Ep. 72 Seijun Suzuki

“Who speaks of realism here?” This is it: our mammoth exploration
of the work of Japanese iconoclast Seijun Suzuki. Hosts Christopher
Funderburg & John Cribbs are joined by poster illustrator and
peerless cinephile Tony Stella to examine the legendarily
idiosyncratic and uncontrollable director. From Suzuki’s start as
an impossibly lazy assistant director at Shochiku to his his period
as a relentlessly prolific genre filmmaker at Nikkatsu to his
second act as an esteemed independent artist. His films
long-suppressed by Nikkatsu and unknown outside of his native
country, Suzuki’s reputation took off in America in the 90s when
filmmakers like Quentin Tarantino and Jim Jarmusch sang his praises
(Jarmusch’s Ghost Dog is famously an extended homage to Suzuki’s
career-breaking Branded to Kill); after a few tumultuous decades,
Suzuki finally achieved the international renown he deserved. Join
us as we follow the director’s journey, beat by beat, film by film;
from his early “youth in revolt” films like Everything Goes Wrong
to his wild genre experiments like Youth of the Beast & Tokyo
Drifter to his notorious “flesh trilogy” that caps off his early
career with the brilliant Carmen from Kawachi. We go after it all:
the Taisho trilogy, his Lupin III anime, his golf comedy, his
late-period curtain call. It’s here, the most comprehensive podcast
study of a filmmaker like no other. Support our Patreon:
www.patreon.com/thepinksmoke The Pink Smoke site:
www.thepinksmoke.com The Pink Smoke on Twitter:
twitter.com/thepinksmoke Tony Stella on Twitter:
twitter.com/studiotstella Christopher Funderburg on Twitter:
twitter.com/cfunderburg John Cribbs on Twitter:
twitter.com/TheLastMachine Intro music: Unleash the Bastards / “Tea
for Two” Outro music: Marcus Pinn / “Vegas”