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Pistol Opera (2002)

tomatometer

100

Average Rating: 8/10
Critic Reviews: 6
Fresh: 6 | Rotten: 0

No consensus yet.

audience

49

liked it
Average Rating: 3/5
User Ratings: 2,188

My Rating

Movie Info

Japanese cult director Seijun Suzuki's combination sequel to and remake of his 1967 gangster film classic Branded To Kill stars Makiko Esumi as Miyuki Minazuki, AKA "the Stray Cat," a beautiful female assassin. She is number three in the hierarchy of killers in her criminal organization at the beginning of the film, but soon a battle breaks out among the assassins, all of whom are trying to become the number one killer by murdering their competition. Miyuki finds herself fighting her fellow

Jun 24, 2003

Shochiku

Cast

All Critics (21) | Top Critics (6) | Fresh (15) | Rotten (4) | DVD (1)

I couldn't give a fully coherent synopsis of Pistol Opera if my life depended on it, but it's still the most fun new movie I've seen since Mulholland Drive and Waking Life (both also 2001).

August 22, 2003 Full Review Source: Chicago Reader | Comment
Chicago Reader
Top Critic IconTop Critic

Eighty-year-old Japanese director Suzuki Seijun has always been a gifted master stylist, and Pistol Opera shows that his unique vision has not dulled with age.

July 3, 2003 Comment
Hollywood Reporter
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Nothing in Pistol Opera ever seems remotely possible, but it's still gorgeous art -- like a dream David Lynch had after watching too many John Woo movies.

June 20, 2003 Full Review Source: Newark Star-Ledger | Comment
Newark Star-Ledger
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Insanely likable but suffers from anemia.

June 13, 2003 Full Review Source: New York Times | Comment
New York Times
Top Critic IconTop Critic

There's style and panache to spare.

June 13, 2003 Comment
New York Post
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Suzuki has made the ultimate meta-movie, a self-parodying, surrealist gangster daydream as intoxicating and insubstantial as an absinthe swoon.

June 10, 2003 Full Review Source: Village Voice | Comment
Village Voice
Top Critic IconTop Critic

The screen is artfully covered like the abstract paintings by Jackson Pollock and Man Ray.

September 3, 2003 Full Review Source: Ozus' World Movie Reviews | Comment
Ozus' World Movie Reviews

While it's certainly enjoyable to see this old master up to his tricks again, and the film stands perfectly well on its own, the cinematic high jinks of the 80-year-old director don't quite live up to the reputation he created for himself 36 years ago.

August 1, 2003 Full Review Source: Oregonian | Comment
Oregonian

Though extraordinarily simplistic at its core, Suzuki's directorial style is so chock-full of vigor and passion for his craft that it spills into Pistol Opera, allowing the flick to carve out its own niche.

July 22, 2003 Full Review Source: Film and Felt | Comment
Film and Felt

The director's gaudy approach to his individual frames begs for a deeper meaning that you're going to have to bring to the table yourself.

June 17, 2003 Full Review Source: Filmcritic.com | Comment
Filmcritic.com

Stylish but obtuse. Charitably, we might try to think of 'Pistol Opera' as the 'Tampopo' of killing people.

June 14, 2003 Full Review Source: Offoffoff | Comment
Offoffoff

Seijun is helped enormously by Makiko Esumi, a dazzling beauty who delivers a flinty, self-assured performance as Stray Cat.

June 14, 2003 Full Review Source: Film Journal International | Comment
Film Journal International

A strange tale that ultimately achieves a level of abstraction entirely divorced from any conventional mode of storytelling.

June 13, 2003 Full Review Source: TV Guide's Movie Guide | Comment
TV Guide's Movie Guide

What counts isn't the convoluted plot or exotic characters -- it's the brilliance of Suzuki's cinematic style, articulating the action with eye-boggling color and split-second editing effects.

June 12, 2003 Full Review Source: Christian Science Monitor | Comment
Christian Science Monitor

Pistol Opera is unique for sure, it just never made me want to follow it down its strange path.

June 10, 2003 Full Review Source: Film Threat | Comment
Film Threat

Whether more is pompously suggested than actually here and merely meets the eye, Pistol Opera is fun in the grand style.

June 9, 2003 Full Review Source: ReelTalk Movie Reviews | Comment
ReelTalk Movie Reviews

Whereas Kill was uproariously stylish via pop-noir, Opera goes in the opposite direction by concentrating much more on color, choreography, and composition than any kind of conventional narrative.

June 9, 2003 Comment
Planet Sick-Boy
More Critic Reviews

Audience Reviews for Pistol Opera

In what seems to be intended as a fun, avant-garde romp, "Pistol Opera" is made up of sometimes nonsensical but lighthearted scenes featuring shootings and stabbings galore. This is Seijun Suzuki's followup to his 1967 film "Branded to Kill," a stylish film said to have been an inspiration to the

March 23, 2008
DrBenway
El Hombre Invisible

Super Reviewer

WOW! Holy f****** cow! Alright, after seeing the trailer and hearing the title I knew I was expecting something out of the ordinary. Let me tell you, it really was something out of the ordinary. I've honestly seen some weird movies in my lifetime, but this film is near, if not the top of the "What the hell

September 4, 2007
skactopus
Justin Y

Super Reviewer

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