Customer Reviews

Fighting Elegy [VHS]

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After watching "Fighting Elegy," I'm convinced Suzuki, little known here in the states, is one of our living masters of film. Suzuki is incomparable, though if an analogy is appropriate, he might be considered the japanese counterpart to Scorsese. Fighting Elegy, a coming-of-age film set in the prewar years, is a deft, dazzling, fast-paced satire on the rise of fascism amongst the teen set. According to the code of militant asceticism and self-denial that has swept the the all-male schools of Japan, "Love is for sissies," leaving the film's hapless protagonist torn between his love for a local girl,... and the bully code of school yard warrior glory. Suzuki moves with a breathless, freewheeling ease between the farce of youth violence with its absurd quest for honor and the tender, humbling comedy of painful first love. Inundated with samurai fare, american audiences will find this early sixties b&w film an astonishing leap into 20th century japanese social history that they are rarely given an opportunity to see. Exceptionally rewarding!

mr. suzuki has done it again. not as visually wild as his other outings (branded,tokyo drifter) but neither the less its seijin and you can tell. lots of symbolism and intricate camera movements. I wish for more suzuki classics to be released here. the tamer visual flare on this one works, if fits the subject, if it were shot as wild as his other films i think it would be over stylized. a perfectly shot film and well paced.