A Certain Killer / A Killer's Key

While prison flicks are usually credited as the most masculine movie genre, the hitman subgenre certainly gives them a run for their money. Living a typically monastic existence with a personality leaning towards the autistic spectrum, these hired guns (they’re almost overwhelmingly guys) are the anonymous ideal of the modern male archetype, their particular set of skills disguised behind an everyman façade. Authors like Lawrence Block and Donald Westlake cemented such anti-heroes into the American iconography but their appeal transcends international borders.  Just take a look at the one-two punch of A Certain Killer and A Killer’s Key, both produced in Japan in 1967, both as calculatingly cool as ever almost 60 years later.

In A Certain Killer we’re introduced to Shiozawa (Raizo Ichikawa), an unassuming bar owner who moonlights as a professional killer. But his uncomplicated life is thrown into disarray by two accomplices who convince him to hijack a shipment of drugs. The sequel, A Killer’s Key, renames the character Nitta, but his methods and philosophy are the same.  This time he’s double-crossed after a job and works his way up the yakuza ladder to punish those responsible.

What makes director Kazuo Mori’s double-feature so appealing is their simplicity.  From the restrained visual style to the child-like recurring musical motif, both films echo the endearing ADHD personality of their main character. Shiozawa/Nitta’s emotionally indifference is irresistible to women maddening to men; his life is an empty shell filled by obscure hobbies and a quiet mission of revenge against the generation responsible for the Pacific War (we get a few flashbacks of motivation).  In short, he’s a badass who doesn’t need to advertise.  And the films are much the same, playing out with a few non-linear narrative tricks that only reinforce the fact that when you truly walk the way, there’s no need for cinematic showboating.

Even if you’re not familiar with the films, Arrow’s limited -edition Blu-ray is one of those rare blind-buys no one will regret. Extras include commentaries from Tony Rayns, a 30-minute breakdown by Mark Roberts, trailers, image gallery and collector’s booklet not available for review.

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

All Ladies Do It / Frivolous Lola

Image
Every semi-professional review of erotica probably starts off with the same question:  what’s the difference between porn and art?  The internet age has essentially done away with foreplay; sex is merely the act of completion itself, minus the threat of any malware or suspicious browser activity.  But the work of Italian director Tinto Brass, for all its leering upskirt shots of derrieres and pubic hair, still communicates something that websites like Pornhub never will:  the art of seduction.  All Ladies Do It  (1992), a breezy sexual adventure, follows Diana (Claudia Koll) whose marriage is threatened by her fantasies of dalliances with other men, stories her husband believes are nothing more than exciting role play.  But her loose definition of adultery inspires plenty of promiscuous hook-ups, taking advantage of any (ahem)  loophole  that provides a quick thrill.   Flirting with some hardcore sequences (there...
Read more

Hand of Death

Image
Even hardcore martial arts fans will admit that not  every  film is worth watching.  With the sheer amount of product pushed out from Shaw Brothers and Golden Harvest at the height of the kung-fu craze, quite a few lesser efforts slipped through the cracks, many serving as a training ground for new talent on the way up.  So even if the final product – like 1976’s  Hand of Death  - is aggressively average, there’s bound to be some novelty when it comes to the talent involved.  Names like John Woo, Jackie Chan and Sammo Hung are sure to attract interest.  But put them all in the same film and you’ve got yourself some must-see viewing!   Yet another showcase for the mythical shaolin brotherhood, here a monk, Yun Fei, is sent to exact vengeance on a ruthless warlord, Shih Shao-Feng, who’s made a long list of enemies throughout the province.   Yun Fei assembles a team of talented fighters to defeat Shao-Feng and ...
Read more

Charley Chase at Hal Roach: The Late Silents 1927

Image
As a niche within a niche, silent films are certainly a hard sell for modern audiences.  Even Turner Classic Movies can only spare a couple hours a week in their schedule on late Sunday nights.  Perhaps because silents are positioned as something to be appreciated rather than enjoyed, dry history lessons held back by their crude technical limitations.  But the newly restored  Charley Chase   at Hal Roach: The Late Silents 1927  proves silent  comedy  was anything but.  A “do-it-all” comedian, Chases’ on camera persona relied less on slapstick than farcical domestic situations.  Unlike Chaplin’s  tramp  character, Charley often played a put-upon everyman just trying to catch a break.  The first two shorts in the set are a prime example:  There Ain’t No Santa Claus  follows his character’s attempt to hide the purchase of a Christmas gift for his wife from his rent-hungry landlord…while...
Read more