Editing is the reason for this, traditionally the editing in a Suzuki film cuts out absolutely everything that he deems unnecessary, this could be something as vague as taking his characters from one location to another or it could be something as important as exposition. This marks Youth of the Beast out as something of an oddity within the new wave phase of his career simply because it’s more appreciable to a wider audience. To sum that up in general terms, the films of Seijun Suzuki are effortlessly cool, hard to follow and brilliantly stylish. His films are composed of non-sequential editing, non-linear narrative, gorgeous cinematography and set design that turns simple concepts into flamboyant and stylish oddities. YOUTH OF THE BEASTįor those uninitiated with Seijun Suzuki there is one word best fits his work – weird. A theory validated by the film’s climax which doesn’t offer a simple resolution either attaining his revenge of failing in the process, on the contrary Mizuno is a constant state of flux, bouncing between victim and agitator.Ī uniquely Japanese film that manages to be both idiosyncratic in its design and accessible in its approach, an impressive feat on its own and a scarcely crossed bridge. Jo Mizuno has all the bravura of the garden variety Shishido role with the added bonus that he has a history that turns the black and blue of his violence into a field of grey. This affords Joe Shishido a better role than he was traditionally allowed. Youth of the Beast takes this loose concept and gives its lead more rational reasoning, Suzuki gives him something more than the “just because” school of motivation. Joe Shishido (Branded to kill) is Jo Mizuno, a violent thug who plays two Yakuza families creates a conflict between two families in order to eke out his revenge. Whether it’s through the lens of Suzuki, Kurosawa or Leone, the plot depicted a rogue playing two crime outfits off each other for reasons never fully articulated, Youth of the Beast may not have the cultural cache as the two aforementioned, however, it betters the pair by fleshing out its story to a much more satisfying climax. The latter of which is a deserving new addition to the Masters of Cinema catalogue. Whether that’s with Sergio Leone’s A Fistful of Dollars or the closer to home output with Japanese New Wave Wunderkind Seijun Suzuki and Youth of the Beast. Yojimbo has got an awful lot of mileage on the clock what with it being remade and reinterpreted the world over.
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