"The Tokyo Skitaler" ( Jap. 東京 流 れ 者 ) is a film directed by Seijun Suzuki . Criminal drama in the style of the Yakuza Eig , shot at the studio Nikkatsu in 1966. Despite the rather simple plot, the picture is full of artistic merit. For example, the owner of dozens of prestigious professional awards, the Danish director Nicholas Winding Refn, when interviewing personal preferences, called her first in the list of 10 favorite works in the history of cinema [1] . In international distribution, the tape is known as “Tokyo Drifter”.
| Tokyo wanderer | |
|---|---|
| 流 れ 者 | |
 | |
| Genre | Yakuza Eiga drama |
| Producer | Seijun Suzuki |
| Producer | Tetsuro Nakagawa |
| Author script | Yasunori Kawauti |
| In the main cast | Tetsuya Watari |
| Operator | Shygoshi Mine |
| Film company | Nikkatsu |
| Duration | 83 min |
| A country |  Japan |
| Tongue | |
| Year | 1966 |
| IMDb | ID 0061101 |
Content
Story
Tetsu Hondo , nicknamed "Phoenix" - a young gangster and a great shooter, along with his boss Kurat , to whom he is infinitely devoted, leave the criminal business. The boss of another clan Yakuza Otsuka does not want to let them out of the underworld. Kurata owns commercial real estate, which is estimated to be at least 250 million yen . However, it is framed as a pledge to an external manager for debt, which is significantly less than the real value. Otsuka deception and threats forces the manager to transfer the property to his clan and kills him. Tetsu is trying to disrupt the deal and return the property documents, but the forces are not equal. Kurata is not in a position to provide physical and material support to Phoenix and advises him to escape, in effect condemning him to wanderings.
Tetsu is sent to a remote mountain prefecture, where the former allies of the Kurata clan are still preserved. Otsuka sends in his wake the best of his killer Tatsudzo , nicknamed "The Viper." Provincial yakuza with archaic rifles and samurai swords can not resist the capital's gangsters and protect Totsi. He is forced to go to the mountains. The “Viper” overtakes him there, but even the injured Tozi during a shootout on a snow-covered railway line turns out to be stronger than the enemy, and he would seem to die under the wheels of a locomotive. Unexpectedly, Tetsu finds an ally - Kedzi , a former Otsuki henchman, also hiding in the mountains. In conversations with a more experienced comrade, Tetsu is trying to understand the permissible limits of duty and betrayal. Kadzi does not give direct answers, but only warns against the blind faith of Kurata. "Phoenix" leaves for one of the major cities, however, it is impossible to get lost there. In one of the bars, he encounters the Viper. He, without one hand, with a burned face, tries to bring the boss's task to the end. And once again, Keji comes to the aid of Phoenix. Unable to carry out the assignment, the Viper shoots itself in the temple.
Being under pressure of a more powerful grouping and tempted by the offer to return the building, Kurata betrays Tetsu and agrees to kill him. But for the third time, “Phoenix” rescues Kedzi, warning him of treacherous betrayal. Tetsu returns to Tokyo and, having made his way into the lair of his opponents, destroys them all. He refuses to pledge allegiance to the old boss present there. Karut opens his veins with a glass of a broken glass.
Cast
- Tetsuya Watari - Tetsu Hondo nicknamed "Phoenix"
- Chieko Matsubara - Chiharu, Tetsu's Beloved
- Ryuji Kita - Kurata, Yakuza boss retired
- Hideaki Esumi - Otsuka, the young yakuza boss
- Hideaki Nitani - Kedzi, previously - Otsuki's First Assistant
- Tamio Kawaji - Tatsudzo, a gangster named "Viper"
Artistic features and criticism
According to the Greek film expert Nicolas Vrizidis, the film is not limited to the genre framework of the yakuza eig , it is full of elements from pop art , Hollywood musicals of the 1950s, comedies of absurdism and surrealism . In addition, he points to numerous allusions to American Westerns : a shootout on the railway line, a fight in a saloon, a hero whistling the main theme of music, as evidence that he is still alive [2] .
Time Out observer Jeff Andrew calls the tape "a crazy picture of the yakuza in which Suzuki suggested logic to hang himself." Based on the history of the next gang warfare, the film, in his opinion, is full of unusual scenery, strange lighting effects, inappropriate songs, abstract scenes on the verge of farce and surrealism. Considering the work of the director "inspirational insanity", the author draws attention to its distant resemblance to the works of Melville and Leone [3] . Suzuki’s work on the verge of absurdity has always displeased Nikkatsu studio management, with the result that for the production of the next film, Born to Kill , he was given only black and white film and the budget was significantly cut.
The film analyst Manola Dargis , who collaborated with several of the largest US periodicals at once, called the picture “an exciting, stunning, stunning fantasy” in which each step of the former gangster Tetsu along the path of honor and dignity causes opposition to his enemies. The film is striking in its style and, according to the author, is worthy of the highest praise [4] .
Critic Ivan Denisov considers the film to be Seyjun Suzuki’s most illustrative work (along with his next work, Born to Kill ), and actor Tetsuya Watari as one of the best representatives of the yakuza eig genre [5] .
Notes
- ↑ Nicolas Winding Refn's Top 10 on The Criterion Collection
- ↑ Vryzidis, N. The Directory of World Cinema: Japan . - Bristol, UK: Intellect Book, 2010. - p. 282-283. - 297 s. - ISBN 9781841503356 .
- ↑ Geoff Andrew. Tokyo Drifter (eng.) . Time out. The appeal date is November 24, 2015.
- ↑ Dargis, M. Tokyo Drifter (eng.) . The Criterion Collection (02.22.1999). The appeal date is November 25, 2015.
- ↑ Denisov, I. Yakuza Eig. Part 1. . cinematheque.ru. The appeal date is November 5, 2015.
Links
- " Tokyo Skitaler " (English) on the Internet Movie Database
- Tokyo wanderer (eng.) On the site allmovie
- Tokyo Skitaler (English) on the Rotten Tomatoes website