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Fighting Elegy (The Criterion Collection)

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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.

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!

There's nothing quite so frustrating as a satire that totally doesn't work. "Fighting Elegy" is supposed to be some kind of brilliant attack on, I dunno, machismo or militarism or whatever, at least according to film critics and scholars. Funny, isn't it, that I interpreted this thing as a really poorly made and juvenile film about a bratty kid who gets into a lot of fistfights (rather like a Z-grade version of "Fight Club," which is also overrated).

Where do I start complaining about this film? The character development of our poorly acted protagonist is very minimal. We know that he's in love with a girl named Michiko, though we don't really know why, because he has zero chemistry with her. Because he can't have Michiko, our hero works out his frustrations by getting into a series of totally unconvincing - yet still rather violent and borderline sadistic - fights. The fights come with comedy sound effects, reminiscent of the Adam West Batman (THWACK! POW! ARRGH!) Every once in a while, the director tosses some Catholic imagery into the mix, like a crucifix with a big spotlight on it. What does all this mean? I'm afraid my poor brain was not up to the task of unpacking imagery of such, um, depth. I just thought it was pretentious.

Despite the fact that the film is quite short, it's repetitive and draggy, as the hero constantly gets into fights and then gets into trouble for having the fights. My interest was somewhat sustained by some good imagery - like the two "lovers" holding hands through a rip in a shoji screen - but a few good images do not a good film make. And, as is common with director Suzuki's pictures, the editing is so scatterbrained that I often had trouble following the action. (Shortly after making this film, Suzuki was sacked by his studio for making incomprehensible films. Some critics think this was a tragedy, but I'd have been tempted to fire the guy too.)

I suppose I'm being too hard on this movie, because it at least tries to be distinctive. But "Fighting Elegy" happens to belong to a sub-genre of cinema that I particularly dislike; it pretends to lampoon and condemn violence (I guess), but also seems to celebrate violence at the same time, and in the end I thought its message was garbled beyond comprehension. Honestly, I'm really not sure why Donald Richie, a usually razor-sharp critic of Japanese film, is so fond of Suzuki and his work; I much prefer the quiet dramatic force of an Ozu movie, or even the pop culture bliss of a Godzilla extravaganza, to a lurid and tacky film like this one.

"Fighting Elegy (Kenka Elegy), the masterpiece of director Seijun Suzuki known for his many B-movies for Japan's oldest major movie studio, Nikkatsu Company from 1956-1967.

Known for creating Yakuza films which include his popular 1963 film "Youth of the Beast" (Yaju no Seishun), the 1966 film "Tokyo Drifter (Tokyo Nagaremono) and the 1967 film "Branded to Kill" (Koroshi no Rakuin), despite his films not being big box office hits, he was known for creating films with striking compositions, hallucinatory images, flamboyant colors which were among his most well-known traits as a filmmaker.

"Fighting Elegy" is much different from his other three masterpiece films as this film was about rival gangs which would be the pre-cursor to Japan's Yankii culture, in black and white and would bring together humor and violence altogether in one film. The film was adapted from a novel by Takashi Suzuki courtesy of filmmaker Kaneto Shindo.

The film revolves around the character of Kiroku Nanbu (played by Hideki Takahashi), a teenager who lives in a boardinghouse and now a practicing Catholic and attends a military middle school in Okayama during the mid-1930's. Kiroku is in love with his landlord's daughter Michiko, a talented pianist.

But although Kiroku tries to make it to mass and be there for Michiko, he is also involved with the local gang known as the OSMS. Having trained in fighting and has quick reflexes, he's not very good at expressing how he feels and also has a problem with containing his love for Michiko. In fact, each time he thinks of her, he literally gets a hard on and feels that he needs to masturbate.

Torn by wanting to be by Michiko's side, unfortunately his gang doesn't appreciate such things. They have strict rules which involve becoming a rebel, getting into trouble and not having any girlfriends. Despite having a father who doesn't want for him to get into any trouble, Kiroku is so far into the gang and rebellious lifestyle that he seems he wants to create as much trouble as possible, although Michiko does what she can to stop him.

The film is broken down to two arcs. The first half, being a blend of comedy and violence features Hideki trying his best to be a tough guy and gang member of OSMS but also having feelings for Michiko to a second half in which he moves to Aizuwakamatsu in Fukushima where he goes on to create his own gang and trying to get used to his new living area.

Will Hideki find love with Michiko or will he continue to get deeper into a life of violence?

VIDEO & AUDIO:

"Fighting Elegy - THE CRITERION COLLECTION #269' is resented in black and white (2:35:1 aspect ratio). Fora film that is 45-years-old, the film looks very good courtesy of the new, restored high-definition digital transfer from Criterion. According to Criterion, the HD digital transfer was created on a Spirit Datacine from a 35mm print struck from the original camera negative. Thousands of instances of dirt, debris and scratches were removed using the MTI Digital Restoration System.

The soundtrack is in monaural and was mastered at 24-bit from the optical print track and audio restoration tools were used to reduce clicks, pops, hiss and crackle. The soundtrack is Dolby Digital 1.0 but for those with modern home theater receivers can easily select stereo on all channels for a more immersive soundscape.

Subtitles are in English.

SPECIAL FEATURES:

Surprisingly, for a Criterion Collection DVD release from 2005, there are no special features included with this release but the original theatrical trailer (2:34) and a three-page essay by Tony Rayns (filmmaker, critic and festival programmer).

Also a two page note on Ikki Kita, the radical political thinker who wrote "An Outline of a Plan for the Reconstruction of Japan" in 1919 about his socialist views and providing land for farmers and equal profits for workers and their bosses. He became a hero for young military officers who came from poor families especially during a time of Japan's poor economy and having come off a devastating earthquake, the stock market crash of 1929 and eventually in Feb. 1936, over a thousand soldiers took to Tokyo and executed government officials.

JUDGMENT CALL:

Why is there a mention of Ikki Kita in this insert? It's because Kita plays a significant role in the end of "Fighting Elegy" and also was to play more of a role in the sequel which was not made because director Seijun Suzuki was fired by Nikkatsu in 1967.

"Fighting Elegy" is definitely a quirky but fun and action-packed Nikkatsu film by director Seijun Suzuki. Sure, its different from his yakuza hits but I really enjoyed how Suzuki created a film about Japanese youth, especially ones that deal with the territorial youthful gangs and as mentioned, the precursor to today's yankii gangs.

The film does away with the guns and the strippers and features fist fighting and whatever weapons these gangs created. But what an interesting way to feature the film's protagonist by somewhat making him a compassionate and violent Catholic man going through a sexual time of his life and using comedy to feature his masturbating tendencies. You're definitely not going to see this type of character anywhere but "Fighting Elegy". So, one can expect comedy and action in this film.

But I have to really give a thumbs up to the cinematography and the editing. Crazy camera angles and weather conditions which Suzuki pulled of despite the film being created with such a low budget. Plenty of memorable scenes from the gang war to the various areas of where Kiroku is getting in a fight. May it be in a chicken farm or a field full of weeds. This is Suzuki at his prime but trying to capture that Japanese mid-'30s flair through its characters and rebellious political and social beliefs of the Japanese people during that time.

Personally, "Fighting Elegy" may not be the first Suzuki film that fans who want to learn about Suzuki's work should see until they see "Tokyo Drifter" or "Branded to Kill" first but nevertheless, this film is just entertaining, quirky but fun throughout.

Overall, "Fighting Elegy" is an enjoyable film but for a Criterion Collection release, I was surprised by its lack of special features. Something I would expect to see from a 1998 release, not in 2005. But nevertheless, this is the only way to catch this film and the picture quality on the DVD is just awesome! Overall, "Fighting Elegy" is definitely recommended!

Criterion did their usual good job of restoring the original. Interesting study of pre-WWII Japanese nationalism and pointless gang violence with a the usual over-acting and improbable acrobatic fight scenes. The female lead is a sainted virginal figure in love with a fanatic nut case. The promotional material for this film suggests that the male lead is motivated by sexual frustration but that hardly explains his psychopathic anger. Ordinarily I find Japanese movies of the pre-war period fascinating but the overdone gang fights were a bit much. It ends on an indeterminate note, probably because the sequel was never filmed.

Director Seijun Suzuki has crafted a satire of the ultra-masculine, nationalistic mentality that made Japan's entry into WWII possible. Kiroku Nanbu (Hideki Takahashi), a city boy transplanted to the countryside, devotes himself to attaining the ideal pinnacle of manliness, which requires him to forsake relations with women. He struggles with his tender feelings for Michiko (Junko Asano), a pure hearted Catholic girl who is attracted to him as well. Sharply critical of the militaristic mindset, this film is a very entertaining blend of absurdity and realism.

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.

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.

Okay, so Seijun Suzuki's movie "Fighting Elegy" has a little bit more to it than that--as Suzuki movies are wont to do, post-modernly. But as a filmgoer who delights in the good, the bad, AND the ugly coming out of Japan while the majority of Italian film leaves him cold (except Antonioni, who is a personal god), some of the more Italian-influenced scenes in this movie sent me into near hysterics. You know, it's not often movies make me laugh as much as this one did.

Satire is the intention in this one, and it most primarily reminds me of "Amarcord"--only, you know, without the navel-gazing. Suzuki drops Fellini's typical approach to the Carnivalesque and replaces it with gorgeous, luminous black-and-white imagery. It also reminds me of a Godard film, in terms of editing style--only, you know, without the navel-gazing. Often movies seem like they must have been fun to be in, or they look like they were fun to make, but this one looks like it was a lot of fun to edit. Pretty much nothing editing-wise is held sacred as Suzuki plays around with split frames, sudden extreme closeups, and yes, jump cuts.

But what it's all about? Young, Catholic Kiroku is in love with his flat-mate Michiko; so much so, in fact, that he finds himself having to get into fights in order to get his passion and sexual frustration out (masturbation isn't allowed 'cause the Lord disapproves--setting the scene for one of the most hilarious moments of fetishism in screen history). He joins a ridiculously-dressed gang in order to regularly be involved in fights, and their rules and edicts both keep him separated from Michiko as well as eventually kicked out of school. He moves to the Aizu on the countryside, where he immediately gets into more fights and eventually starts an epic gang battle that lasts an entire night. Victorious, there's practically nothing left to do but join Japan's pre-WWII army, gearing up for the Imperialism the world is very familiar with.

That's all morbid and stuff, but the tone is pitch-perfect for Suzuki's satirical implications. Kiroku's blind passion is used to make fun of anything from duck-walking and melodramatic teenage drama to general male machismo and the undertones of male impotency. The intense imagery fits Kiroku's proto-fascist male Romanticism to a cue, and ultimately his relationship to Michiko becomes the best tongue-in-cheek nod to teenage stupidity since Romeo and Juliet.

Meanwhile, I stress the Italian influence. Italian music, the jabs at Catholicism, and a particularly familiar scene by the sea-shore back up this theme while the general story involves the idea of fascism in the particularly Italian sense, that of basically roving gangs of bullies looking to the extremes of the law to cover their dissatisfaction, leading to the belief of violence as the ultimate social right. This contrasts with the more cliched view of pre-war Japanese Imperialism where the soldiers are most often shown as devoted machine-like automatons for the state juggernaut, as opposed to overly hormonal teens.

Anyway, I've seen some great Suzuki films, but this has instantly become by far my favorite one. It's also one the best Japanese comedies I've seen so far--nay, one of the best comedies no matter the country of origin. Highly recommended for some body laughs, and your eyes will love the imagery, too.

--PolarisDiB

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.