is a 1966

Japanese film The has a history that spans more than 100 years. Japan has one of the oldest and largest film industries in the world; as of 2021, it was the fourth largest by number of feature films produced. In 2011 Japan produced 411 feature films that ea ...

directed by

Seijun Suzuki , born (24 May 1923 – 13 February 2017), was a Japanese filmmaker, actor, and screenwriter. His films are known for their jarring visual style, irreverent humour, nihilistic cool and entertainment-over-logic sensibility. He made 40 predo ...

. Filmmaker

Kaneto Shindō was a Japanese film director, screenwriter, film producer, and writer, who directed 48 films and wrote scripts for 238. His best known films as a director include ''Children of Hiroshima'', ''The Naked Island'', '' Onibaba'', ''Kuroneko'' an ...

adapted the script from the novel by Takashi Suzuki. The film has also screened under the titles ''Violence Elegy'', ''Elegy to Violence'', ''Elegy for a Quarrel'' and ''The Born Fighter'' at various film festivals and retrospectives.

Plot

Kiroku Nanbu (

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

) 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 ( Yûsuke Kawazu ), 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 ( 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 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 . Geography Aizuwakamatsu is located in the west ...

Fukushima may refer to: Japan * Fukushima Prefecture, Japanese prefecture ** Fukushima, Fukushima, capital city of Fukushima Prefecture, Japan ***Fukushima University, national university in Japan *** Fukushima Station (Fukushima) in Fukushima, Fukushim ...

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 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 as the "ideological father ...

(

Hiroshi Midorigawa is a common masculine Japanese given name. It can also be transliterated as Hirosi. Possible writings Hiroshi can be written using different kanji characters and can mean: *浩, "meaning" *汎 *弘, *宏, *寛, *洋, *博, *博一, *博司, ...

), whom he had met briefly in a tea house, and, reinvigorated, marches on to join in the events of Ni-niroku jiken. Most of the film is done in a light-hearted, one would even say comic, vein, including sequences of martial arts combat. Innovative editing techniques (unusual "jump-cuts") are employed as well. But the mood shifts in the closing minutes, with the column of marching soldiers callously brushing past Michiko symbolizing the rising mood of militarism as the 1930s move on toward the Japanese atrocities in occupied Chinese territory and World War II itself. When Kiroku and a pal learn of the attempted coup in Tokyo (the February 26 Incident cited previously), they decide to head there to participate. On which side will they fight, the established order or the rebels? Readers of the novel will know, but not moviegoers, as the planned sequel failed to materialize.viewing of film June 2018

Sequel

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 covering the latter half of the story but was fired after his next film, ''

Branded to Kill is a 1967 Japanese 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 for a seemingly im ...

'', and the project entered

development limbo Development hell, development purgatory, and development limbo are media and software industry jargon for a project, concept, or idea that remains in development for an especially long time, often moving between different crews, scripts, game engi ...

. In the book Nanbu joins the army, goes on to fight in China and is killed.

Production

''Fighting Elegy'' was directed by

for

Nikkatsu is a Japanese entertainment company known for its film and television productions. It is Japan's oldest major movie studio, founded in 1912 during the silent film era. The name ''Nikkatsu'' amalgamates the words Nippon Katsudō Shashin, literally ...

. Suzuki actively encouraged

to purchase the rights to the novel by Takashi Suzuki. It was adapted by filmmaker

. Suzuki took many liberties with the script.

Cast

- Kiroku Nanbu * Junko Asano - Michiko * Yûsuke Kawazu - Turtle * Mitsuo Kataoka - Takuan * Chikako Miyagi - Yoshino Nanbu *

Isao Tamagawa was a Japanese actor. He appeared in the Japanese film '' Branded to Kill'', as Michihiko Yabuhara: the yakuza boss that hires Hanada and seduces his wife. Upon the discovery that his diamond smuggling operation has been burgled, he employs Hanad ...

- Principal of Kitakata J.H.S. *

Keisuke Noro Keisuke (written: , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , or ) is a masculine Japanese given name. Notable people with the name include: *, Japanese footballer *, Japanese general *, Japanese mixed martial artist *, Japanese footballer * ...

- Kaneda * Asao Sano *

* Seijiro Onda - Kiroku’s father

References

Sources

External links

* * * *
Fighting Elegy
' at the

Japanese Movie Database The , more commonly known as simply JMDb, is an online database of information about Japanese movies, actors, and production crew personnel. It is similar to the Internet Movie Database but lists only those films initially released in Japan. Y. ...

''Fighting Elegy''
an essay by

Tony Rayns Antony Rayns (born 1948) is a British writer, commentator, film festival programmer and screenwriter. He wrote for the underground publication ''Cinema Rising'' (its name inspired by Kenneth Anger's '' Scorpio Rising'') before contributing to ...

at the Criterion Collection {{Seijun Suzuki 1966 films 1966 drama films Japanese black-and-white films Films based on Japanese novels Films directed by Seijun Suzuki 1960s Japanese-language films Nikkatsu films Films with screenplays by Kaneto Shindo Films set in Okayama Prefecture Films set in Fukushima Prefecture 1960s Japanese films