DETECTIVE BUREAU 2-3: GO TO HELL BASTARDS!

Using a false identity provided by the cops, private detective Hideo Tajima (Joe Shishido, in his first substantive role for director Seijun Suzuki) infiltrates an upstart yakuza clan, trying to keep up appearances while undermining his new employer’s gun-running operations and, incidentally, romancing his boss’s mistress. On top of that, it’s Christmas!

A dynamically edited noir thriller staged with the brio and colorful verve of a movie musical, and one of the finest of the fast-and-dirty potboilers that Nikkatsu kept the director busy with while under contract, Suzuki’s bucking at the constraints of being assigned by-the-numbers genre fare approaching breaking point is clearly felt in in DETECTIVE BUREAU 2-3: GO TO HELL BASTARDS!, as suggestions of the ultrastylized excess of his mid-’60s output creep into every other frame.

“Sharp editing, blistering colour, and a loose rock n' roll tone that births a strain of Japanese cinema that runs the gamut from Meiko Kaji's girl gang Stray Cat Rock Pictures, the Lupin the 3rd anime, and the hysterical cartoon yakuza films of Takashi Miike. Hard to not have fun with this one.” - Willow Maclay

“I know that this is one of Suzuki's more structured films but within this big budget Nikkatsu produced gem is a highly saturated example of just how brilliant and gonzo he can be while still illustrating some restraint. Perfectly choreographed and photographically flawless. Japanese gangster pop art at its finest.” - Scumbalina