There are movies and then there are movies and then there is Pistol Opera. Legend has it that back in the 1960's Seijun Suzuki was making low budget crime movies for Nikkatsu Studios. While his films featured the usual trappings of yakuzas, guns and girls he seemed more interested in pursuing his own artistic flourishes instead of little things like making a movie anybody might actually want to watch. The producers asked him, not surprisingly, to tone it down. In response he turned in the incredibly bizarre Branded to Kill which immediately caused him to get fired. Even though it took him ten years to make another movie Suzuki managed to overcome the blacklisting his firing gave him and somehow gained a bit of a cult following among international movie enthusiasts. Still, I don't know how he managed to take that fringe interest and use it to get financing for Pistol Opera, a sequel to Branded to Kill that came out over thirty years after the original debuted. Are these the same people who bank roll the six or seven film Takashi Miike makes a year? Is there a larger audience for gonzo cinema in Japan than I suspect? How was Pistol Opera made? Why was Pistol Opera made? I don't know, but I'm glad we live in a world that will allow things like Pistol Opera to occasionally burst onto the scene.
he plot of Pistol Opera, for what it's worth, is the story of the number three killer in Japan, Miyuki Minazuki, also known as Stray Cat [Makiko Esumi]. There's a shake-up going on in the Assassins Guild and it's every person for themselves in a race to see who can claim the number one position. The set up for the Guild seems a bit shaky since instead of actual assassin work the only thing the members seem to do is shoot each other. They do, however, all have serial numbers issued to them and Stray Cat even has an agent, Sayoko Uekyo [Sayoko Yamaguchi]. In some ways the story is a re-telling of Branded to Kill with the old protagonist Goro Hanada [Mikijiro Hira substituting for Jo Shishido] commenting on the action as it unfolds for a second time. That, or maybe with the link between Goro, Stray Cat and her would-be protege [Kan Hanae] it's a rift on the generational idea of mentoring and repressed sexual tension that was found in Leon/The Professional. Or else with it's love of color, elaboratly staged movement, and complete disregard for reality it could be argued that Pistol Opera is a violent companion piece to the Audrey Hepburn/Fred Astaire musical vehicle Funny Face. Take your pick.
One interesting change between Pistol Opera and Branded to Kill is that this time the script seems more tailored to Suzuki's strengths. Branded to Kill had the remnants of a standard plot in it even if nobody in the movie gave a damn about them. Pistol Opera, however, has pieces that seem to exist for no other reason than to give life to some peculiar shot. In a typical movie this would be a detriment but Pistol Opera is not a typical movie. Another notable switch is how Pistol Opera has less sex in it when compared to it's forebearer. I don't know if Suzuki didn't feel like going down that road again or if the skin in Branded to Kill was there to fulfill the requirements of what Nikkatsu Studios expected out of the exploitation flicks they were making but in Pistol Opera the members of the Assassin Guild aren't getting naked like they used to. Whether this is a good or bad thing depends on your point of view.
While there may be something that resembles the hip tragedy of a traditional gun happy action movie the story in Pistol Opera is really there for no other reason than for Suzuki to hang images on it. Since Suzuki seems to take decade long sabbaticles between movies -I guess it takes that long for producers to forget what sort of films Suzuki usually makes- he had plenty of down time to think up new, odd images. Every scene in Pistol Opera is created in an unorthodox fashion. Even something as simple as a conversation between Stray Cat and Sayoko is filled with unaturally staged poses and the characters occasionally swearing at each other in English for no discernable reason. Not only is the entire movie disjointed, it becomes more strange as it goes along until it ends with a finale that is so surreal it's almost impossible to tell what's going on. Pistol Opera has so little for a viewer to latch onto that it actually becomes difficult to get through in one sitting. Viewing a movie isn't always an active experience but Pistol Opera demands an audience that is prepared to work for it's entertainment.
Other movies can only dream of being Pistol Opera. This is not a movie for everybody; I'm not honestly sure the movie is designed for anybody but Suzuki himself. But if you're looking for a movie that is totally doing it's own thing Pistol Opera certainly fits the bill.
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