Pistol Opera

Stray Cat, the #3 killer in Japan is assigned the task of assassinating Hundred Eyes, the existing #1. It's sorta like the interpretive dance version of Branded to Kill, packed to the brim with bizarre imagery, strange asides, and ultra stylized shootouts. It doesn't have a ton of narrative coherence, but the visual composition of practically every scene is incredible. It's bursting with angles and colors, like jazz for your eyes. It probably would have been just as good without any dialog.

This is only the 3rd Seijun Suzuki movie I've seen, so I'm wondering if I need to be more familiar with his work. The connections to Branded to Kill are abundant throughout, and it maintains the odd, detached and systematic bureaucracy of hired murder like the aforementioned. However, this film is a bizarre opera, with a LOT of confusing imagery, symbolism, and monologues. It's very slow-paced, but the set design and the composition of some of the fights are great. Definitely SOMETHING here.

Holy shit, this movie is fucking amazing.

It is really pretentious and kind of boring and it's very difficult to tell what's going on (if anything).

I love Suzuki's other efforts, including Branded to Kill which this film is based off of, but this is nigh inaccessible. I like to think I have extraordinary patience, but PO was pushing it.

Striking yet very tough going. Made me sleepy. His other movies are more engaging, as i recall.