The films of Seijun Suzuki

[Pedderrs]

I might be the most unqualified person on these forums to be starting a thread about rogue Japanese filmmaker Seijun Suzuki, but I am curious as to what peoples' opinions are of him as a director.

Yesterday I attempted to watch Branded to Kill and Tokyo Drifter -- two of his most celebrated efforts -- but I was unable to finish both. This took me by surprise because I was confident Suzuki's work would appeal to me given how his films have been celebrated for their cinematography and unconventional styles. I can't escape my disappointment though, I found both films were marred by the same issues -- an abundance of clunky editing and two incoherent plots lacking any sort of cohesion whatsoever. Tokyo Drifter was fairly dull from start to finish whereas Branded to Kill started off extremely well only to fall off a cliff somewhere in the middle.

I will not give up on Seijun Suzuki completely and I'm sure I may even revisit these two films soon, as I'm determined to "get it", but I would love to hear a different perspective. Do we have some admirers of Suzuki's work here?