BRANDED TO KILL

Stunningly shot in widescreen black and white Seijun Suzuki's "Branded to Kill" starts out like something that could have been directed by Jean- Pierre Melville in the fifties or Godard in the sixties. These Japanese gangsters are somehow closer to Alain Delon and Eddie Constantine than they are to the Yakuza and the jazzy score could have come from the French New Wave.

The plot is suitably obscure and the action is at times preposterous but Suzuki is a major stylist and the film's violent imagery is something to behold while Satre could have written the dialogue. Unfortunately this weird and wonderful film virtually disappeared without trace but its cult status is very definitely assured.