This interview with critic and author Grady Hendrix was recorded in 2023.

Directed by Seijun Suzuki • 1957 • Japan
Starring Nobuo Kaneko, Harue Tone, Sumiko Minami

One of the most striking of director Seijun Suzuki’s early features, this lean, mean thriller takes a handful of characters from across all walks of 1950s Japanese life, packs them into a crowded bus making...

Directed by Seijun Suzuki • 1960 • Japan

Everything goes wrong when Jiro tries to break up his mother's relationship with a business man.

Directed by Seijun Suzuki • 1960 • Japan

At the beginning of Seijun Suzuki's taut and twisty whodunit, a prison truck is attacked and a convict inside murdered. The penitentiary guard on duty, Daijiro (Michitaro Mizushima), is accused of negligence and suspended, only to take it upon himself to ...

Directed by Seijun Suzuki • 1961 • Japan
Starring Hideaki Nitani, Izumi Ashikawa, Yuji Odaka

A relatively rare example of a Japanese western, THE MAN WITH A SHOTGUN stars Hideaki Nitani as the titular drifter who arrives in a remote mountain town carrying a shotgun and claiming to be a hunter. T...

Directed by Seijun Suzuki • 1963 • Japan
Starring Jo Shishido, Reiko Sasamori, Tamio Kawachi

This ultrastylish, rapid-fire yakuza thriller plays almost like an anarchic parody of the genre. Cult icon Jo Shishido stars as a detective tasked with tracking down a consignment of stolen firearms—an i...

Directed by Seijun Suzuki • 1963 • Japan
Starring Joe Shishido, Misako Watanabe, Tamio Kawaji

When a mysterious stranger muscles into two rival yakuza gangs, Tokyo’s underworld explodes with violence. YOUTH OF THE BEAST (YAJU NO SEISHUN) was a breakthrough for director Seijun Suzuki, introducing...

Directed by Seijun Suzuki • 1964 • Japan
Starring Joe Shishido, Yumiko Nogawa, Satoko Kasai

In the shady black markets and bombed-out hovels of post-World War II Tokyo, a tough band of prostitutes eke out a dog-eat-dog existence, maintaining tenuous friendships and a semblance of order in a worl...

Directed by Seijun Suzuki • 1965 • Japan
Starring Yumiko Nogawa, Isao Tamagawa, Tamio Kawachi

Volunteering as a “comfort woman” on the Manchurian front, where she is expected to service hundreds of soldiers, Harumi is commandeered by the brutal Lieutenant Narita but falls for the sensitive Mikam...

Directed by Seijun Suzuki • 1966 • Japan
Starring Tetsuya Watari, Chieko Matsubara, Tamio Kawaji

In this jazzy gangster film, reformed killer Tetsu’s attempt to go straight is thwarted when his former cohorts call him back to Tokyo to help battle a rival gang. Director Seijun Suzuki’s onslaught ...

Directed by Seijun Suzuki • 1966 • Japan
Starring Hideki Takahashi, Junko Asano, Yusuke Kawazu

High schooler Kiroku Nanbu yearns for the prim, Catholic Michiko, but her only desire is to reform Kiroku’s sinful tendencies. Hormones raging, Kiroku channels his unsatisfied lust into the only outlet...

Directed by Seijun Suzuki • 1967 • Japan

When Japanese New Wave bad boy Seijun Suzuki delivered this brutal, hilarious, and visually inspired masterpiece to the executives at his studio, he was promptly fired. Branded to Kill tells the ecstatically bent story of a yakuza assassin with a fetish f...

Directed by Seijun Suzuki • 1980 • Japan
Starring Toshiya Fujita, Naoko Otani, Yoshio Harada

After over a decade in the wilderness following his firing from Nikkatsu, maverick director Seijun Suzuki returned with a vengeance with the Taisho Trilogy, an acclaimed triptych of cryptic supernatural ...

Directed by Seijun Suzuki • 1981 • Japan
Starring Yusaku Matsuda, Michiyo Yasuda, Eriko Kusuta

After over a decade in the wilderness following his firing from Nikkatsu, maverick director Seijun Suzuki returned with a vengeance with the Taisho Trilogy, an acclaimed triptych of cryptic supernatura...

Directed by Seijun Suzuki • 1991 • Japan
Starring Kenji Sawada, Yoshio Harada, Tomoko Mariya

After over a decade in the wilderness following his firing from Nikkatsu, maverick director Seijun Suzuki returned with a vengeance with the Taisho Trilogy, an acclaimed triptych of cryptic supernatural ...