is a 1995 Japanese film. It was directed by

Shinya Tsukamoto is a Japanese filmmaker and actor. With a considerable cult following both domestically and abroad, Tsukamoto is best known for his body horror/Japanese cyberpunk, cyberpunk film ''Tetsuo: The Iron Man'' (1989), which is considered the defining ...

, who also stars in the film along with his brother Kōji Tsukamoto and Kahori Fujii. The film had its premiere in September 1995 at the Turin Film Festival in Italy.

Plot

Tsuda Yoshiharu, a door-to-door insurance salesman, takes up

boxing Boxing is a combat sport and martial art. Taking place in a boxing ring, it involves two people – usually wearing protective equipment, such as boxing glove, protective gloves, hand wraps, and mouthguards – throwing Punch (combat), punch ...

after a chance meeting with a former high school friend, Kojima Yakuji. Tsuda is shown to be under immense stress due to having to support both himself and his fiancée, Hizuru, who quit her job after they became engaged. One day, Kojima turns up at Tsuda's apartment claiming he was invited, and Hizuru lets him in. While ostensibly waiting for Tsuda, Kojima comes on to Hizuru, who rejects him. Still, Tsuda finds out and becomes enraged. He confronts Kojima only to be beaten badly and humiliated in front of Hizuru. Intrigued by the animalistic Kojima, Hizuru breaks up with Tsuda and moves in with his rival. She also starts to pierce herself and get tattoos. Hizuru also wants to take up boxing but is denied that life by the surprisingly cowardly Kojima, who says she is a scary freak of a woman. Kojima is offered a fight against an incredibly deadly boxer and is shown to be wary of accepting. Kojima explains to Hizuru how he got into boxing. When he and Tsuda were in high school, a mutual friend was killed by

salarymen The term is a Japanese word for salaried workers. In Japanese popular culture, it is portrayed as a white-collar worker who shows unwavering loyalty and commitment to his employer, prioritizing work over anything else, including family. "Salary ...

. Tsuda and Kojima both vowed to learn boxing and take revenge when the culprits were released from prison. However, Tsuda abandoned this plan and suppressed the memories of the event, leaving only Kojima continuing down this path. To Kojima, Tsuda has become "a nobody" reminiscent of the salarymen. Hizuru warns Kojima that, by provoking Tsuda, he is inadvertently creating a killing machine. Kojima brushes off Hizuru's offer to fight her, to which she berates Kojima and states that everyone considers him a coward. In a rage, Kojima accepts the dangerous fight he had been offered earlier. Tsuda's continued efforts to win Hizuru back, leading to a confrontation where they bond by beating each other's faces to a pulp. Hizuru returns home to engage in aggressive sex with Kojima. Tsuda and Kojima have a sparring match in their boxing club, in which Kojima nearly beats Tsuda to death. Afterwards, Kojima fights his real boxing match while Tsuda is in the hospital being treated for his bleeding eye. Meanwhile, Hizuru has gone overboard with the piercings and has implanted several metal bars into her flesh. Kojima wins the match, but he has been pushed past his limit and his face is shown to be unrecognizable because of injuries. His face breaks apart while he is celebrating his victory, suggesting fatal wounds. Hizuru is shown in a field, where she attempts to rip out her various piercings, but ends up bleeding to death. Tsuda is last seen standing in front of an apartment building, the pupil of his eye now missing. The final shot of the film is a zoom in on a punching bag hanging in an empty boxing gym while the cheers of a crowd are heard.

Cast

* Kahori Fujii as Hizuru *

as Tsuda Yoshiharu *

Kōji Tsukamoto Koji, Kōji, Kohji or Kouji may refer to: * Kōji (given name), a masculine Japanese given name * Kōji (Heian period) (康治), Japanese era, 1142–1144 * Kōji (Muromachi period) (弘治), Japanese era, 1555–1558 * Koji orange, a Japanese cit ...

as Kojima Takuji * Naomasa Musaka as Hase, trainer *

Naoto Takenaka is a Japanese actor, comedian, singer, and director from Kanazawa-ku, Yokohama, Kanagawa Prefecture, affiliated with From First Production. He is married to idol singer and actress Midori Kinouchi. He is also known as the voice of Samuel L. ...

as Ohizumi, trainer * Koichi Wajima as Shirota, gym owner * Tomorowo Taguchi as the Tattoo Master * Nobu Kanaoka as a Nurse

Release

''Tokyo Fist'' premiered in September 1995 at the Turin Film Festival in Italy. It received theatrical release in Japan on October 21, 1995.

Reception

In Japan, ''Tokyo Fist'' was placed on some publications best of the year list, including ''

Kinema Junpo , commonly called , is Japan's oldest film magazine and began publication in July 1919. It was first published three times a month, using the Japanese ''Jun'' (旬) system of dividing months into three parts, but the postwar ''Kinema Junpō'' ha ...

''.

Notes

References

External links

* * 1995 films 1995 horror films 1990s Japanese films 1990s Japanese-language films Films directed by Shinya Tsukamoto Films scored by Chu Ishikawa Films set in Tokyo Japanese boxing films Japanese horror films Japanese splatter films {{1990s-Japan-film-stub