TOKYO DRIFTER

Japan, 1966, 82 minutes, Black-and-white and Colour.
Tetsuya Watari.
Directed by Seijun Suzuki.

It is worth seeing Tokyo Drifter for many reasons.

Seijun Suzuki was a prolific director in the 1960s and, after production clashes over his 1966 film, Branded a Hitman, he was forced to go into television production for a decade.

He had a reputation for churning out films very quickly, often focusing on Japanese criminal themes as is the case here. They are very interesting in comparisons with the films of later decades and the explorations of the yakuza, especially the prominent international films by the Takashi Kitano.

The film is also worth seeing because of its striking cinematography and visual compositions. This film opens in black-and-white, a long shot of a man in suit and tie walking along the pier and then confronting another – with some splashes of colour. After the opening credits, the film is entirely in colour. The colour style is very bright, primary colours, in carefully constructed sets, especially in the nightclub for the staging of particular songs by the girlfriend of the hero. There are interior scenes in offices, stylised corridors, lift wells as well as exteriors in the streets, in the countryside, in country towns. There is always something to strike the eye in composition and in colour.

There is also a musical soundtrack which is striking and quite a number of songs interpolated into the narrative, the nightclub singer as well is the hero frequently singing, lyrics highlighting the themes.

As regards the themes, the focus is on a hitman who used to belong to a yakuza company which has been disbanded. He is loyal to the former boss, his father figure. However, there are complicated clashes between various gangster groups, the desire to buy buildings, the exchange of cash, extortion, anger and violence. The drifter himself goes to the countryside but is pursued by a range of members of different games leading to all kinds of fighting setups.

It is interesting to speculate about cinema influences of the time on the director – it was a period of spaghetti westerns with their very stylised visuals and compositions and enigmatic heroes. While the Tokyo Drifter has a name, he is very much the equivalent of a Japanese Man with No Name.

For audiences familiar with classic Japanese films and world-renowned directors as well is the gangster films of the late 20th century and early 21st century developments, this film is a reminder of the creativity, even pop creativity, of Japanese filmmaking.