Matt Cooper Films

Branded to Kill (1967) by Seijun Suzuki

Hanada (Joe Shishido) is the #3 Killer in Japan, a ruthless gunman hired to take out individuals with no questions asked. His cool demeanour is shaken when he meets the stunning femme-fatale Misako (Annu Mari) and he finds himself in the crosshairs of a shadowy organization involving the legendary #1 Killer. With kinetic action sequences and stylish direction, “Branded to Kill” captures an effortless cool, shifting gears from tense, emotional drama to violent shootouts and sensuous romance. The jazz score reflects this jaunty, off-beat, occasionally unpredictable tone.

“Branded to Kill” is a sleek thriller that wastes little time on exposition. We discover that Hanada is the #3 Killer through his conversation with a man charged with driving him and a client to Nagano, under Hanada’s protection. This ranking of the top 10 hitmen in the country is never fully explained, but adds and element of intrigue about both Hanada’s past and the oft-referenced, ghost-like, occupant of the numeber one position. Joe Shishido is stylishly stoic as the outsider, living on the fringes of society due to his job he spends the majority of his free-time either in bed with his wife or drinking. His relationship with Misako, built on lust for the dangerous beauty, is unbelievable but fascinating, the two drawn together by their closeness to death, reflecting the sex and death drives of humanity in their torrid affair.

Suzuki’s film is a straightforward action film on the surface, expending little energy in its sparse plot, which is largely immaterial. Instead we are treated to a viceral exploration of the human condition: lust, paranoia, anger, ego, and betrayal. Hanada’s calm exterior disguises a man who is in emotional turmoil. Likewise, Misako’s morbid fascination with dead butterflies and birds suggests a devastating awareness of the proximity and inevitability of death. Suzuki uses visual artistry, the pouring rain that lashes down on Misako, the final confrontation in a boxing ring, to draw out these deeper themes of human passion and weakness, and the inescapable fight for survival. Worth a watch for fans of noir thrillers, with fun action sequences and superb direction making for a fantastic experience.

Matt Cooper Films

Stray Dog (1949) by Akira Kurosawa

Toshiro Mifune and Takashi Shimura reunite (after working together in Kurosawa’s ‘Drunken Angel’) in this crime noir thriller as homicide detectives investigating multiple murders with a stolen police pistol. Detective Murakami (Mifune) fears his career may have reached a premature conclusion when his gun is stolen by a pickpocket. His boss Nakajima tasks him with finding the pistol, putting him in touch with forensic firearms officer Ichikawa. When the gun is used in a murder, Murakami is partnered with veteran detective Sato (Shimura) and the two attempt to recover the weapon before more harm is done. Murakami and Sato pound the summer streets of Tokyo in a desperate bid to find the stolen pistol and the killer.

“Stray Dog” again features the fantastic on-screen chemistry of Mifune and Shimura in this dark police procedural. Mifune is captivating as the fresh detective battling his sense of regret and responsibility at losing the gun used in the murders. The film builds tension asMurakami and Sato chase down leads and interrogate suspects through the murky Tokyo underworld. Director Kurosawa, who co-wrote the script with Ryuzo Kikushima, creates an oppressive noir atmosphere through characters struggling with the sweltering summer heat. An early sequence in which we see Murakami trailing through the udnerworld of Tokyo as he tries to find his pistol brings home to us the difficulty of his position as he finds closed mouths and suspects unwilling to talk. In this and a later baseball scene the film may have benefitted from tighter editing, but it draws us in to the detectives’ world of antagagonistic witnesses and suspicion, ramping up a sense of desperation as they are unable to move forward with the investigation. The two track eventually track down a chorusgirl, Harumi Namiki (Keiko Awaji), whose relationship with the gunman Yusa (Isao Kimura) creates further problems for the detectives. She is unwilling at first to give up information on her lover. The film builds sees the two chasing the killer through a thunderstorm and the pouring rain further heightens the dread atmosphere. Soundtrack by Fumiko Hayakawa.

Stray dog features incredible performances by the main cast and a thrilling police drama as we see the footwork and effort that goes in to cracking a case. In this post-war Japan, danger still lurks at every street corner and the fears and suspicions that run through the society create an atmosphere as oppressive as the Tokyo heat. Well worth a watch for fans of crime films with a solid case and the perfect partnership of Mifune and Shimura to follow it through.

Matt Cooper Films

I Live in Fear (1955) by Akira Kurosawa

Toshiro Mifune plays an aging foundry-owner at war with his family in this drama touching on post-war nuclear fears. Kiichi Nakajima (Mifune) is the patriarch of a large family, including a number of illegitimate children alongside three children with his wife. Worried about the prospect of a nuclear strike and the radioactive fallout, he has decided to sell-off the profitable foundry, the family business, to buy a farm in South America. This follows a previous attempt to build an underground bunker which cost them a great deal of money. The children take their father to family-court to have him ruled unfit to make this decision. Among the panel of judges is dentist Harada (Takashi Shimura) who has some sympathy with the elderly Nakajima’s concerns.

“I Live in Fear” deals with one of the gravest themes of the mid-twentieth century: the threat of nuclear war and the subsequent dangers of radioation. Toshiro Mifune gives an incredible performance, one which the entire film revolves around, as a man who is genuinely worried for his childrens’ futures and feels that he must do what he can to protect them. The supporting cast play off Mifune as the contradictory forces to his passionate beliefs. When we are first introduced to them it seems a simple case wherein the elderly Kiichi is suffering paranoid delusions and his more level-headed family are attempting to calm him, or at least prevent him making any rash decisions. However, as the plot moves forward we realise that they are motivated by self-interest, and are perhaps deluding themselves to an equal degree in their nonchalant attitude to nuclear war. Kurosawa’s direction and the masterful script by Kurosawa, Shinobu Hashimoto and Hideo Oguni, along with the incredibly cinematography by Asakazu Nakai and a score by Fumio Hayasaka, come together to create a powerful film that is full of incredible moments, capturing the family dynamics that play out as a microcosm of wider debates around the issue.

While focussing on an individual family, the film speaks to all people who share Kiichi’s concerns, and those who ignore them. A grand-scale scene at the end of the film, in which the foundry has burnt down and the characters move about the wreckage while startled passersby look on, recalls the devastation of war-time bombings, making clear to people that this is not some fantastical nightmare of the protagonist but something that can and may again happen. The film is a stern rebuke to those whose self-interest and material concerns blind them to the greater dangers faced by society. The beautifully framed final scene at the end of the movie hints at the crossroads between heaven and hell that humanity finds itself at. We hold the power to destroy all life on earth, but also the ability to look beyond terrestrial concerns and consider the future of our species. A startling film with an engaging central dialogue that is exceptionally acted.

Matt Cooper Films

Drunken Angel (1948) by Akira Kurosawa

A small-time mob boss runs into an ill-tempered doctor who pressures him to change his ways in this crime thriller. Doctor Sanada (Takashi Shimura) works as a doctor in a small town, helped by his asssistant Miyo (Chieko Nakakita), his heavy drinking and misanthropic manner masking a serious desire to help those in need. When a local gansgter, Matsunaga (Toshiro Mifune), arrives at his surgery the two immediately clash, neither willing to back down. When Matsunaga is later referred to Sanada for tuberculosis, the doctor attempts to help him, all the while scolding him for his ongoing criminal affiliations. Matsunaga’s troubles deepen with the reappearance of Okada (Reisaburo Yamamoto), an old mob boss recently released from prison, whose presence threatens Matsunaga’s own position.

Directed by Akira Kurosawa, with a script by Kurosawa and Keinousuke Uekusa, “Drunken Angel” is a small town crime film with a strong moral core. The initial confrontation between Sanada and Matsunaga perfectly sets up these two strong-willed characters, both dedicated to their own particular code of honour. Despite Sanada’s disgust at the actions of gangsters, he’s motivated by a desire to improve the lives of others, both physically and through advising them against the evils of criminality. This surrogate father-son relationship is at the heart of the drama and the performances of Takashi Shimura and Toshiro Mifune are delightfully characterful, entertaining in every scene they share. The narrative is straightforward, but with plenty of flavour provided by side-characters and subplots, such as Miyo and Okada’s past; and the plot to use Matsunaga in an ongoing gang war. The direction is simple yet effective, with dialogues between key players drawing us into their inner worlds, and some standout set pieces such as the club scene and a fight late in the film which sees character writhing in white paint. It is a film that doesn’t shy away from visual metaphor with a dirty pond in the town symbolising the ever-present danger of the gangs; and a nightmare sequence in which a feverish Matsunaga witnersses his own death. Early on we see Sanada warn children from drinking the water to prevent them catching diseases; in the same way that his repeated unheeded warnings to Matsunaga intend to steer him away from danger.

“Drunken Angel” is a simple character-driven narrative with incredible central performances that gets to the heart of the choice between good and evil and ambiguous morality of humans. Sanada is far from a perfect individual, but his core belief in curing people stands in stark contrast to the selfish nature of the gangsters. For Matsunaga’s part, his story plays out as a tragedy, with his fate pre-destined through his actions or inability to repent.

Matt Cooper Films

The Bad Sleep Well (1960) by Akira Kurosawa

A young man seeks revenge on those who orchestrated his father’s death in this noir thriller of corporate misdeeds. The film opens with the wedding ceremony of Yoshiko (Kyoko Kagawa), the daughter of Iwabuchi (Tatsuya Mihashi), the head of the Public Development Corporation, who is due to marry Iwabuchi’s clerk, Nishi (Toshiro Mifune). A group of reporters turn up to the ceremony as Iwabuchi’s firm is under investigation due to potential corruption involving the bidding process for a new development. A cake is wheeled in shaped like a building with a rose inserted in the window of the room where an employee of the firm, Furuya, committed suicide by jumping. Unbeknownst to Iwabuchi and his co-conspirators Moriyama (Takashi Shimura) and Shirai (Ko Nishimura), who were responsible for Furuya’s suicide, Nishi is in fact Furuya’s son and he soon puts his plan into action, alongside another victim Wada (Kamatari Fujiwara), to get revenge on the trio.

“The Bad Sleep Well” is a noir thriller with plenty of twists and turns. While following the basic outline of a revenge plot, the story is teased out gradually with each new revelation landing a heavy blow on the audience. The maliciousness and avarice of the trio of villains is a damning indictment of corporate culture in which profits come before all else. The nefarious scheme, involving forcing employees to commit suicide rather than risk their plan being exposed, creates memorable antagonists only slightly out of the realms of the ordinary. At the heart of the film is an exploration of the rights and wrongs of revenge, in particular through Nishi’s relationship with Yoshiko, Iwabuchi’s daughter. Nishi’s deceit and Yoshiko’s genuine affection for him emphasise the collateral damage caused by him in his quest for revenge. In setting up these dynamics, between Nishi and Sachiko, Sachiko and her brother, the children and their father Iwabuchi, and the various co-conspirators and employees of Dairyu, the ending is far from certain and will come as a suprise to many.

Akira Kurosawa does a great job with this character driven drama, delving into the psyche of some truly reprehensible characters. The nuanced performance by Mifune is at the heart of the story which shows the darker side of human nature. Alongside its blistering critique of capitalist terror it looks at age-old questions of betrayal, greed and revenge. The score by Masaru Sato is a mix of jaunty detective caper and more ominous notes, and the film, despite its depressing subject matter, is firmly intended as mass appeal entertainment. It is Kurosawa’s genius that he is able to balance the artistic flourishes, such as the incredible use of lighting and shadows in certain moments, with an engaging plot; reconciling a sense of fun, blockbuster fare with deeper philosophical questions on morality and human nature.