Tokyo Drifter (Criterion Collection)

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.