Tokyo Drifter (1966)
The plot of this concerns... um... okay, the plot is nonsense. Ignore it. What works here is the cockeyed, Expressionistic mise-en-scene -- the use of color in particular is quite striking, and the camera placements occasionally made me giddy with excitement at the artistic fun being had here. (The way that Otsuka is filmed in the first half of the film, with the camera usually close-up on his glasses or bright scarlet suit, so that he's never fully in frame and often never has his face shown... well, damn. I was impressed.) I can see this film being an influence on PTA's Punch-Drunk Love, except that this doesn't have an iota of emotion to it -- it's pure visual art. As it stands, I still can't fully recommend it -- I will admit to getting restless once Tetsu became a drifter -- but it's still something I'd urge you to see some day.
Grade: B
The plot of this concerns... um... okay, the plot is nonsense. Ignore it. What works here is the cockeyed, Expressionistic mise-en-scene -- the use of color in particular is quite striking, and the camera placements occasionally made me giddy with excitement at the artistic fun being had here. (The way that Otsuka is filmed in the first half of the film, with the camera usually close-up on his glasses or bright scarlet suit, so that he's never fully in frame and often never has his face shown... well, damn. I was impressed.) I can see this film being an influence on PTA's Punch-Drunk Love, except that this doesn't have an iota of emotion to it -- it's pure visual art. As it stands, I still can't fully recommend it -- I will admit to getting restless once Tetsu became a drifter -- but it's still something I'd urge you to see some day.
Grade: B
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