Hey, Toronto! Seijun Suzuki Retrospective Kicks Off Tomorrow With STORY OF A PROSTITUTE At The TIFF Bell Lightbox
One of the true madmen of world cinema, Seijun Suzuki is the kind of director for whom the term "iconoclast" barely suffices. Beginning his film career at the famed production house Nikkatsu in the 1950s, Suzuki turned out over forty features during his decade-plus tenure with the studio -- an incredibly prolific track record that was far from a rare instance at that time and place. Filmmaking at Nikkatsu was an assembly-line affair, with the prime jobs going to those directors who could churn out product on time, on budget, and within the parameters set out by the studio heads. As Suzuki grew bored with those parameters, his work took a turn for the weird, revelling in theatricality, self-conscious artifice, outrageous bursts of colour, and bizarre characterizations.
Putting Suzuki on notice to behave himself, the studio sought to rein him in by slashing his budgets and, after the pop-art opus Tokyo Drifter, forcing him to shoot in black and white. When Suzuki responded to these strictures by turning in the delirious hitman thriller Branded to Kill, he was summarily dismissed from Nikkatsu, sparking a legal battle that led to the director being effectively blacklisted from the Japanese film industry for a solid decade.
Find the complete list of titles and order tickets here!While Drifter and Branded have since been rightfully reclaimed as gonzo masterpieces, they are only the entry points to the life and career of one of cinema's greatest mavericks. From his earlier, equally remarkable Nikkatsu work, to his ambitious independent films in the 1980s, to his late-career renaissance with Pistol Opera and Princess Raccoon, Suzuki has proven himself to be an unstoppable creative force. The film world has never seen anyone like him and, with the now 85-year-old master in failing health, it likely never will again.
