Quentin Tarantino fans will probably like this one. It's stylish, campy fun, often weird, and damn entertaining. Joe Shishido plays a tough guy and contract assassin named Hanada very well, and he really looks the part. There are several creative kills and director Seijun Suzuki peppers the action with lots of interesting moments, many of which are lighthearted. There is a hierarchy of killers in the story; Hanada is #3, and as you might guess, he will come across #2 and #1 along the way. I won't spoil the plot, but just say that the #1 guy (Koji Nanbara) has a coolness about him, with a habit of toying with his targets before putting a bullet between their eyes. There are some deeply weird moments - Hanada being turned on by the smell of boiling rice, and the #1 guy taking a #1 down his leg and into his shoe come to mind - but oddly enough, they just added to the entertainment.
As for the female characters, Hanada's wife (Mariko Ogawa) is a lowlight; I didn't care for how submissive she was, and how she liked getting knocked around ("You slut!" (slapping her) / "Darling, Take me"). She's also walks or flails around the house naked too much. The character of the young woman who picks him up in the rain, Misako (Annu Mari) helps make up for it - her eyes sear through the screen and lines like "My dream is to die" reflect an intense strength and strange brokenness. Later we'll see that she's got a dead butterfly and bird collection all over her walls. Her impassive look while Hanada is making love to her, with Suzuki switching to POV shot to the butterfly on the ceiling, says a lot.
The story holds together well, and it's very well told by Suzuki. I liked how it wasn't predictable and I wasn't sure where he was going next to entertain the audience, similar to the joy I see in Tarantino's films. It's pretty sad that after this film he was blacklisted for 10 years, and that adds to the film's mystique. Have fun with this one.
As for the female characters, Hanada's wife (Mariko Ogawa) is a lowlight; I didn't care for how submissive she was, and how she liked getting knocked around ("You slut!" (slapping her) / "Darling, Take me"). She's also walks or flails around the house naked too much. The character of the young woman who picks him up in the rain, Misako (Annu Mari) helps make up for it - her eyes sear through the screen and lines like "My dream is to die" reflect an intense strength and strange brokenness. Later we'll see that she's got a dead butterfly and bird collection all over her walls. Her impassive look while Hanada is making love to her, with Suzuki switching to POV shot to the butterfly on the ceiling, says a lot.
The story holds together well, and it's very well told by Suzuki. I liked how it wasn't predictable and I wasn't sure where he was going next to entertain the audience, similar to the joy I see in Tarantino's films. It's pretty sad that after this film he was blacklisted for 10 years, and that adds to the film's mystique. Have fun with this one.