Seijun Suzuki
Born
May 24, 1923
Died
February 13, 2017 (93 years old)
Known For
Directing
Place of Birth
Nihonbashi, Tokyo, Japan
Seijun Suzuki born Seitaro Suzuki (24 May 1923 – 13 February 2017) was a Japanese filmmaker, actor, and screenwriter. His films are renowned by film enthusiasts worldwide for their jarring visual style, irreverent humour, nihilistic cool and entertainment-over-logic sensibility. He made 40 predominately B-movies for the Nikkatsu Company between 1956 and 1967, working most prolifically in the yakuza genre. His increasingly surreal style began to draw the ire of the studio in 1963 and culminated in his ultimate dismissal for what is now regarded his magnum opus, Branded to Kill (1967), starring notable collaborator Joe Shishido. Suzuki successfully sued the studio for wrongful dismissal, but he was blacklisted for 10 years after that. As an independent filmmaker, he won critical acclaim and a Japanese Academy Award for his Taishō Trilogy, Zigeunerweisen (1980), Kagero-za (1981) and Yumeji (1991).
His films remained widely unknown outside of Japan until a series of theatrical retrospectives beginning in the mid 1980s, home video releases of key films such as Branded to Kill and Tokyo Drifter in the late 1990s and tributes by such acclaimed filmmakers as Jim Jarmusch, Takeshi Kitano, Wong Kar-wai and Quentin Tarantino signaled his international discovery. Suzuki has continued making films, albeit sporadically. In Japan, he is more commonly recognized as an actor for his numerous roles in Japanese films and television.
He passed away on February 13th, 2017.
Description above from the Wikipedia article Seijun Suzuki, licensed under CC-BY-SA, full list of contributors on Wikipedia.

SOAR: I Wish You Were Here
2015

Milocrorze: A Love Story
Gazen
2011
Dreaming Awake
2008

Matouqin Nocturne
2007
Boy
Ryuun Naito
2007

What's a Director?
2006
From the Ruins: Making 'Gate of Flesh'
2005

The Wings of Hakenkreuz
2004

Blessing Bell
Old Man's Ghost
2002

Seijun Suzuki: kabuki & yakuzas
Self - Filmmaker & Screenwriter
2002

The Erotic Empire
self
2002

The Moon
2000

Oshimai no hi
2000

Embalming
1999

Let's Get Happy
1998

Sleepless Town
Ye Xiaodan
1998

The Story of PuPu
Old Man
1998

Ki no ue no sogyo
1997

Yurika-chan
Grandpa
1997

Black Jack 2: Pinoko I Love You
1996

Sure Death 6
1996

Cold Fever
Hirata's Grandfather
1995

Discontinuous Bombing Incident
1991

Tales of the Bizarre
(1 episode)
1990

La Belle Fille Masquée Poitrine
Kami-sama · (52 episodes)
1990

The Rain Women
1990

Virgin Road
1989

Shiro and Marilyn
Vet
1988

Double Bed
Man in Bar
1983

MOMENT
1981
I Can't Wait Until It's Dark!
Himself
1975