear a few funny stories about Mr. Watari, like he had to be poked with a stick to say his lines because he froze up once the camera started. Another funny thing: he sung the theme song for the movie. The producers had him sing the song a bunch of times and they took the best take from each verse, and that's the song playing over the opening of the movie. Very good interview with a lot interesting information. Also included is is a booklet with some liner notes.
Overall
This movie is very interesting. The movie has to be seen more than once. What happens and what's not shown isn't obvious at first sight. It's a great experience and a great thing to see. Not for all tastes, I suppose; Nikkatsu, the studio that financed the movie, hated the flick. It's interesting to see an oldish Japanese movie that wasn't made by Akira Kurosawa, Yasujiro Ozu or Kenji Mizoguchi (which has been my experience up to writing this review). Definitely worth watching if you're into something different.
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