Branded to Kill

Aroview: The height of Seijun Suzuki’s insolence peaked in this coarse and cantankerous tale of rival assassins engaged in a game of cat-and-mouse to determine Japan's ‘Number 1’ killer – an outrageous yakuza noir that in refusing to comply, saw its director promptly fired from the job.

Starring cult yakuza player Joe Shishido (whose artificially enlarged cheeks were a trademark), humour features largely in the film’s absurdist makeup; rice sniffing just one of the bizarre introductions into an otherwise formulated subgenre. Though not as visually garish as TOKYO DRIFTER, Suzuki’s mastery of the widescreen is apparent even in black and white, with every inch of the frame pulsing with a lurid, aesthetic energy.