Fighting Elegy - Criterion Collection

Description

High schooler Nanbu Kiroku yearns for the prim, Catholic Michiko, but her only desire is to reform Kiroku's sinful tendencies. Hormones raging, Kiroku channels his unsatisfied lust into the only outlet available: savage crazed violence. Fighting Elegy is a unique masterpiece in the diverse career of Seijun Suzuki, combining the director's signature bravura visual style with a brilliantly focused satire of machismo and fascism.

Customer Reviews:

an average 1966 violent teenage movie .......2007-05-13

with rigid, stiff and unnatural 'acting' by those japanese young men. a very simple-minded screenplay. the directing was also not so good due to a weak storyline. if violence or toughness became the major theme, those fighting scenes were just looked too staged phony. why japanese men in the movies always so tough to each other but once met a girl or woman would suddenly become a wimp and a whiner, looked more feminine than their opposite sex. this is quite boring film with very bad acting by those youngsters. a hollow and moronic playing-tough deadbeat. although it has been tagged as a 'classic', but not that really great.

White Hands.......2005-08-26

Kiroku Nanbu seems to be a decent enough fellow. A Catholic, he attends church regularly with the family with whom he boards. He is respectful to his father, his elders, including older schoolmates, and adores Michiko a young girl who is the pinnacle of purity and innocence. However, Kiroku has another side as well. Beneath his kind ways, which are definitely genuine, lurks the heart and soul of a fighter. Constantly throughout the films eighty-six minutes Kiroku fights his way through upperclassmen and students at rival schools. Kiroku is the embodiment of "Koha" or the "hard school." Like Miyamoto Musashi, members of the hard school were supposed to hone their fighting skills to perfection and be the quintessence of masculinity, however, in order to reach this peak of manliness, the men were supposed to be indifferent to women. Yet, Kiroku cannot get the image of his beloved Michiko out of his head.

Not wanting to sully the perfect image of Michiko that resides in his mind, Kiroku avoids taking "matters" into his own hands Therefore he gets into fights to use up his energy. However, Michiko also seems to like our young hero because of his manliness and desires to teach him such things as English and the piano. However, this of course causes Kiroku more anguish because he cannot get images such as Michiko's "white hands" out of his mind.

Taking place in Okayama in the year 1935, Suzuki sets the film during Japan's expansionist period. The hard school image along with the power of the Japanese spirit was promulgated by the heads of the Imperial Japanese Army, and later Mishima Yukio, and this mentality led to the needless deaths of thousands of Japanese soldiers who charged into battles, in later years, with the superior forces of the Soviet Union. As he criticized the American occupation of Japan in Gate of Flesh, Suzuki in Fighting Elegy makes a farce out of the hard school.

Fighting Elegy is an incredibly fun film by one of Japan's most individualistic directors. With its tongue-in-cheek look at Japan during the 1930s and, to a lesser extent, the Japanese military, Suzuki allows the audience to view young men so caught up in the ideals of manliness that they struggle to become full individuals. However, being that this is a Suzuki Seijun film, a director who states that there are no deeper meanings to his films than their entertainment value, my above statements might mean little more than ashes in water. Yet, it is definitely a fun ride!

"Boys be Ambitious!".......2005-06-05

One of the classics themes of Japanese literature is the way of Koha, the "Hard School." A path of absolute masculinity, Koha requires absolute repression of sexual desires and avoidance of "weak" women, who are distractions from what make a man a man. Men are forged through intense, focused martial arts training and constant fighting to harden the warrior's soul. The way of Koha can be found is such seminal Japanese works as Mishima's "The Sailor Who Fell From Grace With the Sea." Seijun Suzuki thinks this is pretty funny.

"Fighting Elegy" ("Kenka Erejii") is a sharp parody of Koha, taking a cynical look at the culture of boys in Japan, where the slogan "Boys be Ambitious!" can be heard shouted by mothers to their male children. All of the standards of a Koha flick are here; Kiroku Nanbu, the young upcoming tough with more spunk than ability. Turtle, an upper-student who becomes Kiroku's mentor in the ways of fighting. Michiko, a beautiful Catholic school girl who seeks to reveal Kiroku's soft side and lead him into love and marriage. Kiroku's inner battle between his lust for Michiko and his loyalty to Turtle is captured in the climatic line "I don't masturbate, I fight!"

Under Suzuki's directorial hand, this mockery of Koha is both hilarious and insightful. The military culture of WW II is one of the legacies of Koha, and "Fighting Elegy" takes place in a Japan on the brink of the Martial Law of 1935. Suzuki takes the fangs out of this ultimately destructive philosophy. One of his two non-Yakuza films (the other being "Story of a Prostitute"), it is nice to see Suzuki tackle this politically-charged topic so capably.

The Criterion Collection DVD for "Fighting Elegy" is fairly bare-bones, with no extra features other than two helpful essays, one on the film itself and one on Ikki Kita, founder of the militarization movement. Being a satire, it is impossible to truly appreciated "Fighting Elegy" without the necessary historical and political background that it dastardly mirrors and these essays go a long way towards filling in these missing pieces.

an interesting film about lust vs. love.......2005-04-04

This review is for the Criterion Collection DVD edition of the film.

"Fighting Elegy" known in Japan as "Kenka erejii" is about a young Japanese man living with a Roman Catholic family in prewar Japan. He begins to have fellings for the daughter but cannot be sure whether his felings are true love or the lust of adolescent hormones. The daughter tries to reform him into not having lustful thoughts.

This film is unique in its depiction a Japanese family that is Catholic while a vast majority of Japan is Buddhist or Shinto. I though the film to be impressively made.

The only special feature is a theatrical trailer which is very unusual for a Criterion release.

Wild Cinematic Journey as Youth is Coming of Age..........2005-03-02

Value of individual freedom cannot be measured, as it provides the right for a person to do what he or she desires. However, most societies have rules that each and every person must follow in order to maintain a safe society. These rules are often based on some sort of moral value. Nonetheless, individual freedom in general offers the freedom of self-expression and individual growth without outside influence. In a society where freedom is given it is essential to protect this freedom, as freedom gives people the power to fulfill themselves.

Expression of fascism often puts the race before all through despotism that is exercised from a central source where total domination enforces the rules. In the event of resistance brutal force maintains the order and people quickly learn that punishment is the only means of motivation. In the Japanese community where the high school student Kiroku Nanbu (Hideki Takahashi) lives he is being fostered to in a strong nationalistic spirit where hostility toward strangers is overtly expressed. This helps to form Kiroku's identity, as heavy punitive regulations keep him in line.

The fascist theme has a very serious meaning, yet the middle-aged Seijun Suzuki's direction offers youthful illumination of the situation through Kiroku Nanbu who finds himself between fascist ideology and individual expressive freedom. Kiroku is torn between the young fascist males and a neighbor catholic girl Michiko (Junko Asano), and is fueled by his adolescently raging hormones. Through Kiroku's friends he ends up in gang fights that function as an outlet for his anger and trained dissatisfaction with the society. However, Michiko dislikes Kiroku violent behavior, as it goes against her moral upbringing and she tries to sway him to stop, as she shares the affectionate feelings that he has for her.

The adolescent maze of sexual discovery, love, and emotion confuses Kiroku and is even made more difficult through induced guilt. Kiroku who is coming of age does not really know what he wants, which makes him a very an easy target to have new ideas pushed onto him. The other young males in his cohort feed him misguided information in regards to love and affection and drives him deeper into sexual puzzlement. Inside Kiroku fantasizes about Michiko, as he teaches himself about masturbation and its reliving stimulation. However, guilt overcomes him and he is forced to repress his sexual feelings through guilt. Yet, these feelings need an outlet, as his passionate feelings manifest themselves through violence brought to him through his cohorts.

Amidst the adolescent confusion while trying to find oneself Kiroku has a number of people influencing him. His father, who is extremely relaxed, treats him like an adult, as a means to provide parental guidance. This is counter productive, as Kiroku has no idea what being an adult is like, which makes him look for more guidance from a mechanic named Turtle (Yusuke Kawazu). There are also other rough characters that become his guides through his brawling adolescence in Yamaoka before he is sent to the countryside.

Kiroku Arrives at a new school in a rural area where boys tend to treat newcomers with suspicious disrespect and bullying, which forces him to stay strong. The contempt of the hostility toward strangers further evolves the fascistic tendencies in the film, which seem to be even stronger on the countryside. The strength of the fascistic ideals is rooted in traditional pride, which Seijun makes fun of as the fascists only display their strength by attacking those who are evidently weak. Kiroku even points this out, as he turns into one of the leading fascist adolescents that gain power through display of fighting might.

As the story unfolds the audience can witness Kiroku's change and watch him become more confident. The confidence leads him to find some middle ground where he reaches out to Michiko while embracing the violent path that he treading. However, Michiko does not reply with the answer that he anticipates, which leads him further down on the raging road that he is now traveling.

Fighting Elegy is an amusing coming of age tale in the shadow of fascism where war and love struggle against one another. Seijun pushes the story to the limit through ironic symbolism where adolescents search for a worthy identity through bad role models. Despite the heavy dose of humor it is a remarkably powerful story that loosely depicts events that took place in Japan during 1936--events where the true characters started a rebellion that was squelched, Seijun depicts how some mislead youth could have been lead into the madness. This is enhanced through the camera work of the film, which is exceptional despite its low budget. The black and white film is another illustration of how they budgeted the finances of the film. In the end, Fighting Elegy offers a wild cinematic journey with slapstick, punches, and kicks, as emerging youth embrace fascism while desire to love struggles to overcome.

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