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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.

Acting (26 movies)

Directing (57 movies)

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The Claws of the Divine Beast

1980

6.1

Lupin the Third: The Legend of the Gold of Babylon

1985

6.9

Fighting Elegy

1966

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Kanto Wanderer

1963

5.5

Underworld Beauty

1958

6.0

Pistol Opera

2001

5.5

Princess Raccoon

2005

7.1

Tokyo Drifter

1966

6.9

Youth of the Beast

1963

6.5

Story of a Prostitute

1965

7.2

Branded to Kill

1967

6.1

Take Aim at the Police Van

1960

6.5

Gate of Flesh

1964

7.0

Tattooed Life

1965

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Fighting Delinquents

1960

6.3

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

1963

6.5

Kagero-za

1981

6.3

Yumeji

1991

6.5

Zigeunerweisen

1980

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The Flower and the Angry Waves

1964

5.3

A Tale of Sorrow and Sadness

1977

6.1

Carmen from Kawachi

1966

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A Tale of Youth at Hirosaki High School

1992

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Capone Cries a Lot

1985

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The Fang in the Hole

1979

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

1983

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The Guys Who Put Money on Me

1962

7.3

Eight Hours of Terror

1957

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The Call of Blood

1964

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Voice Without a Shadow

1958

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Passport to Darkness

1959

6.8

The Sleeping Beast Within

1960

6.2

Smashing the 0-Line

1960

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Victory Is Ours

1956

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Good Evening Dear Husband: A Duel

1968

6.4

The Man with a Shotgun

1961

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The Wind-of-Youth Group Crosses the Mountain Pass

1961

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The Incorrigible

1963

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A Mummy’s Love

1973

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Love Letter

1959

6.4

Everything Goes Wrong

1960

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Satan's Town

1956

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The Boy Who Came Back

1958

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Age of Nudity

1959

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Inn of the Floating Weeds

1957

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Born Under Crossed Stars

1965

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Teenage Yakuza

1962

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Pure Emotions of the Sea

1956

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Tokyo Knights

1961

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Blood-Red Water in the Channel

1961

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Young Breasts

1958

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Living by Karate

1961

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Million Dollar Smash-and-Grab

1961

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Marriage

1993

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Kazoku no sentaku

1983

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Cherry Blossoms in Spring

1983

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The Naked Woman and the Gun

1957

Title	Year	Job
Duel at Sundown	1955	Screenplay
Passion and Rifle Bullets	1955	Screenplay
Semyonov's Gold Ingots	1956	Screenplay
Age of Nudity	1959	Writer
Branded to Kill	1967	Screenplay
Storm of Falling Petals: Banner of a Fireman in the Flames	1983	Screenplay
A Tale of Youth at Hirosaki High School	1992	Writer
Princess Raccoon	2005	Executive Producer