Seijun Suzuki - Late Recognition

Late Recognition

To sustain himself during the trial and proceeding black list years Suzuki published books of essay and directed several television movies, series and commercials. The trial and protests had made him into a counterculture icon and his Nikkatsu films became quite popular at midnight screenings, playing to "packed audiences who wildly applauded." He also began acting for other directors in small parts and cameos. His first credited screen role was a special appearance in Kazuki Omori's Don't Wait Until Dark! (1975).

Shochiku, the company that started him as an assistant director, produced his return to film direction in 1977, A Tale of Sorrow and Sadness, a golf expose cum psychological thriller penned by sports-oriented manga illustrator Ikki Kajiwara. Joe Shishido appears in a brief cameo. The film was met poorly critically and popularly.

He collaborated with producer Genjiro Arato in 1980 and made the first part of what would become his Taishō trilogy, Zigeunerweisen, a psychological, period, ghost story, named after a gramophone record of gypsy violin music by Pablo de Sarasate featured prominently in the film. When exhibitors declined to show the film, Arato screened it himself in an inflatable mobile dome to great success. It won Honourable Mention at the 31st Berlin International Film Festival, was nominated for 9 Japanese Academy Awards and won four, including best director and best film, and was voted the no. 1 Japanese film of the 1980s by Japanese critics. He followed the film with Kagero-za, made the following year, and completed the trilogy ten years later with Yumeji. Suzuki commented on working outside of the studio system:

Speaking very practically, I don't change as a filmmaker. But the studio system offered a very convenient way of working, and independent filmmaking is different. At Nikkatsu, if I had an idea in the morning, it could be implemented by the afternoon in the studio. It's much more complicated now. I guess I'm still trying to use locations as I once used the studio, but the problem of lighting makes it hard. In the studio, you have lighting gantries to hang lights from. Setting up lights at a location takes so long.

Italy hosted the first partial retrospective of his films outside of Japan at the 1984 Pesaro International Film Festival. The 1994 touring retrospective Branded to Thrill: The Delirious Cinema of Suzuki Seijun showcased 14 of his films. In 2001 Nikkatsu hosted the Style to Kill retrospective featuring more than 20 of his films. In celebration of 50th anniversary of his directorial debut Nikkatsu again hosted the 2006 Suzuki Seijun 48 Film Challenge showcasing all of his films to date at the Tokyo International Film Festival.

He made a loose sequel to Branded to Kill with Pistol Opera (2001). Makiko Esumi replaced Joe Shishido as the number 3 killer. This was followed by Princess Raccoon (2005), starring Zhang Ziyi, a musical love story. In a 2006 interview, he said that he has no plans to direct any further films, citing health concerns. He had been diagnosed with pulmonary emphysema and is permanently hooked up to a portable respirator. However, he attended the 2008 Tokyo Project Gathering, a venue serving film financing and international co-productions, and pitched a film titled A Goldfish of the Flame.