, also titled ''Elegy to Violence'' and ''The Born Fighter'', is a 1966 Japanese

drama film In film and television, drama is a category or genre of narrative fiction (or semi-fiction) intended to be more serious than humorous in tone. The drama of this kind is usually qualified with additional terms that specify its particular ...

directed by

Seijun Suzuki , born (24 May 1923 – 13 February 2017), was a Japanese filmmaker, actor, and screenwriter. His films are known for their florid visual style, absurd humour, and a playful rejection of traditional film grammar. He made 40 predominately ...

. It is based on the novel ''Kenka erejii'' by Takashi Suzuki.

Plot

Kiroku Nanbu is a Catholic teenager attending a military-tooled middle school in 1935 Bizen,

Okayama is the prefectural capital, capital Cities of Japan, city of Okayama Prefecture in the Chūgoku region of Japan. The Okayama metropolitan area, centered around the city, has the largest urban employment zone in the Chugoku region of western J ...

. Living in a boardinghouse, he is infatuated with his landlady's chaste daughter, Michiko. Unable to express his feelings or his sexual desire, Nanbu turns to violent behaviour. Taken under the wing of schoolmate Turtle, Nanbu is taught how to fight through an elaborate training regimen. He then joins a school gang, the OSMS. A conflict between gang leader Takuan 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

Aizuwakamatsu is a city in Fukushima Prefecture, Japan. , the city had an estimated population of 118,159 in 50,365 households, and a population density of 310 persons per km2. The total area of the city was . History The area of present-day 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 radical political activist

Ikki Kita was a Japanese author, intellectual and political philosopher who was active in early Shōwa period Japan. Drawing from an eclectic range of influences, Kita was a self-described socialist who has also been described by detractors as the "i ...

, whom he had met briefly in a tea house, and, reinvigorated, marches on to join in the February 26 Incident.

Cast

Hideki Takahashi is a Japanese people, Japanese actor. Born in Kisarazu, Chiba near Tokyo, he attended Ichikawa Gakuen and later Nihon University. Career Takahashi made his debut with Nikkatsu Corporation, Nikkatsu and acted in youth-oriented films. Takahashi ma ...

– Kiroku Nanbu * Junko Asano – Michiko *

Yūsuke Kawazu was a Japanese actor. Life and career Kawazu was born in Tokyo on 12 May 1935. While still a student at Keio University, Kawazu signed with Shochiku in 1958 and debuted in Keisuke Kinoshita, Kinoshita's ''The Eternal Rainbow''. He became one o ...

– Turtle * Mitsuo Kataoka – Takuan * Chikako Miyagi – Yoshino Nanbu * Isao Tamagawa – Principal of Kitakata J.H.S. * Keisuke Noro – Kaneda * Asao Sano – Kondo * Hiroshi Midorigawa – Ikki Kita * Seijiro Onda – Kiroku's father

Production

Takashi Suzuki's novel was adapted by filmmaker Kaneto Shindō. During filming, Suzuki took many liberties with Shindō's script, adding scenes such as Nanbu's meeting with Ikki Kita and the violation of Michiko. The events of the film cover only the first half of the novel on which it was based. Suzuki had planned and co-written the script for a sequel, in which Nanbu joins the army and dies in battle in China, but the project was cancelled after Suzuki was fired by

Nikkatsu is a Japanese film studio located in Bunkyō. The name ''Nikkatsu'' amalgamates the words Nippon Katsudō Shashin, literally "Japan Motion Pictures". Shareholders are Nippon Television Holdings (35%) and SKY Perfect JSAT Corporation (28.4%). ...

after his next film ''

Branded to Kill is a 1967 Japanese black comedy yakuza film directed by Seijun Suzuki and starring Joe Shishido, Koji Nanbara, Annu Mari and Mariko Ogawa. The story follows contract killer Goro Hanada as he is recruited by a mysterious woman named Misako fo ...

''.

Legacy

''Fighting Elegy'' was screened at the

Museum of Modern Art The Museum of Modern Art (MoMA) is an art museum located in Midtown Manhattan, New York City, on 53rd Street (Manhattan), 53rd Street between Fifth Avenue, Fifth and Sixth Avenues. MoMA's collection spans the late 19th century to the present, a ...

in 2005, at the Harvard Film Archive in 2016 and at the

Berkeley Art Museum and Pacific Film Archive The Berkeley Art Museum and Pacific Film Archive (BAMPFA, formerly abbreviated as BAM/PFA) are a combined art museum, repertory movie theater, and film archive associated with the University of California, Berkeley. Lawrence Rinder was Director ...

in 2022.

References

External links