Seijun Suzuki born Seitaro Suzuki (24 May 1923 – 13 February 2017) was a Japanese filmmaker, actor, and screenwriter. His films are renowned by film enthusiasts worldwide for their jarring visual style, irreverent humour, nihilistic cool and entertainment-over-logic sensibility. He made 40 predominately B-movies for the Nikkatsu Company between 1956 and 1967, working most prolifically in the yakuza genre. His increasingly surreal style began to draw the ire of the studio in 1963 and culminated in his ultimate dismissal for what is now regarded his magnum opus, Branded to Kill (1967), starring notable collaborator Joe Shishido. Suzuki successfully sued the studio for wrongful dismissal, but he was blacklisted for 10 years after that. As an independent filmmaker, he won critical acclaim and a Japanese Academy Award for his Taishō Trilogy, Zigeunerweisen (1980), Kagero-za (1981) and Yumeji (1991). His films remained widely unknown outside of Japan until a series of theatrical retrospectives beginning in the mid 1980s, home video releases of key films such as Branded to Kill and Tokyo Drifter in the late 1990s and tributes by such acclaimed filmmakers as Jim Jarmusch, Takeshi Kitano, Wong Kar-wai and Quentin Tarantino signaled his international discovery. Suzuki has continued making films, albeit sporadically. In Japan, he is more commonly recognized as an actor for his numerous roles in Japanese films and television. He passed away on February 13th, 2017. Description above from the Wikipedia article Seijun Suzuki, licensed under CC-BY-SA, full list of contributors on Wikipedia.

Filmography

• 2015SOAR: I Wish You Were Here
• 2011Milocrorze: A Love Story — Gazen
• 2008Dreaming Awake
• 2007Boy — Ryuun Naito
• 2007Matouqin Nocturne
• 2006What's a Director?
• 2005From the Ruins: Making 'Gate of Flesh'
• 2005Princess Raccoon — Director, Executive Producer
• 2004The Wings of Hakenkreuz
• 2002Blessing Bell — Old Man's Ghost
• 2001Pistol Opera — Director
• 2000The Last Day
• 2000The Moon
• 1999Embalming
• 1998Let's Get Happy
• 1998Sleepless Town — Ye Xiaodan
• 1998The Story of PuPu — Old Man
• 1997Ki no ue no sogyo
• 1997Yurika-chan — Grandpa
• 1996Black Jack 2: Pinoko I Love You
• 1996Sure Death 6
• 1995Cold Fever — Hirata's Grandfather
• 1995Lupin the Third: Greatest Capers — Supervising Art Director
• Good Mourning
• 1993Marriage — Director
• 1993My Beloved Ultraseven — Eiji Tsuburaya
• 1992A Tale of Youth at Hirosaki High School — Director, Writer
• 1992Pachinko Graffiti
• 1991Discontinuous Bombing Incident
• 1991Yumeji — Director
• La Belle Fille Masquée Poitrine — Kami-sama
• Tales of the Bizarre
• 1990The Rain Women
• 1989Virgin Road
• 1988Shiro and Marilyn — Vet
• 1985Capone Cries a Lot — Director
• 1985Lupin the Third: The Legend of the Gold of Babylon — Director
• 1983Cherry Blossoms in Spring — Director
• 1983Double Bed — Man in Bar
• 1983Kazoku no sentaku — Director
• 1983Storm of Falling Petals: Banner of a Fireman in the Flames — Screenplay, Director
• 1981Kagero-za — Director
• 1981MOMENT
• 1980Daughter of Time — Idea
• 1980Disciples of Hippocrates
• 1980The Claws of the Divine Beast — Director
• 1980Zigeunerweisen — Director
• 1979The Fang in the Hole — Director
• 1977A Tale of Sorrow and Sadness — Director
• 1973A Mummy’s Love — Director
• Horror Theater Unbalance — Director
• Lupin the 3rd — Writer
• 1968Good Evening Dear Husband: A Duel — Director
• 1967Branded to Kill — Director, Screenplay
• 1966Carmen from Kawachi — Director
• 1966Fighting Elegy — Director
• 1966Tokyo Drifter — Director
• 1965Born Under Crossed Stars — Director
• 1965Story of a Prostitute — Director
• 1965Tattooed Life — Director
• 1964Gate of Flesh — Director
• 1964The Call of Blood — Director
• 1964The Flower and the Angry Waves — Director
• 1963Detective Bureau 2-3: Go to Hell, Bastards! — Director
• 1963Kanto Wanderer — Director
• 1963The Incorrigible — Director
• 1963Youth of the Beast — Director
• 1962Teenage Yakuza — Director
• 1962The Guys Who Put Money on Me — Director
• 1961Blood-Red Water in the Channel — Director
• 1961Living by Karate — Director
• 1961Million Dollar Smash-and-Grab — Director
• 1961The Man with a Shotgun — Director
• 1961The Wind-of-Youth Group Crosses the Mountain Pass — Director
• 1961Tokyo Knights — Director
• 1960Everything Goes Wrong — Director
• 1960Fighting Delinquents — Director
• 1960Smashing the 0-Line — Director
• 1960Take Aim at the Police Van — Director
• 1960The Sleeping Beast Within — Director
• 1959Age of Nudity — Director, Writer
• 1959Love Letter — Director
• 1959Passport to Darkness — Director
• 1958The Boy Who Came Back — Director
• 1958Underworld Beauty — Director
• 1958Voice Without a Shadow — Director
• 1958Young Breasts — Director
• 1957Eight Hours of Terror — Director
• 1957Inn of the Floating Weeds — Director
• 1957The Naked Woman and the Gun — Director
• 1956Evil Reward — Assistant Director
• 1956Harbour Toast: Victory Is in Our Grasp — Director
• 1956Pure Emotions of the Sea — Director
• 1956Satan's Town — Director
• 1956Semyonov's Gold Ingots — Screenplay
• 1955Duel at Sundown — Screenplay, Assistant Director
• 1955Passion and Rifle Bullets — Screenplay, Assistant Director
• 1954My Pistol Is Quick — Assistant Director
• 1954The Black Current — Assistant Director

Appearances as themselves (4)

• 2026Twist & Shoot: Mister Suzuki — Self (archive footage)
• 2002Seijun Suzuki: kabuki & yakuzas — Self - Filmmaker & Screenwriter
• 2002The Erotic Empire — self
• 1975I Can't Wait Until It's Dark! — Himself