Branded To Kill

Pop art made to pop eyes, this 1967 Japanese Yakuza film sees contract killer ‘No.3’ (Jô Shishido) mess up an assignment and learn he’s now the target of ‘No.1’ (Kôji Nanbara). The plot is elliptical, characterisation scant: director Seijin Suzuki was fired for making a movie that “made no sense and no money”.

But here it’s all about elevating B-movie material via high-contrast b/w photography, odd angles, lawless cutting, fetishised gunplay and absurd humour. The influence on Tarantino, Woo and Jarmusch is striking – a fitting adjective for this Arrow release, which matches the Criterion Edition in visual and aural quality.