Fighting Elegy
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| Fighting Elegy | |
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| Directed by | Seijun Suzuki |
| Produced by | Kazu Otsuka |
| Written by | Kaneto Shindō Takashi Suzuki (novel) |
| Starring | Hideki Takahashi Junko Asano Yusuki Kawazu |
| Music by | Naozumi Yamamoto |
| Cinematography | Kenji Hagiwara |
| Editing by | Mutsuo Tanji |
| Distributed by | Nikkatsu |
| Release date(s) |  Nov 9, 1966 |
| Running time | 86 min |
| Country | Japan |
| Language | Japanese |
| All Movie Guide profile | |
| IMDb profile | |
Fighting Elegy (けんかえれじい Kenka erejii?) is a 1966 cult film directed by Seijun Suzuki, based on the novel by Takashi Suzuki. Adapted by Kaneto Shindō, Suzuki took many liberties with the script.[1].
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[edit] Synopsis
Kiroku Nanbu (Hideki Takahashi) is a Catholic, teenager attending a military-tooled middle school in 1935 Bizen, Okayama. Living in a boardinghouse, he is infatuated with his landlady's chaste daughter, Michiko (Junko Asano). Unable to express his feelings or quell his libido with masturbation, due to peer pressure, shyness, and Catholic guilt, Nanbu turns to the only outlet left available to him: crazed, brutal violence.
Taken under the wing of Turtle (Yusuki Kawazu), Nanbu is taught how to fight through an elaborate training regiment. He then joins a school gang, the OSMS. A conflict between gang leader Takuan (Mitsuo Kataoka) and Turtle ensues concluding with Nanbu's usurpation of OSMS leadership. Setting a more aggressive manifesto of actively breaking all school rules, and avoiding girls entirely, he has a run in with the school drill sergeant and is suspended. Turtle speaks to the school administration on Nanbu's behalf resulting in both students fleeing Okayama, leaving Michiko behind.
Now living in the Aizuwakamatsu, Fukushima with his aunt and uncle Nanbu reenlists in school but is repulsed by his classmates weakness. He forms a new group and heightened conflicts commence with a local gang. Michiko visits to say goodbye to Nanbu and tell him that she has decided to join a convent as she is unable to bear children. She is later waylaid by marching soldiers. Distraught to new heights, Nanbu spots a poster for (real life) radical, political advocist, Ikki Kita (Hiroshi Midorigawa), who he had met briefly in a tea house, and, reinvigorated, marches on to join in the events of Ni-niroku jiken.
[edit] Sequel
The events of the film cover only the first half of the novel it was based on. Suzuki had planned, and co-written the script, for a sequel covering the latter half of the story but was fired after his next film, Branded to Kill, and the project entered development limbo. In the book Nanbu joins the army, goes on to fight in China and is killed.[2]
[edit] Starring
- Hideki Takahashi - Kiroku Nanbu
- Junko Asano - Michiko
- Yusuke Kawazu - Turtle
- Mitsuo Kataoka - Takuan
- Chikako Miyagi - Yoshino Nanbu
- Isao Tamagawa - Principal of Kitakata J.H.S.
- Keisuke Noro - Kaneda
- Hiroshi Midorigawa - Ikki Kita
- Seijiro Onda - Kiroku’s father
[edit] Trivia
- Unusually, rather than making the best of the script afforded him, Suzuki actively encouraged Nikkatsu to purchase the novel rights.[3]
[edit] See also
[edit] External links
- Fighting Elegy at the Internet Movie Database
- Criterion Collection essay by Tony Rayns
- Fighting Elegy reviews at Rotten Tomatoes
- (Japanese) Fighting Elegy at the Japanese Movie Database
| Japanese Cinema |  |
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| Films by Seijun Suzuki | ||
| 1950s | Harbour Toast: Victory Is in Our Grasp | Pure Emotions of the Sea | Satan's Town | Inn of the Floating Weeds | Eight Hours of Terror | The Naked Woman and the Gun | Underworld Beauty | Spring Never Came | Young Breasts | Voice Without a Shadow | Love Letter | Passport to Darkness | Age of Nudity | |
|---|---|---|
| 1960s | Take Aim at the Police Van | Sleep of the Beast | Clandestine Zero Line | Everything Goes Wrong | Fighting Delinquents | Tokyo Knights | The Big Boss Who Needs No Gun | Man with a Shotgun | A New Wind Over the Mountain Pass | Blood Red Water in the Channel | Million Dollar Smash and Grab | Teen Yakuza | The Guys Who Put Money on Me | Detective Bureau 2-3: Go to Hell Bastards | Youth of the Beast | The Bastard | Kanto Wanderer | Flowers and the Angry Waves | Gate of Flesh | Our Blood Will Not Forgive | Story of a Prostitute | Story of a Bastard: Born Under a Bad Star | Tattooed Life | Carmen of Kawachi | Tokyo Drifter | Fighting Elegy | Branded to Kill | |
| 1970s | A Tale of Sorrow and Sadness | |
| 1980s | Zigeunerweisen |Kagero-za | Capone Cries a Lot | Lupin III: Legend of the Gold of Babylon | |
| 1990s | Yumeji | Marriage | |
| 2000s | Pistol Opera | Princess Raccoon | |
| Preceded by: Youth of the Beast |
The Criterion Collection 269 |
Succeeded by: Casque d'or |
