Tokyo Drifter

This 1966 pop-art crime story about a loyal former gangster who takes the fall for a yakuza killing and then goes on the lam to take the heat off his boss is one of the most interesting offerings from inventive director Seijun Suzuki, known for pushing mob movies, thrillers, and other exploitation genres into strange and surreal territory. Tetsuya Watari, a young Japanese matinee idol of the era, stars as Tetsu, the cool killer in dark shades who whistles his own theme song as he drifts across the country while rival mobsters, cops, and even his own clan try to track him down. Suzuki opens the widescreen production in high-contrast black-and-white with isolated eruptions of color that finally explode in oversaturated hues, like a comic book come to life, while the twisting story becomes more abstract as it takes Tetsu from deliriously gaudy nightclubs—where killers hide behind every pillar—to the beautiful snowy plains of northern Japan and back again. Suzuki's extreme stylization, jarring narrative leaps, and wild plot devices combine to create pulp fiction on acid, but while there's plenty of gunplay and killing here, there's almost no blood. Although not an essential example of 1960s Japanese cinema, Tokyo Drifter is certainly one of the most entertaining. Freshly remastered for DVD and bowing on Blu-ray, extras include an interview with Suzuki, and a booklet. Recommended. (S. Axmaker)