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In this jazzy gangster film, reformed killer Phoenix Tetsus attempt to go straight is squashed when his former cohorts call him back to Tokyo to help battle a rival gang. This onslaught of stylized violence and trippy colors got director Seijun Suzuki (BRANDED TO KILL) in trouble with Nikkatsu studio heads, who were put off by his anything-goes, in-your-face aesthetic, equal parts Russ Meyer, Samuel Fuller, and Nagisa Oshima. TOKYO DRIFTER is a delirious highlight of the brilliantly excessive Japanese cinema of the sixties.
