Female assassins have come a long way since Seijun Suzuki released ¡°Pistol Opera,¡± a 2001 remake of his 1967 absurdist masterpiece, ¡°Branded to Kill.¡± Starring Masako Esumi as ¡°Number Three¡± in a hitman hierarchy, the film was long on Suzuki¡¯s fabled style but short on anything resembling substance.
Isao Yukisada¡¯s ¡°Revolver Lily.,¡± a lavishly mounted action film based on Kyo Nagaura¡¯s hard-boiled novel set in 1924 Tokyo, may nominally score higher in the substance department ¡ª it is fervently anti-war despite its sky-high body count ¡ª but the stylistics are once again front and center.
Not that Yukisada, a veteran director of contemporary dramas making a rare venture into period fare, is Suzuki-esque in his approach: He is a romanticist with a sentimental streak, not a surrealist with a dark sense of humor.
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