43 Black Tight Killers

[swo17]

Black Tight Killers



After wooing stewardess Yoriko (Chieko Matsubara, Tokyo Drifter), war photographer Hondo (Akira Kobayashi, Battles Without Honor and Humanity) sees her kidnapped by a team of deadly female assassins who use vinyl records as weapons. Investigating her whereabouts, Hondo uncovers a conspiracy to steal a buried stash of WWII-era gold. Soon he must dodge go-go dancing ninjas and chewing-gum bullets to save Yoriko, whose family secret is tied to the hidden treasure. Every bit as stylish and inventive as the wildest works by his mentor Seijun Suzuki, Yasuharu Hasebe's spy spoof is a gaudy 1960s pop delight that ranks with the likes of Joseph Losey's Modesty Blaise and Mario Bava's Danger: Diabolik!

LIMITED EDITION BLU-RAY SPECIAL FEATURES

• High-Definition digital transfer
• Uncompressed mono PCM audio
• Audio commentary by Jasper Sharp
• Archival interview with director Yasuharu Hasebe
• Trailer
• Optional English subtitles
• Reversible sleeve featuring original and newly commissioned artwork by Time Tomorrow
• Limited edition booklet featuring new writing by Japanese cinema expert Chris D.
• Limited edition of 3000 copies, presented in full-height Scanavo packaging with removable OBI strip leaving packaging free of certificates and markings

[therewillbeblus]

This doesn't reinvent the typical goofy Japanese genre pic of the era, but it does use its skeleton well. We know the basic outline, and so the filmmakers decide to populate the middle with as much unpredictable shifts and zany juice as it can conceive of - committing its focus mostly to creative weaponry and art direction in set pieces. It feels comfortable taking a vacation into an alien milieu where the absurd internal logic is accepted by all, under the blanket of a pop-comic noir version of the 'man out of his element goes hunting' narrative, which just plays a lot like a Wrong Man pic. Recommended if you think this will appeal to you, and I suspect that anyone reading the description already knows that answer. If Suzuki and Jack Hill collaborated on something around this era, it might've looked like this.

[zedz]

This was fun, but very slight. Basically the sillier end of Suzuki, but without the Suzuki stylistic crackle and pop. Even Jasper Sharp, somewhat apologetically, spends most of his commentary talking about Suzuki. Hasebe has made much more interesting films than this.