The Born Fighter (1966) Kenka erejî (original title)

Director:

Seijun Suzuki

Writers:

Kaneto Shindô
Takashi Suzuki (novel)
(more)

Release Date:

9 November 1966 (Japan)

Genre:

Action | Comedy | Drama

Plot:

In Okayama in the mid-1930s, Kiroku attends high school and boards with a Catholic family whose daughter...

Plot Keywords:

School | Delinquent | Political Satire | Karate | Adult Humor

Cast

Hideki Takahashi	...	Kiroku Nanbu
Yûsuke Kawazu	...	Suppon "Turtle"
Junko Asano	...	Michiko
Takeshi Katô
Isao Tamagawa	...	Principal
Kayo Matsuo
rest of cast listed alphabetically:
Mitsuo Kataoka	...	Takuan
Hiroshi Midorikawa	...	Ikki Kita
Chikako Miyagi	...	Yoshino Nanbu
Keisuke Noro	...	Kaneda
Seijirô Onda	...	Kiroku's Father
Asao Sano

Directed by
Seijun Suzuki

Writing credits (in alphabetical order)
Mitsutoshi Ishigami		screenplay (uncredited)
Kaneto Shindô
Takashi Suzuki		novel

Produced by
Kazu Otsuka	....	producer

Original Music by
Naozumi Yamamoto

Cinematography by
Kenji Hagiwara

Film Editing by
Masami Tanji

Production Design by
Takeo Kimura

Art Direction by
Takeo Kimura

Second Unit Director or Assistant Director
Masami Kuzuu	....	assistant director

Sound Department
Yoshinobu Akino	....	sound

Camera and Electrical Department
Hideo Kumagai	....	gaffer

Production Companies

• Nikkatsu

Distributors

• Nikkatsu (1966) (Japan) (theatrical)
• Criterion Collection, The (2005) (USA) (DVD)
• Nihon Eiga Satellite Broadcasting (2012) (Japan) (TV)
• Nikkatsu (1990) (Japan) (VHS)
• Nikkatsu (1999) (Japan) (DVD)
• Nikkatsu (2002) (Japan) (DVD)
• Nikkatsu (USA) (subtitled)
• Yume Pictures (2007) (UK) (DVD)

Also Known As:

"Kenka erejî" - Japan (original title)
"Fighting Elegy" - International (English title) (imdb display title), USA (DVD title)

Runtime:

86 min

Country:

Japan

Language:

Japanese

Color:

Black and White

Aspect Ratio:

2.35 : 1

Sound Mix:

Mono

Certification:

UK:18 (2006) | USA:Not Rated

Filming Locations:

Japan

Company:

Nikkatsu

Movie Connections:

Referenced in 100 Years of Japanese Cinema (1995) (TV)

FIGHTING ELEGY (Seijun Suzuki, 1966) ***

This was only my fourth Seijun Suzuki film - after TOKYO DRIFTER (1966), BRANDED TO KILL (1967) and PISTOL OPERA (2001) - and it's a typically energetic outing, with strong doses of comedy augmenting the character study of a young man who can only express himself adequately through violence and how he is forced to take stock of his life after falling in love with a cultured young girl. Drawing obvious parallels to FIGHT CLUB (1999), the film's fight scenes are quite well done but, even more interestingly, it looks forward to the struggle between religious faith and a violent environment that would surface in later films, primarily the work of Martin Scorsese (the script of FIGHTING ELEGY was penned by Kaneto Shindo, director of THE NAKED ISLAND [1960] and ONIBABA [1964]!). However, the film runs out of steam towards the end by taking an unexpectedly serious (and propagandist) turn which doesn't sit comfortably with the anarchy that had gone on before!