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Seijun Suzuki
Seijun Suzuki born Seitaro Suzuki (24 May 1923 – 13 February 2017) was a Japanese filmmaker, actor, and screenwriter. His films are renowned by film enthusiasts worldwide for their jarring visual style, irreverent humour, nihilistic cool and entertainment-over-logic sensibility. He made 40 predominately B-movies for the Nikkatsu Company between 1956 and 1967, working most prolifically in the yakuza genre. His increasingly surreal style began to draw the ire of the studio in 1963 and culminated in his ultimate dismissal for what is now regarded his magnum opus, Branded to Kill (1967), starring notable collaborator Joe Shishido. Suzuki successfully sued the studio for wrongful dismissal, but he was blacklisted for 10 years after that. As an independent filmmaker, he won critical acclaim and a Japanese Academy Award for his Taishō Trilogy, Zigeunerweisen (1980), Kagero-za (1981) and Yumeji (1991).
His films remained widely unknown outside of Japan until a series of theatrical retrospectives beginning in the mid 1980s, home video releases of key films such as Branded to Kill and Tokyo Drifter in the late 1990s and tributes by such acclaimed filmmakers as Jim Jarmusch, Takeshi Kitano, Wong Kar-wai and Quentin Tarantino signaled his international discovery. Suzuki has continued making films, albeit sporadically. In Japan, he is more commonly recognized as an actor for his numerous roles in Japanese films and television.
He passed away on February 13th, 2017.
Description above from the Wikipedia article Seijun Suzuki, licensed under CC-BY-SA, full list of contributors on Wikipedia.
As director
Princess Raccoon
Pistol Opera
Marriage
A Tale of Youth at Hirosaki High School
Yumeji
Lupin the Third: The Legend of the Gold of Babylon
Capone Cries a Lot
Storm of Falling Petals: Banner of a Fireman in the Flames
Kazoku no sentaku
Cherry Blossoms in Spring
Kagero-za
The Claws of the Divine Beast
Zigeunerweisen
The Fang in the Hole
A Tale of Sorrow and Sadness
A Mummy’s Love
Good Evening Dear Husband: A Duel
Branded to Kill
Fighting Elegy
Tokyo Drifter
Carmen from Kawachi
Story of a Prostitute
Tattooed Life
Born Under Crossed Stars
Gate of Flesh
The Flower and the Angry Waves
The Call of Blood
Kanto Wanderer
Youth of the Beast
Detective Bureau 2-3: Go to Hell, Bastards!
As actor
SOAR: I Wish You Were Here
Milocrorze: A Love Story
Dreaming Awake
Boy
Matouqin Nocturne
What's a Director?
From the Ruins: Making 'Gate of Flesh'
The Wings of Hakenkreuz
Blessing Bell
The Erotic Empire
Seijun Suzuki: kabuki & yakuzas
The Moon
The Last Day
Embalming
Sleepless Town
The Story of PuPu
Let's Get Happy
Yurika-chan
Ki no ue no sogyo
Black Jack 2: Pinoko I Love You
Sure Death 6
Cold Fever
My Beloved Ultraseven
Pachinko Graffiti
Discontinuous Bombing Incident
The Rain Women
Virgin Road
Shiro and Marilyn
Double Bed
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