HIFF PHOTO "Pistol Opera" follows the exploits of a female assassin, but that seems incidental in comparison to the arty film's vibrant tone and diverse score.

"Pistol Opera" eschews plot
in favor of a mood that can
be fascinating or frustrating

---

By Gary C.W. Chun
gchun@starbulletin.com

First, a brief explanation why this film is important: It's made by 78-year-old Seijun Suzuki, who began his long filmmaking career as a Nikkatsu studio "B-movie" contract director. Even within the Japanese studio system, he was able to make as many as four movies a year in his increasingly bold, idiosyncratic style which usually sets aside linear plot development in favor of a blend of the absurd and black humor.

His parodies of the yakuza/crime genre culminated with the 1967 psychedelic cult classic "Branded to Kill," a movie that got him fired from the studio due to his insistence on making "incomprehensible and unprofitable films." Suzuki won a court settlement filed against the studio in 1976, during which he did commercial and animated work instead of films.

HIFF PHOTO "Pistol Opera" follows the exploits of a female assassin, but that seems incidental in comparison to the arty film's vibrant tone and diverse score.

He's made the occasional film since then, with his earlier Nikkatsu films being championed by fans and critics, including Quentin Tarantino and Martin Scorsese.

"Pistol Opera" is a sequel to "Branded to Kill." Even though the film follows the exploits of a female assassin (listed as the third most effective killer according to some mysterious guild's list), this arty film is meant more to be dispassionately observed than to be engaged in like some shoot-'em-up rouser.

The assassin, "Stray Cat," bedecked in kimono and black army boots, attempts to dislodge "Hundred Eyes" from his top spot with her adept gunplay. She also interacts with a Kabuki-style agent dressed in white with a red mask, and a girl named Sayoko, who I think (and, with this film, everything is up for conjecture since there's no real plot) represent archetypes in her life.

Other than that, the film is all mood in tone, both in vibrant color and music that ranges from rockabilly, reggae dub to sparse jazz. There's a theatrical artifice to "Pistol Opera," with boldly staged set pieces. At times fascinating, other times oblique to the point of impenetrability, I suspect audience members will either love or hate this film.

Part of the Hawai'i International Film Festival's Spring Festival What: "Pistol Opera" Where: Signature Dole Cannery When: 8:45 p.m. tomorrow Tickets: $7 general, $6 for HIFF Ohana Note: The film is not rated 1/2

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