This is the best example I can think of for the studio system. Sure, it may promote mediocrity and conventional formal patterns, but it also reigns in directors who may be a little bit out of their mind. Case in point: Seijun Suzuki. His studio-backed films (Youth of the Beast, Gate of Flesh, Tokyo Drifter, Branded to Kill) are all outstanding works of art: subversive yet entertaining, pushing the boundaries of what the studio allowed. It got him fired, but it was worth it: the films were masterpieces. However, working independently, with no boundaries set, Suzuki has no reason to reign himself in, and thus the films are totally fucking incomprehensible. Case in point: Pistol Opera.

I mean, I enjoy the kind of wacky lunacy that Suzuki brings to his films, but there's such a thing as too much of a good thing. This film is all lunacy, with nothing - narratively, formally, and thematically - tying it together. It's just a series of off-the-wall, colourful segments - no pattern, no rhyme, no reason. The story is ostensibly a sequel/remake of Branded to Kill, but there's very little of the style or tone that made that film work so well. It's just batshit insane.

I mean, I'm not saying that directors having free reign is necessarily a bad thing. It's just that sometimes they need to be restricted a bit. Suzuki is one that does.