This crime thriller features one of the most nihilistic characters in director Seijun Suzuki’s early films: Katiri, a reporter so ambitiously amoral that he’ll sell out anyone—including his partner and the drug dealer he’s sleeping with— to get a scoop. But what happens when an even more ruthless female gang boss kidnaps his sister? With its jazzy musical score and sordid milieu of drug smuggling and human trafficking, Smashing the O-Line (1960) is one of Suzuki’s darkest urban tales.
35mm, b/w, in Japanese with English subtitles, 83 min. Production: Nikkatsu. Producer: Shozo Ashida. Director: Seijun Suzuki. Screenwriter: Yasuro Yokoyoma. Cinematographer: Shigeyoshi Mine, Toshitaro Nakao. Production Design: Kazuhiko Chiba. Editor: Akira Suzuki. Music: Taichiro Kosugi. With: Hiroyuki Nagato, Mayumi Shimizu, Yuji Odaka, Sanae Nakahara, Tomo’o Nagai.
