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06/24/06
Pistol Opera (2001)
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Reviews Counted:19
Fresh:15
Rotten:4
Average Rating:6.7/10
Theatrical Release:Jun 13, 2003 Limited
Synopsis: Seijun Suzuki, the legendary Japanese director probably best known for the cult hit BRANDED TO KILL, returns with this movie about a league of killers of hire. Something of a sequel to BRANDED TO... [More]
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Reviews for Pistol Opera
No review available.
11/08/05
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10/01/03
The screen is artfully covered like the abstract paintings by Jackson Pollock and Man Ray.
09/03/03
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).
08/22/03
Top CriticWhile 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.
08/01/03
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.
07/22/03
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.
07/03/03
Top CriticNothing 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.
06/20/03
Top CriticThe 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.
06/17/03
Stylish but obtuse. Charitably, we might try to think of 'Pistol Opera' as the 'Tampopo' of killing people.
06/14/03
Seijun is helped enormously by Makiko Esumi, a dazzling beauty who delivers a flinty, self-assured performance as Stray Cat.
06/14/03
A strange tale that ultimately achieves a level of abstraction entirely divorced from any conventional mode of storytelling.
06/13/03
Insanely likable but suffers from anemia.
06/13/03
Top CriticThere's style and panache to spare.
06/13/03
Top CriticWhat 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.
06/12/03
Pistol Opera is unique for sure, it just never made me want to follow it down its strange path.
06/10/03
Suzuki has made the ultimate meta-movie, a self-parodying, surrealist gangster daydream as intoxicating and insubstantial as an absinthe swoon.
06/10/03
Top CriticWhether more is pompously suggested than actually here and merely meets the eye, Pistol Opera is fun in the grand style.
06/09/03
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.
06/09/03
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