Arrow Video brings a pair of stylish Japanese hitman films to English-speaking home video enthusiasts for the very first time. Director Kazuo Mori’s films A Certain Killer and its sequel A Killer’s Key feature Raizô Ichikawa, are presented with a host of extras in their limited edition Blu-Ray release.
Both A Certain Killer (1967) and its rapid sequel A Killer’s Key (also 1967) were adapted from Shinji Fujiwara’s hitman crime novels by Yasuzô Masumura and collaborators. A Certain Killer was so successful on its release that a follow-up featuring the same lone assassin – A Killer’s Key – was released just a few months later.
The two films feature Raizô Ichikawa as a professional assassin who lives an outwardly ordinary life but who, for the right price, can be called upon to solve ‘problems’ for the various yakuza families in town.
In A Certain Killer, Ichikawa plays Shiozawa, a restaurant chef who accepts an assassin contract and in so doing, picks up a couple of side-kicks, who may or may not be trustworthy. Interesting about this film is the disjointed chronology, in which we first see Shiozawa setting the scene for his hit, but which is then interrupted for the audience to learn how he came to have accomplices for this particular contract.
A Killer’s Key sees Ichikawa as Nitta, a classical dance instructor, and this time his contract is the end of a chain which starts with an extremely wealthy and influential individual. Nitta trusts no-one, and plans his hit accordingly.
The films are both stylish thrillers with sharp suits and cars, lots of cigarette smoking, and beautiful lighting. With cinematography by the legendary Kazuo Miyagawa (Rashomon, Yojimbo, Ugetsu, Sansho the Bailiff), it’s small wonder.
Obviously the very nature of these films is going to draw parallels to other criminal thrillers, not least Jean-Pierre Melville’s Le Samouraï, which was also released in the same year. The lone assassin’s mistrust of others, particularly women, is clear, but there’s no suggestion that either director has copied the other; they are very much both of their time and both enjoy feeding into the success of this film genre at the time. One other parallel could be seen in Robert de Niro’s character Neil MacCauley in Michael Mann’s Heat – Ichikawa’s hitman does not allow himself to become emotionally invested in anything, and is always prepared to walk away from everything at a second’s notice.
Raizô Ichikawa was one of Japan’s most popular actors at the time, and seemed to be set for a series of films as the lone assassin following the success of A Certain Killer and then A Killer’s Key. However, he succumbed to serious illness in 1968 and died the year after at the age of only 37.
The two films, presented together by Arrow Video, are available on Blu-Ray for English-speaking audiences for the first time, and they are well worth a watch. The limited edition discs also come with some extra commentary tracks and an introduction to both films and are well worth a watch.
Arrow Video’s Limited Edition Blu-Ray release contains:
- High Definition (1080p) Blu-ray™ presentation of both films
- Original uncompressed Japanese mono audio for both films
- Optional newly translated English subtitles
- Brand new audio commentary for both films by critic and Asian cinema expert Tony Rayns
- The Definite Murderer, a brand new 30-minute introduction to the films by Japanese film scholar Mark Roberts
- Original theatrical trailers for both films
- Image gallery
- Reversible sleeve featuring newly commissioned artwork for both films by Tony Stella
- Illustrated collector’s booklet featuring new writing on the films by Jasper Sharp and Earl Jackson