Author: Jonathan Wilson
Translator: Issac
Proofreading: Yi Ersan
Source: Asian Movie Pulse (August 3, 2020)
Regrettably, absurdist, unrealist realist, aestheticist Suzuki Kiyoshun has passed away at the age of 93.
Kiyomizu Suzuki
One of the best mavericks in Japanese pop cinema, he also makes contradictory, puzzling films.
Similar to his American incarnation Samuel Fuller , he opens up the conversation in a serious way, but neutralizes this direct quality with his idea of "entertainment over logic" .
Over the years, Suzuki has directed a number of exciting B-movies for Nikkor Co., Ltd. , all with masterful production and impeccable style, and many of them exceed initial expectations.
In the West, he is considered a cult filmmaker, but his job was to make popular B-movies for the Japanese public in the late 50s and early 60s. His importance lies in his influence on Asian cinema, not what is usually thought to be his influence on Hollywood Tarantino and Jarmusch . His influence on some of the works of Takeshi Kitano , Takashi Miike and Sonoko Onizumi is obvious, and this is where his importance in the Japanese genre lies.
"Elegy of Violence" is Suzuki's greatest satire, a film about teenage brawls about repressed sexuality expressed through violence.
"Elegy of Violence"
He witty recounts the rise of prewar Japanese militarism/fascism. He tackles these disturbing themes in a satirical style that makes the film more accessible to the masses. Through the humorous frustrations of teenagers confronting the opposite sex, he reveals the ludicrous conditions of prewar Japan, while counteracting that brutality with action scenes. He uses straight jokes and gang fights to create an unusual B-movie about "The Rise of Fascism" because he expresses it with action.
As a director who hates realism, at critical moments, he will use realism like a weapon.
At a time when a country confronts its wartime behavior, Spring Women's Biography exemplifies that honesty, exploring the absurdity, brutality, and nihilism rife with the militaristic Japanese way of life. He dissects this huge subject in a thrilling comfort women war movie! In the mid-1960s, it was quite rare in Western cinema to make films about the comfort women of the Manchurian army.
"The Legend of the Spring Woman"
Suzuki Kiyoshun went straight to the point and created an unforgettable B-movie. That's not to say the whole film is realism, there's a little idyll of lovers in a convent, and many of the war's lifelike scenes have a psychedelic feel - which is what Coppola later did in The effect shown in Apocalypse Now .
Apollinaire, the French poet of the First World War , wrote poems about the bizarre surreal nature of the Holocaust, filled with all the beautiful light and exploding corpses. Although this is a war movie, Suzuki ditched the romanticism and ended it with sound and fury, without the use of any signifiers!
Driven by a code of madness and abusive behavior, no one can escape this madness! Instead of focusing on politics, he focused on the human behaviors created by these harsh norms, which ironically became politicized as a result. Vibrant melodrama says it all.
Suzuki captures postwar Japan as a struggle for survival, where demoralized people try to find a new norm of living, often a Hobbesian result.
In "Gate of the Flesh", a small militia of prostitutes creates their own rules of survival, betraying themselves through organized gangs and toughly defending their turf in bombed Tokyo. This is not the age of romanticism, frivolity or even love; this is a brutal game of survival. There is absolutely no room for any degree of weakness. This appallingly exploitative film has a lot to offer. The company was satisfied with the massive nudity and female violence shown by Kiyomi Suzuki.
"Gate of the Flesh"
Exploitative, but it's a predominantly female film that showcases the difficult choices many young Japanese widows had to make in the postwar years. He described his early filmmaking career as an assistant director at Shochiku Co., Ltd., like a somber alcoholic. Mr. Suzuki himself struggled with boredom in this postwar country.
Suzuki's genre films are filled with Japanese gangsters, hitmen, prostitutes and all kinds of marginalized people struggling to survive. There are many movies with sensational titles that are gradually being seen in the West; Nudes and Guns, Detective Agency 23: Go to hell, bastards! ""The Legend of Evil Taro: Beneath the Evil Star", " Tattoo Generation ", "Sniper Escort Car", "Battle Fool Company".
"The Nude and the Pistol"
In the 1963 gangster movie "The Beast of Youth", Suzuki felt like he had finally found a film style he liked. New wave style ultra-modern city interior and exterior! Wild colors! This is a primitive, almost mythical, gangster! Everyone must die!
Kiyomizu Suzuki works within the constraints of the Nikkei system, but he still pushes the boundaries with his attention to detail, genre scripts, brilliant dialogue, and entertainment. He works with the best cinematographers, artists, and the best of the actors, trying to make these images and make them spectacles in their own right. Two people have played an important role in Suzuki's club career.
"The Youth of the Beast"
Kimura Willow, his art design has profoundly influenced Suzuki's filmmaking. Through his art designs, Kimura helps Suzuki realize his eccentric vision through the juxtaposition of the modern and the absurd.
Another actor who has appeared in many of Nikko's action movies, Shinobu Shido. They have collaborated on a lot of movies, usually at the request of Nikkei, and no matter what Suzuki was filming at the time, Shido had to be a "star".
Their incredible collaboration was fruitful, with the chubby-cheeked actor putting in a solid performance in Suzuki's film for Nikko. While Suzuki sees himself as a "studio system" who gives studios what they want, his spoofed wit and deadpan dark humor gets him in trouble. Nikkatsu fired him, so he sued the other side in turn, and won! Sadly, this resulted in Suzuki being blacklisted for 10 years.
"Killer Brand"
I would like to say that Suzuki, as a director, has a good spirit of cooperation. Being a director of a studio system means this approach will be extremely difficult. In my opinion, he's an intellectually renaissance director whose style may be too restrictive; he's a true maverick of "pop" cinema.
Like any great filmmaker, Suzuki has his own unique flair for absurdity and visuals, and his oeuvre reflects that. He's like the experimental Raoul Walsh , with a keen eye for rhythm, great moves, and tough-as-nails dialogue, all fused with his actors' great performances, full of Vitality and wisdom.
Like Walsh, he is sometimes clever,He openly incorporates current intellectual thinking into his popular films. Over time, he combined Walsh-inspired movements with the surrealist of Buñuel and the urban dislocation of the French New Wave.
"Killer Brand"
His later action films have become mind-bending styles, full of experimental film jokes, but with an incredible attention to detail. It's in the details that things get even more ridiculous. In the nihilistic "Killer Brand," there's a 10-second scene full of visual creativity and gags.
His Homeric gangster film Tokyo Hobo has elements of pop art, full of haunting shots, extremely stylized interiors with stunning art, and crazy live-action shots.
The scene on the railroad tracks in the snow has a particularly vivid color and surreal feel, it's a wild movie. The vibrant, funky clothes worn by these modern gangsters create a sense of dislocation. In the delightful neoclassical nightclub, the pop art finale is pure eye-catcher.
"Tokyo Vagabond"
After Suzuki was released from the blacklist, he created the Taisho romantic trilogy - "Song of the Vagabond", " Yang Yanza " and "Dream II". These entertainment films may be more author-directed. Suzuki broke away from the studio system and made longer, more contemplative period dramas, using location shooting more extensively.
"The Throne of the Sun"
His unique use of art design, odd camera angles and vivid taste in color, is still present in all of these grand films, but in a more serene style. The picture is full of color and contains many contemplations on art, music, drama and poetry.
These films may be contemplative, but Suzuki's disorganized themes, doppelgangers, "spooky beings," and random and absurd narration remain, because Suzuki's innate intelligence cannot be suppressed. These musings on erotic aesthetics continue this playful quality.
Suzuki himself believes that filmmaking is just a means to an end and a means to make a living. He found the process very difficult, like a mid-level management position in a large company, especially when he was filming for Nikkei. He may have a simple goal when it comes to making movies and making money, but he admits that he can't help but want to make movies more interesting, throwing crazy visual ideas into them.
This doesn't mean purely entangled in the narrative as in Hitman's Brand; we can tell a story straight out of the box, as in The Spring Woman, but what really matters is how to use space and time for experimental, peculiar The camera angles, the hallucinogenic cinematography , the perfect set/art design take the narrative to new and interesting scenarios.
"Spring Woman"
When he was an assistant director at Shochiku Co., Ltd., Suzuki learned the simplicity of the filmmaking process and strict budget control. Take your plan, shoot, and edit, every scene will be used. He has maintained this tight style throughout his daily life.
Suzuki's 2001 Pistol Opera returned his film career to pure entertainment. This is a remake/sequel to Killer Brand, which he shot in absurd style! His last film was the highly creative musical " Tanuki Goten ", full of different types of creativity.
"The Beaver Palace"
After the film was made in 2005, he knew his body was no longer able to make films, so he quit with this surreal and entertaining musical. He begins in singing and ends in singing.
In 1956, his debut film "Lingang Toast: Winning Ticket" was released under the real name Suzuki Kiyotaro .This is a movie full of pop songs, a carrier of popular songs at the time. He starts with a song and ends with a humorous musical!
