Kutabare akutô-domo - Tantei jimusho 23 (1963)

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CaptYamato
Really fun film. 12 years 3 months ago
Siskoid
Japanese cinema really knows how to title a film. Detective Bureau 2-3: Go to Hell, Bastards! is a Seijun Suzuki barn burner that prefigures some of the outlandishness of Tokyo Drifter, while still playing as a pop, color-soaked noir action flick. Jō Shishido is a private eye who offers the police his help to infiltrate a gang that's stealing from yakuza clans. He's real cool and seems to manage it, but these baddies are so untrusting, it's sure to fall apart any minute. The rest of "Bureau 2-3" isn't so useful, however, mostly acting as comic relief, which is perhaps not that useful either given the overall tone of the film. The lead and the action are fun in a James Bond kind of way, so we don't need these clowns, or else need them to do more. Suzuki's stylishness brings a lot to the game, with stark color choices and a bopping rock'n'roll soundtrack chiefly, but Shishido gets into a musical number, somehow. It's moments like this that just made me put all the Suzuki I can find on my watchlist. 7 months 1 week ago