Featured Audience Ratings

• Bob S

  
  Makes no damn sense at all. Pretty colors though. This was like a Daniel Clowes yakuza comic with more than a few pages missing.

• Daniel P

  
  The first Yakuza film I've ever seen, and for me, a real eye-opener. I love movies about trying to leave a life of crime behind, and I really enjoyed this one and got behind the hero, Tetsu. If you're a Tarantino fan, watching this (or other Suzuki films) will put his work… More
  The first Yakuza film I've ever seen, and for me, a real eye-opener. I love movies about trying to leave a life of crime behind, and I really enjoyed this one and got behind the hero, Tetsu. If you're a Tarantino fan, watching this (or other Suzuki films) will put his work (particularly the Kill Bill films) into proper context. Exotic music, insanely bright colours, and as far as I'm aware, the earliest instance in my viewing history of the supered-on-the-screen text that we're seeing more and more in North American films, too. A window into 60s Japanese pop culture, and like nothing I've ever seen before.

• Universal D

  
  A pop 60's aesthetic, a cool like Steve McQueen, a powder blue seersucker suit and an indescribable plot miraculously combine in this B-movie chic from Japan about a mob guy (the Yakusa, baby!) trying to go straight. As another made guy famously said: "... every time I try… More
  A pop 60's aesthetic, a cool like Steve McQueen, a powder blue seersucker suit and an indescribable plot miraculously combine in this B-movie chic from Japan about a mob guy (the Yakusa, baby!) trying to go straight. As another made guy famously said: "... every time I try to get out they drag me back in!"

• Steven C

  
  Seijun Suzuki's "Tokyo Drifter" is a very silly but important B-Movie. It encompasses the 1960s Japanese New Wave into one film. It's visual and auditory mischief can certainly be amusing (and often copied, most notably by Quentin Tarantino with "Kill Bill:… More
  Seijun Suzuki's "Tokyo Drifter" is a very silly but important B-Movie. It encompasses the 1960s Japanese New Wave into one film. It's visual and auditory mischief can certainly be amusing (and often copied, most notably by Quentin Tarantino with "Kill Bill: Volume 1") but it also adds up to next to nothing. It's hard to fully embrace a film that makes so little sense. There is nothing to plug into emotionally or narratively. The film may be fun and it's use of color is dazzling, but without any human anchor (which Tarantino certainly added to his pictures) we are left will all style and very little substance.

• Anthony L

  
  Tokyo Drifter is so cool its sub-zero. Seijun Suzuki's classic still looks good today and Tetsuya Watari's Drifter is one of the coolest characters in film ever! I really want his suit!

• danny d

  
  this score is almost entirely for the absurd but excellent gun fight at the end of the film. the film was shot very well, highly stylized, and the characters were excellent, but the method of storytelling knocks this film down for being entirely incoherent. a good film that could… More
  this score is almost entirely for the absurd but excellent gun fight at the end of the film. the film was shot very well, highly stylized, and the characters were excellent, but the method of storytelling knocks this film down for being entirely incoherent. a good film that could have been a masterpiece had it made a bit more sense.

• Sarah G

  
  <b>Tokyo, the gangster Tetsu (Tetsuya Watari) regenerates when his yakuza boss Kurata (Ryuji Kita) decides to quit his criminal life. However, the mobster family leaded by Otsuka (Hideaki Esumi) threatens Kurata's legitimate business, and Tetsu decides to leave Kurata to… More
  <b>Tokyo, the gangster Tetsu (Tetsuya Watari) regenerates when his yakuza boss Kurata (Ryuji Kita) decides to quit his criminal life. However, the mobster family leaded by Otsuka (Hideaki Esumi) threatens Kurata's legitimate business, and Tetsu decides to leave Kurata to relief the pressure on him. He leaves also his girlfriend Chiharu (Chieko Matsubara) and becomes a drifter moving to the country. When Tetsu is betrayed, he returns to Tokyo to resolve his situation. </b> Don't remember why exatctly I put this on my lovefilm rental list but I'm pretty glad that I did. Tokyo Drifter is something get extrodinary and very unliked most films that I've seen. Also don't often catch a B Film at all. Japnese Cinema of the 1960s. I believe was inspiration for Quentin Tarantino's Kill Bill and Kill Bill 2. This is evident in the faboulous sets and brilliant imagery that Suzuki implements into this films. The story is very much the same, with the Tokyo Drifter (Tetsu) playing a similar role to Uma Thuram's character. Definatly check it out if you enjoy Tarantino'd cinema. Tokyo Drifter take you into the world of Japanese Organised crime, with much of it feeling like you're watching a 1960's Bond film. The narrative is at times pretty bizzare and you really have to pay attention to the subtitles and what's going in in every scene. Which brings me on to the translated dialogue, which did seem a little oddly phrased at times. Argubaly this adds to the enjoymet of the film! With some rather bizzare musical sequences, including a rather catching soundtrack and some great corny dialogue-not understanding the plot may not necessarily matter. For instance the musical sequences and the theme somehow has a symbolic reference, depending on how you look at it. I mean, every musical sequence, was injected with a colourful pop art like backdrop, which is pratically postmodern. What I loved about that is that is it really depicts the 1960's so well. Intrestingly, I noticed some of changing of scenes, was at time done so quick that you got lost in the story. Not quite sure of the purpose of that but somehow it doesn't matter. One brilliant thing to look out for is the changing colour in the openinging sequence, then to colour. This makes it feel like a distant memory or some sorts. Overall, you can tell from my review that I don't watch a lot of Japanese cinema from the 1960's, so apologies for that. I highly recomend this film for it's gorgeous set design and one theme that you'll be whistling for hours. The plot is conventional, but at times hard to follow. If you keep at it you'll feel like you've watched an excellent film! Look out for the brilliant end sequence! Highly recomended 8/10

• El Hombre I

  
  While you may or may not understand the plot of Tokyo Drifter, it won't matter upon seeing the swanky art deco sets, the bizarre musical sequences and the action scenes. The photography, music and editing are a real treat. Tokyo Drifter is a yakuza tale with themes of… More
  While you may or may not understand the plot of Tokyo Drifter, it won't matter upon seeing the swanky art deco sets, the bizarre musical sequences and the action scenes. The photography, music and editing are a real treat. Tokyo Drifter is a yakuza tale with themes of loyalty and responsibility that have their roots in Samurai films but clash with dishonor. Seijun Suzuki creates a glorified B-movie with class. A simple tale of gangsters trying to go straight while infecting you with every shade of primary colors.<a href="http://s273.photobucket.com/albums/jj203/goji9000/?action=view¤t=tokyodrifter.gif" target="_blank"><img src="http://i273.photobucket.com/albums/jj203/goji9000/tokyodrifter.gif" border="0" alt="Photobucket"></a>

• Tsubaki S

  
  Decades before people like Takashi Miike started to twist everyone's minds with his blend of genres and experimental strokes, Seijun Suzuki was already doing it all the way back to the 60's with his iconic yakuza flicks. A young Tetsuya Watari plays the lead here, as… More
  Decades before people like Takashi Miike started to twist everyone's minds with his blend of genres and experimental strokes, Seijun Suzuki was already doing it all the way back to the 60's with his iconic yakuza flicks. A young Tetsuya Watari plays the lead here, as Tetsuya "Phoenix", your usual honorable pre-Fukasaku yakuza lead that just wants to go straight after his boss disbanded the band he was in. As usual for this type of stories, Tetsuya gets betrayed and chased by all sorts of enemies. "Average" and "usual" ends exactly at that point, while things start quite pedestrian Suzuki wastes no time in twisting the narrative and the color composition. From scenarios that switch between one color to another, to Tetsuya Watari's sky blue suit and all the way to the snowy mountains of Japan, the film becomes a strange mix. Suzuki can be blamed for being a style over substance director, yet the style of a film like this was so out of control and creative, for both the era and even for today's standards, that it's hard not to admire the man. How can you say no to a film where the main characters whistles the main theme of said film? Catchiest theme song ever + Tetsuya Watari + Suzuki's creative takes = safe winner. Nikkatsu might had fire him for BTK, but i'm surprised they didn't do it for this one. The film is so out there it looks as if it has been made in another dimension. And again, i dare you not to love that theme song. You will end whistling it when you less expect it.

• Chris B

  
  Criterion have finally made an essential upgrade from their old DVD version and have realized a beautiful and faithful representation of Seijun Suzuki's "Tokyo Drifter"! This along with the film "Branded to Kill" released the following year, and ultimately… More
  Criterion have finally made an essential upgrade from their old DVD version and have realized a beautiful and faithful representation of Seijun Suzuki's "Tokyo Drifter"! This along with the film "Branded to Kill" released the following year, and ultimately getting Suzuki fired, are his most acclaimed and well known films of the renegade Director. The B&W opening with the overblown contrast is captured beautifully and really is poetic in it's image and being. The film then progresses into color and into the lives of various men and women both in and involved in some way to the Yakuza. Tetsuya Watari plays Hondo Tetsuya who is a skilled yakuza trying to go straight along with his boss and beat their old habits of the gang. This dream is torn apart as another rival syndicate enters the picture and threatens everything. The film is what I would consider an artistic action film that explodes with every gun fight and set piece with style to spare! The film is disjointed and crosscuts are used right as we are about to see something happen and then we are hours away and in a different area then before. It isn't until we realize that even though we didn't see the kill or other action, it was done and we have already moved on in the story in order to fit such a film into 82 minutes. This film is a fun and artsy adventure film that uses it's plot to advance the film to and from set pieces that the heart of the stylish film resides and is a blast to watch knowing the intention of the Director.

• Lesley N

  
  A 1966 colourful, quirky and funny action yakuza film, TOKYO DRIFTER is about a yakuza clan gone straight and the lead henchman Tetsue's efforts to keep them so when a rival gang try to turn them to the dark side again. It's got a black and white start, realistic… More
  A 1966 colourful, quirky and funny action yakuza film, TOKYO DRIFTER is about a yakuza clan gone straight and the lead henchman Tetsue's efforts to keep them so when a rival gang try to turn them to the dark side again. It's got a black and white start, realistic streetscenes cutting to luridly mono-coloured stage sets, a muddling set of secondary characters, a 60's daytime discoteque and a catchy theme tune (called Tokyo Drifter of course) that keeps popping up whenenever our hero is looking suitably enigmatic or pensive. Directed by Seijun Suziuki, a Japanese director who made a number of B movies in Japan before his masterpiece BRANDED TO KILL got him banded from the studio for being too surreal. Not much known outside Japan either until equally maverick directors like Tarantino, Jarmusch and Takesh Kitano got him noticed in the 90's. If its good enough for them... .

• a b

  
  Doesn't make any sense, but the main guy Tetsu has some cool suits.

• Stephen E

  
  Visually ahead of its time, "Tokyo Drifter" is visually one of the most stylish and influential films to emerge from its generation. Its costume design and cinematography are so vibrant and colorful that almost every frame is a work of art, and the jazz score is exceptional… More
  Visually ahead of its time, "Tokyo Drifter" is visually one of the most stylish and influential films to emerge from its generation. Its costume design and cinematography are so vibrant and colorful that almost every frame is a work of art, and the jazz score is exceptional as well. Problem is that as a source of entertainment, it is a failure. The narrative (however much of one there is) is so utterly incoherent and the characters are so uninteresting and dispensable that "Tokyo Drifter" gets boring to watch just after the first ten minutes. Having great visuals is one thing, but having a worthwhile story with characters you can invest emotion in is something much, much more important.

• Marcus W

  
  Good looks can't save this nonsensical nonsense.

• Doctor S

  
  'Tokyo Drifter' Comes And Goes A '60s Japanese gangster movie that plays more like an urban western. There's even a barroom brawl! Tarantino has said this was one of the inspirational films for Kill Bill Vol. 1, I didn't know that until afterwards but while… More
  'Tokyo Drifter' Comes And Goes A '60s Japanese gangster movie that plays more like an urban western. There's even a barroom brawl! Tarantino has said this was one of the inspirational films for Kill Bill Vol. 1, I didn't know that until afterwards but while watching this some elements of KB came to mind like the color schemes and the suit & tie gang of hoods and the glass-floored club. Visually striking, dramatically routine, and displays some of the most discontinuous editing ever put on screen, it's like a style of its own! Plus you have to hear the theme song about 15 times.

• Christopher B

  
  Another great film from Suzuki. This is a colourful film that is fun to look at and has a great lead character. Great scenes include, the final confrontation and the wicked bar fight. A must see.

Read all 16 featured audience ratings