Review of Tokyo Drifter (1966) by Lesley N — 01 Mar 2010
A 1966 colourful, quirky and funny action yakuza film, TOKYO DRIFTER is about a yakuza clan gone straight and the lead henchman Tetsue's efforts to keep them so when a rival gang try to turn them to the dark side again. It's got a black and white start, realistic streetscenes cutting to luridly mono-coloured stage sets, a muddling set of secondary characters, a 60's daytime discoteque and a catchy theme tune (called Tokyo Drifter of course) that keeps popping up whenenever our hero is looking suitably enigmatic or pensive. Directed by Seijun Suziuki, a Japanese director who made a number of B movies in Japan before his masterpiece BRANDED TO KILL got him banded from the studio for being too surreal. Not much known outside Japan either until equally maverick directors like Tarantino, Jarmusch and Takesh Kitano got him noticed in the 90's. If its good enough for them...
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This review of Tokyo Drifter (1966) was written by Lesley N on 01 Mar 2010.
Tokyo Drifter has generally received positive reviews.
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