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Branded to Kill

Year
1967
Length
91 minCriterion Collection spine 38 catalogue presentation Version sources ↓

An assassin botches a job and becomes a target in a crime story driven by strange obsessions and abrupt turns.

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Country
Japan
Language
Japanese
StrangeTense Best saved for later · For patient viewers

Edited by Monocurator

Branded to Kill 1967

What to expect

The basic reversal is easy to grasp: the killer becomes the person in danger. Around that hinge, Suzuki pushes the yakuza film towards visual invention and eccentricity. Rather than asking every unusual detail to act as a conventional clue, attend to how an obsession or image changes the pressure of a scene. The film offers a deliberately unstable encounter with crime-story expectations, not a tidy account of professional competence.

How to ease in

Keep the botched job and the resulting threat as your bearings. You do not need to make every transition feel realistic before continuing. Follow the contrast between the assassin's professional role and his very unprofessional distractions.

Heads-up

A quick, non-exhaustive note Contract killing, violence, sexual material and obsessive behaviour. Surreal shifts can make the sequence of events difficult to place.
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Credits & versions

Version map

Janus Films catalogue presentation (listing checked 2026-10-27) 91 min Named Janus catalogue listing only. Formats listed by the distributor do not prove a single cut, restoration or stream presentation; no runtime was measured. Source: Janus Films Checked 2026-10-27
Criterion Collection spine 38 catalogue presentation 91 min · home video Listed catalogue duration only. The Janus presentation and Channel stream are not established as the same cut, restoration or transfer; no stream runtime was measured. Source: The Criterion Collection Runtime reference · Checked 2026-10-27

Sources for the facts

Official availability link

Criterion Channel — official listing ↗

Paid subscription. The service is offered in the US and Canada; availability of this title in each country, account access and playback have not been verified. Check the provider before subscribing.

The catalogue duration above is not a measured stream runtime. Link checked 2026-10-27 on Criterion’s film page; service and subscription information.

Where to go next

Want a gentler, shorter, or stranger next film? Ask Momo for something like this →
Momo is on shift. Visit Momo Cinema →

More from 1967 → More by Seijun Suzuki →

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