Review of Pistol Opera (2001) by Jack G — 27 May 2009

Shit, this movie was so surreal it made Branded to Kill look like Sesame Street. It's a letdown in that the film is kind of sort of not really remaking with a No. 3 killer fighting for life against a No.

1 killer or a Hundred Eyes killer, but without much at all in the way of any story or characters to much care about (and that girl that keeps begging for No. 3 to teach her how to kill, goddAMN she was annoying).

It just moves along from one sequence after another- not without some truly remarkable movements with the camera and with color, so stylized that its like a Kabuki fever dream that the samurai in the dream scenes of Brazil might have - without much flow.

It actually makes the argument, in an ironic way, that it might have been a good thing that Suzuki had the interference he had with the studios back in the 60s. With a little resistance he was unstoppable with stuff kile Branded and Tokyo Drifter.

Pistol Opera sees his head completely unloaded, a colossal bag of visual tricks that can be dazzling but becomes baffling and, sadly on occassion, slightly dulling to the senses.