Review of Tokyo Drifter (1966) by Ryan V — 18 Feb 2015

A penitent gangster (Tetsuya Watari) is looking to retire from the yakuza lifestyle, but the machinations of his friends, rivals, and enemies are making that very difficult. Like many of Seijun Suzuki's films, Tokyo Drifter finds the director taking a boilerplate story and running it through a filter of idiosyncrazy.

There's a number of (really fake-looking) shoot-em-ups and fistfights, but the highlights of this film can be found in its interesting sets, odd expressions of color, cheeseball use of gallows humor, and singular camera angles.

Tokyo Drifter isn't much of a gangster movie, but it's an interesting showcase for a B-movie director who is sick of regurgitating genre cliches.