Branded to Kill Dir: Suzuki Seijun   Scr: Guryu Hachiro Prod: Iwai Kaneo   Prod Co: Nikkatsu Cast: Shishido Jo, Ogawa Mariko, Mari Anne 1967 / B&W / 35mm / Japanese / Eng Subtitles / 91min

This is the film that reputedly got Suzuki fired from Nikkatsu – for being incomprehensible. This is also the film that earned Suzuki legends of fans – for being an absurdist masterpiece. The studio was reportedly unhappy about the script and demanded changes, which Suzuki made – on the set, with his crew members. He ended up crediting them – collectively under the pseudonym Guryu Hachiro. The result is a story that makes no sense but also a lot of sense, not through reason and logic but through style, emotion, vision and…