Tokyo Drifter [Criterion Collection]

Director: Seijun Suzuki

Overview

"Seijun Suzuki's stylish gangster film Tokyo Drifter gets the treatment it deserves from Criterion on this first-rate release. The film is presented in a widescreen transfer that preserves the original theatrical aspect ratio. The Japanese soundtrack is rendered in Dolby Digital Mono. The film looks and sounds as good as one could reasonably hope. English subtitles are accessible. Supplemental materials include an interview with the director. This disc is recommended to any fan of Asian cinema."

Product Details

Release Date:	02/23/1999
UPC:	0037429136126
Original Release:	1966
Source:	CRITERION
Region Code:	1
Sound:	[monaural]
Language:	English
Time:	1:23:00

Cast & Crew

Performance Credits

Watari Tetsuya	Tetsuya 'Phoenix Tetsu' Hondo
Kita Ryuji	Kurata
Yoshida Tsuyoshi	Keiichi
Esumi Hideaki	Otsuka
Kawachi Tamio	Tatsuzo
Cho Hiroshi	Kumamoto
Tetsuya Watari	Tetsuya Hondo
Chieko Matsubara	Chiharu
Hideaki Nitani	Kenji `Shootin' Star' Aizawa
Ryuji Kita	Kurata
Tamio Kawachi	`Viper' Tatsu
Isao Tamagawa	Umetani
Michio Hino	Yoshii
Tomoko Hamakawa	Mutsuko
Takeshi Izumi	Detective Sakai
Tsuyoshi Yoshida	Keiichi
Hiroshi Cho	Kumamoto
Eiji Go	Tanaka
Yuzo Kiura	Fujimura
Shinzo Shibata	Otokichi
Shuntaro Tamamura	Koyanagi
Hideaki Ezumi	Actor
So Kaburagi	Composer

Technical Credits

Yasunori Kawauchi

Tetsuro Nakagawa	Producer
Yasunori Kawauchi	Screenwriter

Scene Index

Chapters
0. Chapters
1. Logos [:30]
2. Red gun [3:56]
3. Opening titles (The theme song) [1:14]
4. Kurata's dilemma [3:37]
5. Manhole Music Tea Room [2:09]
6. Cherche le vagabond (The yellow set) [2:00]
7. Driver's ed. 101 (Hard-boiled music cue) [1:29]
8. Tetsuya's squeezes [3:23]
9. "Watch out for that first step. It's Alulu" (The purple set) [4:48]
10. Tetsu's powder blue coat of honor [3:07]
11. Lover's suicide or murder? [2:33]
12. Viper Tetsu [2:25]
13. Shipyard showdown (Theme song reprise) [4:49]
14. The tramp from Tokyo [3:24]
15. Charm lady [1:58]
16. Snow country [2:40]
17. Singing assassin (Theme song reprise-the blue set) [2:17]
18. 10 meters (The filtered version) [2:30]
19. Day tripper [3:12]
20. Two loners [3:08]
21. Drifting (Theme song reprise) [2:09]
22. Saloon western (Candy-colored set) [5:57]
23. The end of Viper [1:56]
24. "Give me Chiharu" [2:39]
25. Ace of spades [2:29]
26. Men with guns running down streets [4:12]
27. Training a singer [3:07]
28. In the white room (Flying gun trick) [3:57]
29. Theme song reprise (The End) [:51]

Menu

Side #1
Play the movie
Subtitles
Seijun Suzuki interview
Color bars

Editorial Reviews

Viewers approaching Tokyo Drifter for the first time are well advised to buckle their seats, for Drifter is an incredible roller-coaster ride of a movie, a rich cinematic experience that dazzles and overwhelms its audience. What's particularly amazing is that it achieves this goal with the use of a screenplay that is filled with flaws, most notably gaping plot holes that would sink most other films. But Drifter is helmed by the visionary Seijun Suzuki, who, once he hit his stride, revealed himself to be a true madman of the cinema. But Suzuki's madness is born of genius, and it fills virtually every frame of Drifter. Visually, the film is a feast, a tribute to the grand and gaudy old musicals of MGM's peak period, even though the subject matter couldn't be more distant from those films. Colors play an essential thematic role in each segment, reaching a climax in a gunfire-filled scene in which the colors of the wall change suddenly and with no logical reason -- but with tremendous emotional effect. The photography is glorious, the use of music fascinating, and the editing stunning. While Drifter flirts with gimmickry, the director's "tricks" somehow come across as organic; they become the point of the film, and it's a wonderful thing to behold.