Directing
May 23, 1923
Nihonbashi, Tokyo, Japan
Seijun Suzuki
Directing
Biography
Seijun Suzuki born Seitaro Suzuki (24 May 1923 – 13 February 2017) was a Japanese filmmaker, actor, and screenwriter. His films are renowned by film enthusiasts worldwide for their jarring visual style, irreverent humour, nihilistic cool and entertainment-over-logic sensibility. He made 40 predominately B-movies for the Nikkatsu Company between 1956 and 1967, working most prolifically in the yakuza genre. His increasingly surreal style began to draw the ire of the studio in 1963 and culminated in his ultimate dismissal for what is now regarded his magnum opus, Branded to Kill (1967), starring notable collaborator Joe Shishido. Suzuki successfully sued the studio for wrongful dismissal, but he was blacklisted for 10 years after that. As an independent filmmaker, he won critical acclaim and a Japanese Academy Award for his Taishō Trilogy, Zigeunerweisen (1980), Kagero-za (1981) and Yumeji (1991). His films remained widely unknown outside of Japan until a series of theatrical retrospectives beginning in the mid 1980s, home video releases of key films such as Branded to Kill and Tokyo Drifter in the late 1990s and tributes by such acclaimed filmmakers as Jim Jarmusch, Takeshi Kitano, Wong Kar-wai and Quentin Tarantino signaled his international discovery. Suzuki has continued making films, albeit sporadically. In Japan, he is more commonly recognized as an actor for his numerous roles in Japanese films and television. He passed away on February 13th, 2017. Description above from the Wikipedia article Seijun Suzuki, licensed under CC-BY-SA, full list of contributors on Wikipedia.
Feature Films (33)
Works commemorating the 70th anniversary of the founding of Japan mapping Supervision Association
What's a Director?
When a man who as a student wanted to burn down his school meets a man years later, his new friend falls in love with the former female class-mate who herself is in love with the would-be arsonist.
The Wings of Hakenkreuz
What is the clue that connects the police dormitory bombing case & Keihin canal murder case with the corporate bombing case 17 years ago? Detective Tamori chases a mystery!
Discontinuous Bombing Incident
A Japanese businessman travels to Iceland and has a series of misadventures while venturing to a remote area to perform a traditional burial ritual where his parents died several years back.
Cold Fever
An exciting 'psychic movie' starring Kanako Enomoto, adapted from the manga series by Yukio Tamai. Police detectives searching for clues related to a serial murder case seek out help from high schooler Yurika, who possesses latent split personality psychic abilities. The mystery deepens once Yurika is brought face-to-face with the crime scenes.
Yurika-chan
Kenichi is a half-Japanese, half-Chinese man of the underworld. You can sell him anything except children's organs. His domain is in Kabukicho, a gangland controlled by various Shanghai gangs intent on taking control. His former partner-in-crime, Fu-Chun, is rumored to have returned to Kabukicho, having fled years earlier after killing the number two of gangland boss, Yuan. Yuan wants to get even and attempts to do so by using Kenichi.
Sleepless Town
Television & Series (3)
The eleventh entry in the Toei Fushigi Comedy Series. Yuko Murikami stops by a shrine to pray for the new school year. Yuko accidentally breaks the bell and drops it on top of a turtle's head. Because she is the only person that stopped by the shrine in a long time, he grants her the power to become a superheroine, based on another ancient deity. It is her job to protect her neighborhood from the threats it faces. By yelling "Cosmo Magic! Métamorphose!!", she transforms into the Masked Beauty Poitrine!
La Belle Fille Masquée Poitrine
Inspired by American TV movies like "Hitchcock Theater" and "The Twilight Zone," the show features multiple works with Tamori as the storyteller and actors as the main characters. While horror and supernatural themes are predominant, a variety of genres like comedy and drama are also produced. Most episodes, however, have a bad ending.
Tales of the Bizarre
Minori Amano becomes a widow on her honeymoon. Still, she becomes part of the Amano family's funeral home business. From now on, the woman not only has to fight with eccentric clients, but the rest of the Amano family who have a lot to say about running the business.
