One of many dazzlingly bizarre yet picturesque images from Seijun Suzuki’s PISTOL OPERA.


went over the waterfall but was never the same man af- terwards; this theory is born out by the Granada series, which declines likewise (though the post-Moriarty RETURN is up to snuff) and adds its own problems to those of Doyle’s later, lesser stories.


PISTOL OPERA


2001, Media Blasters/Tokyo Shock, DD-2.0/ST/+, $29.95, 111m 40s, DVD-1


By Richard Harland Smith


At the behest of producer Satoru Ogura, Seijun Suzuki re- worked his classic BRANDED TO KILL (1967; VW 47:66) for this distaff continuation. Makiko Esumi stars as Stray Cat, a con- tract killer ranked third in her


10


profession. When her colleagues begin hunting one another in a bloody bid for the top slot, Stray Cat goes on the offensive, guided by her elusive agent (Sayoko Yamaguchi) and a crippled ex- champ (Mikijirô Hira), whose mo- tives may be less than altruistic. PISTOL OPERA would not be the best starting point for those com- ing fresh to the Suzuki canon; while his earlier efforts (GATE OF FLESH, TOKYO DRIFTER) occa- sionally mocked the very genres they inhabited, PISTOL OPERA aims wide of the narrative arc from its first frames. Loosely structured around a series of stagy (albeit staggeringly beau- tiful) dioramas, the film alter- nately bores and fascinates, with a script by Kazunori Itô (AVALON) seemingly poached


from Suzuki’s dream journals. One needn’t have foreknowledge of kabuki, noh and butoh the- ater to appreciate the film (which made the international film fes- tival circuit two years ago), but it might make more sense of this intentionally confounding bouil- labaisse.


Media Blasters offers an exceptional transfer of this as- tonishing-looking film, framed more or less accurately at 1.33:1. The uneven sound mix favors Kodama Kzufmi’s free- wheeling (and at times oppres- sive) score over the subdued dialogue track. The disc has 14 chapters and extras are limited to a 1m 43s trailer and previews for other Asian films in Media Blasters’ “Tokyo Shock” catalogue.

Page 1  |  Page 2  |  Page 3  |  Page 4  |  Page 5  |  Page 6  |  Page 7  |  Page 8  |  Page 9  |  Page 10  |  Page 11  |  Page 12  |  Page 13  |  Page 14  |  Page 15  |  Page 16  |  Page 17  |  Page 18  |  Page 19  |  Page 20  |  Page 21  |  Page 22  |  Page 23  |  Page 24  |  Page 25  |  Page 26  |  Page 27  |  Page 28  |  Page 29  |  Page 30  |  Page 31  |  Page 32  |  Page 33  |  Page 34  |  Page 35  |  Page 36  |  Page 37  |  Page 38  |  Page 39  |  Page 40  |  Page 41  |  Page 42  |  Page 43  |  Page 44  |  Page 45  |  Page 46  |  Page 47  |  Page 48  |  Page 49  |  Page 50  |  Page 51  |  Page 52  |  Page 53  |  Page 54  |  Page 55  |  Page 56  |  Page 57  |  Page 58  |  Page 59  |  Page 60  |  Page 61  |  Page 62  |  Page 63  |  Page 64  |  Page 65  |  Page 66  |  Page 67  |  Page 68  |  Page 69  |  Page 70  |  Page 71  |  Page 72  |  Page 73  |  Page 74  |  Page 75  |  Page 76  |  Page 77  |  Page 78  |  Page 79  |  Page 80  |  Page 81  |  Page 82  |  Page 83  |  Page 84