Skip to content
balasaur
Seijun Suzuki

Seijun Suzuki

Director · 1923–2017 · Nihonbashi, Tokyo, Japan

IMDb

Biography

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.

Directed 62

2000s

  1. 2005

    Princess Raccoon

    Director

  2. 2001

    Pistol Opera

    Director

1990s

  1. 1993

    Marriage

    Director

  2. 1991

    Yumeji

    Director

1980s

  1. 1985

    Lupin the Third: The Legend of the Gold of Babylon

    Director

    61

  2. Capone Cries a Lot

    Director

  3. 1983

    Kazoku no sentaku

    Director

  4. Storm of Falling Petals: Banner of a Fireman in the Flames

    Director

  5. Cherry Blossoms in Spring

    Director

  6. 1981

    Kagero-za

    Director

  7. 1980

    The Claws of the Divine Beast

    Director

  8. Zigeunerweisen

    Director

1970s

  1. 1979

    The Fang in the Hole

    Director

  2. 1977

    A Tale of Sorrow and Sadness

    Director

    62
  3. 1973

    Horror Theater Unbalance

    Director

  4. A Mummy’s Love

    Director

1960s

  1. 1968

    Good Evening Dear Husband: A Duel

    Director

  2. 1967

    Branded to Kill

    Director

  3. 1966

    Fighting Elegy

    Director

  4. Tokyo Drifter

    Director

    77

  5. Carmen from Kawachi

    Director

    69
  6. 1965

    Tattooed Life

    Director

  7. Born Under Crossed Stars

    Director

  8. Story of a Prostitute

    Director

  9. 1964

    The Call of Blood

    Director

  10. Gate of Flesh

    Director

    78

  11. The Flower and the Angry Waves

    Director

  12. 1963

    Kanto Wanderer

    Director

  13. The Incorrigible

    Director

  14. Youth of the Beast

    Director

    76

  15. Detective Bureau 2-3: Go to Hell, Bastards!

    Director

    67
  16. 1962

    The Guys Who Put Money on Me

    Director

  17. Teenage Yakuza

    Director

  18. 1961

    Million Dollar Smash-and-Grab

    Director

  19. Blood-Red Water in the Channel

    Director

  20. The Wind-of-Youth Group Crosses the Mountain Pass

    Director

  21. The Man with a Shotgun

    Director

    64

  22. Living by Karate

    Director

  23. Tokyo Knights

    Director

    63
  24. 1960

    Fighting Delinquents

    Director

  25. Everything Goes Wrong

    Director

    68

  26. Smashing the 0-Line

    Director

    63

  27. The Sleeping Beast Within

    Director

    67

  28. Take Aim at the Police Van

    Director

    65

1950s

  1. 1959

    Age of Nudity

    Director

  2. Passport to Darkness

    Director

  3. Love Letter

    Director

  4. 1958

    Voice Without a Shadow

    Director

  5. Young Breasts

    Director

  6. The Boy Who Came Back

    Director

  7. Underworld Beauty

    Director

    67
  8. 1957

    The Naked Woman and the Gun

    Director

  9. Eight Hours of Terror

    Director

  10. Inn of the Floating Weeds

    Director

  11. 1956

    Satan's Town

    Director

  12. Pure Emotions of the Sea

    Director

  13. Harbour Toast: Victory Is in Our Grasp

    Director

  14. Evil Reward

    Assistant Director

  15. 1955

    Passion and Rifle Bullets

    Assistant Director

  16. Duel at Sundown

    Assistant Director

  17. 1954

    My Pistol Is Quick

    Assistant Director

  18. The Black Current

    Assistant Director

Acted in 29

2010s

  1. 2015

    SOAR: I Wish You Were Here

    Movie

  2. 2011

    Milocrorze: A Love Story

    Gazen

2000s

  1. 2007

    Matouqin Nocturne

    Movie

  2. 2006

    What's a Director?

    Movie

  3. 2004

    The Wings of Hakenkreuz

    Movie

  4. 2002

    Blessing Bell

    Old Man's Ghost

  5. 2000

    The Moon

    Movie

  6. The Last Day

    Movie

1990s

  1. 1999

    Embalming

    Movie

  2. 1998

    Let's Get Happy

    Movie

  3. Sleepless Town

    Ye Xiaodan

    70

  4. The Story of PuPu

    Old Man

  5. 1997

    Ki no ue no sogyo

    Movie

  6. Yurika-chan

    Grandpa

  7. 1996

    Black Jack 2: Pinoko I Love You

    Movie

  8. Sure Death 6

    Movie

  9. 1995

    Cold Fever

    Hirata's Grandfather

  10. 1994

    Good Mourning

    TV

  11. 1993

    My Beloved Ultraseven

    Eiji Tsuburaya

  12. 1992

    Pachinko Graffiti

    Movie

  13. 1991

    Discontinuous Bombing Incident

    Movie

  14. 1990

    The Rain Women

    Movie

  15. Tales of the Bizarre

    TV · 4 Seasons · Science Fiction · Fantasy

  16. La Belle Fille Masquée Poitrine

    Kami-sama · 52 episodes

1980s

  1. 1989

    Virgin Road

    Movie

  2. 1988

    Shiro and Marilyn

    Vet

  3. 1983

    Double Bed

    Man in Bar

  4. 1981

    MOMENT

    Movie

  5. 1980

    Disciples of Hippocrates

    Movie

Wrote 8

1980s

  1. 1983

    Storm of Falling Petals: Banner of a Fireman in the Flames

    Screenplay

  2. 1980

    Daughter of Time

    Idea

1960s

  1. 1967

    Branded to Kill

    Screenplay

1950s

  1. 1959

    Age of Nudity

    Writer

  2. 1956

    Semyonov's Gold Ingots

    Screenplay

  3. 1955

    Passion and Rifle Bullets

    Screenplay

  4. Duel at Sundown

    Screenplay

Art department 1

1990s

  1. 1995

    Lupin the Third: Greatest Capers

    Supervising Art Director

Produced 1

2000s

  1. 2005

    Princess Raccoon

    Executive Producer

Appearances2

2000s

  1. 2002

    Seijun Suzuki: kabuki & yakuzas

    Self - Filmmaker & Screenwriter