TOKYO DRIFTER is an action thriller film that on a unrelated, disoriented and possibly destructive way shows the life of a yakuza. A contrast is expressed in the fact that a well-known yakuza becomes a drifter because he chose to live honestly.Tetsuya is a member of a recently deactivated Yakuza gang. His boss, to whom he holds absolute loyalty has given up the life of crime. Tetsuya wants to change his life. A rival gang boss attempts to recruit Tetsu into his organization, but is turned down. However, the yakuza are determined to get him back into their life - or kill him if he refuses...Mr. Suzuki has showed a surrealistic style mixed with a pop culture, noir and westerns. An unconventional story is full of black humor, which receives an inappropriately tone. Because of this, a vivid action gets iconic character. This is especially true in a very interesting fight in a brothel. A tense atmosphere is great, the environment is impressive, and the melody is excellent. However, plots are very confusing and it is very difficult to link this movie into one whole.Tetsuya Watari as Tetsuya "Phoenix Tetsu" Hondo is too cool for a disappointed former assassin. However, his strange character fits perfectly into this experimental style. If a dangerous yakuza has no friends, why would a singing drifter had friends.

Tokyo Drifter (1966) ** 1/2 (out of 4) All style and no substance certainly rings true for this Japanese gangster film from director Seijun Suzuki. I'm not 100% certain on the plot but a gangster gives up the lifestyle after his boss gets out of the racket but soon the two find themselves under attack by a rival gang. With more and more pressure being added, the former gangster must turn drifter to keep the heat off of his beloved boss. I'm really not sure if that's the exact story to this thing because it seemed all over the place. Not to mention the fact that it was rather clear that the director was more interested in getting all the style on film and this style is basically the main reason to see this film. The beautiful colors certainly leap off the screen as does the terrific cinematography but the lack of story really left me cold. I also didn't care too much for the lead, which was another negative.

Seijun Suzuki's iconoclastic Tokyo Drifter is a roller-coaster ride of startling images and satirical set pieces. Apparently his studio bosses in the day didn't know what to make of it; we are not that much better off decades later. At times playful, at others adventurous and then touching, this film defies description. It just has to be seen. The sudden light changes are outrageous but fantastic. The cheeky half-hearted cop-chases-bad-guy sequence is amusing. The women are treated badly, the Americans even worse - but it is all super cool. You'll be whistling the theme for days afterwards. MTV and Tarantino are impostors - watch Tokyo Drifter to see where it all started.

Another movie that amazes me. I watched this with a bunch of friends who enjoy Asian movies (Ichi, Hana Bi, Ikiru, Oni Baba, etc.) and the verdict was unanimous - this is one vastly over-hyped movie. That was our honest opinion. There was simply nothing redeeming about this movie. It appeared to be have been made by someone with a severe hangover, or someone with a bad bout of attention deficit disorder, a 15 year old dsylexic, or probably someone with all of the above traits of genius. Granted that this movie may have gone against the grain of most contemporary movies of the time, but that alone does not qualify it to be judged as a masterpiece. Storyline: Utterly predictable Acting: What acting? Effects: looks like a one man job - carpenter/painter/decorator/director Music: One song that I could not listen to again, after 2 renditions Dialogue: Arf arf! Snarl! Yapyapayapyap...The only thing that makes sense about this movie is that Seijun got fired after delivering this kind of fluff once too often. I can see the elite connoissuers raising their eyebrows in disdain at such an unsophisticated take on such a universally agreed upon work of genius. That's fine. Its an honest opinion, whatever else its not. It did not click for me.