- dir. Seijun Suzuki
- year. 1967
- country. Japan
- run-time. 91 mins
- rating. 18
£5.00 (£3.50 conc.)
Film 8:00PM
We are celebrating the start of September as it brings with it the annual festival of film clubs and societies Scalarama. This annual celebration sees September transform into a month of amazing films, screened in various locations and by all different types of people – from established picture palaces to newbies, completely new to screening films. Scalarama is by everyone, for everyone, everywhere, with DIY in its veins.
We've picked a bizarre, cult classic from Japan to kick off the month.
Seijun Suzuki's delirious 1967 hit-man film has drawn comparisons with contemporaries Le Samourai and Point Blank and influenced directors such as John Woo, Jim Jarmusch and Quentin Tarantino among others.
The story of laconic yakuza Hanada, aka No. 3 Killer , the third rated hit-man in Japan who takes an impossible job from the mysterious, death obsessed Misako. Hanada bungles the hit and finds himself the target of his employers and a bullet ridden journey leads him to face the No. 1 Killer.
Shot in cool monochrome with beguiling visuals, Branded to Kill is an effortlessly cool crime film with a jazzy score that caused Suzuki to be fired by the studio s executives but is now rightly recognised as his masterpiece.
“The violence is raw, the sex even more so, and the monochrome photography is flawless... Wild, weird and unforgettable. ”