Pistol Opera (2001) Pisutoru opera (original title)

Director:

Seijun Suzuki

Writers:

Kazunori Itô
Takeo Kimura

Release Date:

27 October 2001 (Japan)

Genre:

Crime | Action | Drama

Plot:

The No. 3 assassin of Japan is given the chance to usurp No. 1 and take their place. |

Plot Keywords:

Sequel | Assassin | Surrealism | Psychedelic | Avant Garde

Awards:

1 win

Cast

Makiko Esumi	...	Miyuki Minazuki
Sayoko Yamaguchi	...	Sayoko Uekyo
Hanae Kan	...	Sayoko Uekyo
Masatoshi Nagase	...	Man dressed in black
Mikijiro Hira	...	Goro Hanada
Kirin Kiki	...	Rin
Kenji Sawada	...	Man at Tokyo Station
Haruko Kato	...	Shizuka Orikuchi
Tomio Aoki
Yôji Tanaka	...	Koroshi-ya No. 7
rest of cast listed alphabetically:
Yoshiyuki Morishita	...	Killer no.9
Kensaku Watanabe		(as Sakutarô Inui)
Jan Woudstra	...	Painless Surgeon

Directed by
Seijun Suzuki

Writing credits (in alphabetical order)
Kazunori Itô		(as Kazunori Itoh)
Takeo Kimura

Produced by
Ikki Katashima	....	producer
Tadayoshi Kubo	....	executive producer
Satoru Ogura	....	producer

Original Music by
Kodama Kzufumi

Cinematography by
Yonezô Maeda

Film Editing by
Akira Suzuki

Production Design by
Takeo Kimura

Costume Design by
Masatomo Ota

Special Effects by
Shinji Higuchi	....	special effects
Masami Kobayashi	....	physical effects

Stunts
Misako Nagashima	....	stunts

Camera and Electrical Department
Kazuo Yabe	....	lighting designer

Editorial Department
Kenji Tanabe	....	negative cutter

Production Companies

• DENTSU Music And Entertainment
• Eisei Gekijo
• Ogura Jimusyo Co.
• Shôchiku Eiga
• TV Tokyo
• Victor Company of Japan (JVC)

Distributors

• Divisa Home Video (2011) (Spain) (DVD)
• Filmfreak Distributie (2009) (Netherlands) (DVD)
• Media Blasters (2003) (USA) (subtitled)
• Slow Learner (Japan)
• Yume Pictures (2006) (UK) (DVD)

Special Effects

• Congra

Other Companies

• Hayakawa Productions  extras
• Kodak Japan  film stock supplied by
• Speedstar Records  soundtrack
• Zenyo Planning  extras

Also Known As:

"Pisutoru opera" - Japan (original title)

Runtime:

112 min

Country:

Japan

Language:

Japanese

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

1.85 : 1

Sound Mix:

Dolby SR

Certification:

UK:15 | Netherlands:12 (2009) (DVD)

Company:

DENTSU Music And Entertainment

Goofs:

Boom mic visible: As Uekyo speaks into the camera with a Union Jack draped over her, the boom mic drops into the picture for a second or two, then moves up and out of sight.

Quotes:

Goro Hanada:Your silver bullet's crying.
Killer No. 11:Sign of a pro.

Movie Connections:

References Karumen kokyo ni kaeru (1951)

Old man's tricks

Neither rules nor plots can be followed in Seijun SUZUKI's cult Pistol Opera. Each scene was imbued with the director's ornate and stunning visual styles. We can meet with whimsical professional killers speaking awkward dialogs or baffling monologues, and cartoonized gunfights represented through voluptuous choreography or Japanese theatricality. This visually coherent work has proved to us his cynicism as well as versatility in successfully combining both various aesthetic elements and anarchical themes that were prevalent in his masterpieces Branded to kill or Fighting elegy during the 1960s. It will be a bit difficult to enjoy such lushful art collection, but also a great challenge to observe how this interesting old man are toying with our mind with his audacious and maddening experimentation .