Branded to Kill

If someone both hated black-and-white films and movies with subtitles, I would encourage them to see this corker. It has 'hilarious masterpiece' written all over it. Suzuki's gangster movies are a cinephile's delight, to be sure--and this is one of his very best. I cannot recommend it highly enough....

Branded to Kill is a supposedly hard-boiled action film that gradually turns into an absurd dark comedy, drifting through disconnected scenes and bizarre imagery. Revolving around a chubby-cheeked assassin obsessed with the smell of boiling rice, the film constantly undermines the conventions of gan...