Tokyo Drifter – The Criterion Collection (Blu-ray)

Theatrical Release Date: Japan, 1966
Director: Seijun Suzuki
Writer: Yasunori Kawauchi
Cast: Tetsuya Watari, Chieko Matsubara, Hideaki Nitani, Ryuji Kita, Eiji Gô

Release Date: December 13th, 2011
Approximate running time: 82 Minutes 52 Seconds
Aspect Ratio: 2.35:1 Widescreen / 1080 Progressive / MPEG-4 AVC}
Rating: NR
Sound: DTS-HD Mono Japanese
Subtitles: English
Region Coding: Region A
Retail Price: $39.95

"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 of stylized violence and trippy colors is equal parts Russ Meyer, Samuel Fuller, and Nagisa Oshima—an anything-goes, in-your-face rampage. Tokyo Drifter is a delirious highlight of the brilliantly excessive Japanese cinema of the sixties." - synopsis provided by the distributor

Video: 4.5/5

Here’s the information provided about the transfer, "This new high-definition digital transfer was created on a Spirit Datacine from a 35mm low-contrast print. Thousands of instances of dirt, debris, scratches, splices, warps, jitter, and flicker were manually removed using MTI's DRS and Pixel Farm's PFClean, while Image System's DVNR was used for small dirt, grain, and noise reduction."

Tokyo Drifter comes on a 50 GB dual layer Blu-ray.

Disc Size: 31.8 GB

Feature: 22.6 GB

This new transfer for Tokyo Drifter is a huge improvement over this film's previous home video releases. Colors have never looked as vibrant as they do for this release; black levels look consistently good; details look crisp; and there are no problems with compression.

Audio: 4/5

This release comes with one audio option: a DTS-HD Mono mix in Japanese, and removable English subtitles have been included with this release. The audio also shows signs of improvement over previous releases; there are no problems with distortion or background noise, dialog always comes through clearly, and everything sounds balanced.

Extras:

Extras for this release include a theatrical trailer (2 minutes 48 seconds, Dolby Digital mono Japanese with English subtitles), an archival interview with director Seijun Suzuki from 1997 (20 minutes 12 seconds, Dolby Digital mono Japanese with non-removable English subtitles), an interview with Seijun Suzuki and assistant director Masami Kuzuu (12 minutes and 12 seconds, Dolby Digital mono Japanese with removable English subtitles), and a sixteen page booklet with cast & crew information, an essay titled Catch My Drift written by Howard Hampton, and information about the transfer.

Summary:

When I first came across Tokyo Drifter, I knew nothing about Seijun Suzuki or his films. Needless to say, Tokyo Drifter would peak my interest in Seijun Suzuki’s work, and over the last few years, more of his work has been released for western audiences to experience for the first time. Since the first time that I saw Tokyo Drifter, my appreciation for Seijun Suzuki’s unique cinematic style has continued to grow with each new viewing. And by the time that he would make Tokyo Drifter, he was already treading on thin ice with Nikkatsu, who would fire him the following year after he completed what is arguably his masterpiece, Branded to Kill.

Visually, the easiest way to sum up Tokyo Drifter is that it is a cross between the style often associated with MGM musicals of the 1950s and the James Bond and Spy films that were at their apex during the mid-1960s. In what may appear to be an odd stylistic choice, opening a color film with a black-and-white sequence This cleverly designed opening does a superb job setting up this film's explosive use of color. And at the end of this opening sequence, there is a red gun that offers contrast to the starkness of the black-and-white footage. This use of red in this sequence serves as a foreshadowing of the bloodshed to come. Another area in which the colors contribute greatly to the grand scheme of things are the clothes that the characters wear. And where most Yakuza films from this era had characters who wore black or darker colors, this film goes against the grain with its use of brighter, pastel-colored clothing.

Though some would say that Tokyo Drifter lacks structure and follows too much of a free-flow approach to the story at hand, In this reviewer's opinion, there is just enough structure that things never fully go awry, though there are a few moments where things do teeter dangerously close to the point of no return.

Content-wise, Tokyo Drifter explores themes of loyalty and responsibility that have their roots in Samurai and Yakuza films. One scene in particular that exemplifies these two types of genres in this film. It is a scene that takes place in a snow-covered countryside that is accentuated by gunfights and samurai swordfights. Other standout sequences include a scene in which Kurata’s secretary is caught in the crossfire of a gun battle, and her death is viewed from above as she makes her final death crawl. And the film’s bombastic finale, which features an acrobatic gun battle, is another high point.

Performance-wise, the cast more than held their own in their respective roles, with the most memorable performance coming from Eiji Gô (Zero Woman: Red Handcuffs) in the role of Tanaka, one of Otsuka’s henchmen. Though not as explosive of a performance as what one would come to expect from a Seijun Suzuki leading man, Tetsuya Watari (Yakuza Graveyard) gives an admirable performance in what would be one of his first starring roles.

And while the way in which the main theme is forcefully integrated into the story at hand may put some viewers off, for the most part, it is done in an inventive enough way that it actually becomes a character unto itself. Ultimately, Tokyo Drifter is a visually opulent tale in which logic takes a back seat and caution is thrown to the wind, as Seijun Suzuki's sublime style of storytelling takes us from one bizarre set piece to another.

Tokyo Drifter gets an exceptional release from The Criterion Collection that is a substantial improvement over their DVD release, highly recommended.

Written by Michael Den Boer