The majority of movie watchers in the world would hate this movie. That's OK, but they shouldn't waste my time by telling me about it.
This movie isn't abstract. It is also not, strictly speaking, symbolic. And it is by no means truly literal.
Like most Japanese movies, us wide-eyes can't possibly hope to claim to understand it all, but if you've learned nothing else from Suzuki, you should have learned that you're not required to understand it.
Pistol Opera is a mix of operatic and theatrical styles. There are elements of kabuki, western plays, and European opera integrated in every scene. The result is at once stylized, ritualistic, and loose. The uncomfortable camera angles and bright colors in some scenes are just a reflection of classic Japanese art.
If it feels uneven, that's only because it's uneven. As in any other Seijun Suzuki movie, every shot is treated equally and judged independently.
I think Seijun Suzuki has gotten better. I could never find anything i liked about Branded to Kill except it's sheer inscrutability and absurdity, and BtK is without a doubt, technically speaking, quite possibly the worst movie I've ever seen - but i still liked it. I can find things about Pistol Opera that i like. It probably influenced Kill Bill, but the people who made Kill Bill missed the point - I saw that movie for free, and still felt like demanding my money back.
This movie isn't abstract. It is also not, strictly speaking, symbolic. And it is by no means truly literal.
Like most Japanese movies, us wide-eyes can't possibly hope to claim to understand it all, but if you've learned nothing else from Suzuki, you should have learned that you're not required to understand it.
Pistol Opera is a mix of operatic and theatrical styles. There are elements of kabuki, western plays, and European opera integrated in every scene. The result is at once stylized, ritualistic, and loose. The uncomfortable camera angles and bright colors in some scenes are just a reflection of classic Japanese art.
If it feels uneven, that's only because it's uneven. As in any other Seijun Suzuki movie, every shot is treated equally and judged independently.
I think Seijun Suzuki has gotten better. I could never find anything i liked about Branded to Kill except it's sheer inscrutability and absurdity, and BtK is without a doubt, technically speaking, quite possibly the worst movie I've ever seen - but i still liked it. I can find things about Pistol Opera that i like. It probably influenced Kill Bill, but the people who made Kill Bill missed the point - I saw that movie for free, and still felt like demanding my money back.