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In this jazzy gangster film, reformed killer Phoenix Tetsu’s attempt to go straight is squashed when his former cohorts call him back to Tokyo to help battle a rival gang. This onslaught of stylized violence and trippy colours got director Seijun Suzuki in trouble with Nikkatsu studio heads, who were put off by his anything-goes, in-your-face aesthetic, equal parts Russ Meyer, Samuel Fuller, and Nagisa Oshima. Tokyo Drifter is a delirious highlight of the brilliantly excessive Japanese cinema of the sixties. (Criterion)
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From the film that is Nicolas Winding Refn's favourite and biggest source of inspiration, I was expecting more than a murky gangster movie about Tokyo gang rivalry and status honour. For the first 40 minutes or so (which is about half of the runtime) not much really happens, apart from the fact that there are two gangs vying for influence; all stuff we've seen in many other films. Quite often, incomprehensibly for me, a scene is suddenly cut off in the middle of the action and another one comes in, as if the editor was confused, but in any case the viewer is confused. What I have to praise, though, is the visual aspect. As long as the action takes place in Tokyo, the director chooses interesting austere compositions with gorgeous colours, a joy to look at, the sets are not bad either (the ending!), but the passage from the snow-covered mountains is not very interesting and overall, the film doesn't bring much of interest apart from the cinematography. PS: Bluntman is babbling something about running away from a train as a phallic symbol. Come on! That scene lasts about 4 seconds and you can barely see the train at all. Those film theorists really are crazy sometimes :)
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