Time And Place Are Nonsense: The Films Of Seijun Suzuki

I've been preparing to read Tom Vick's book Time And Place Are Nonsense: The Films Of Seijun Suzuki (2015) by watching some of the films from his oeuvre that I missed (Underworld Beauty, Tattooed Life, and Kanto Wanderer). I'm glad that I did since those films were discussed along with his more well known titles such as Branded To Kill and Tokyo Drifter. Vick does a good job of covering several different aspects of Suzuki and his films in the following chapters: 1. Branded to Kill and the "Suzuki Seijun Problem," 2. Nikkatsu Action, 3. Limits of Illusion: The Development of Suzuki's Style, 4. Suzuki's Collaborative Method, 5.War and Nihilism, Sex and Violence, 6. Suzuki's War Films, 7. American Connections, 8. Hiatus and Return, 9. Traditional Influences, 10. The Taisho Era, 11. Suzuki's Taisho Trilogy, 12. Late Recognition, 13. Suzuki's Impact and Influence. I foudn the chapter on traditional influences interesting in how Suzuki used shunga (erotic wood block prints), bijinga (pictures of beautiful women), and kabuki as inspiration in his films. Vick also makes for a compelling case that Sam Fuller is Suzuki's American counterpart as a master of b genre films that can seen as great film making. All in all, this is an informative and comprehensive look at one of Japan's great film makers.