This was really a tough choice. I guess I’d never thought about which film exactly is my favourite. Certainly I have a handful that I absolutely adore…but my favourite, that would take some thought.

Since I’d agreed to do this little exercise as it circulated the internet, there was no better time to decide. It came down to a select few: Branded to Kill, Le Cercle Rouge, Creature from the Black Lagoon and a couple of others. In my mind, there wasn’t anything that really set one apart from the other (especially in the case of Branded to Kill and Le Cercle Rouge) so arbitrarily, I broke down and chose one.

Branded to Kill. I often look to film to fuel my creative process in whatever medium it might be in, and Branded to Kill (殺しの烙印) by the master Seijun Suzuki (鈴木清順) has been always there for me. The film is both lauded and panned. Many claim it as the sheer definition of style over substance. The studio heads called it completely incomprehensible, right before they banned Suzuki-san from directing another film. At the same time, it’s a narrative – disjointed as it might be – unlike no other, with the definition of avant-garde character studies (Hanada requires the smell of boiled rice to aid his martial duties). It never takes itself so seriously that it can’t stop to let you know how cool it is. Each shot is a visual feast in and of itself. It’s not so much you’re watching a film, as you are gazing upon someone’s elaborate yakuza art piece. And if nothing else, this made the murderous world of gangster hitmen cool. This was Reservoir Dogs before there was Reservoir Dogs.