Tokyo Fist (1995)

User Rating:

7.2/10   

Director:

Shinya Tsukamoto

Writers:

Hisashi Saito (story) &
Shinya Tsukamoto (story) ...

Release Date:

22 May 1998 (USA)

Genre:

Drama | Horror

Plot:

A businessman, Tsuda, runs into a childhood friend, Tajuki, on the subway. Tajuki is working as a semiprofessional boxer...

Plot Keywords:

Disturbing | Violence | Surrealism | Revenge | Tattoo

Awards:

2 wins & 1 nomination

Cast

Kaori Fujii	...	Hizuru
Shinya Tsukamoto	...	Tsuda Yoshiharu
Kôji Tsukamoto	...	Kojima Takuji
Naomasa Musaka	...	Haze
Naoto Takenaka	...	Ohizumi
Koichi Wajima	...	Shirota
Tomorowo Taguchi	...	Tattoo master
Nobu Kanaoka	...	Nurse
rest of cast listed alphabetically:
Kiichi Mutô

Also Known As:

Tokyo ken (Japan)

Runtime:

87 min | Argentina:87 min (Mar del Plata Film Festival)

Country:

Japan

Language:

Japanese | English

Color:

Black and White (inserts only) | Color

Aspect Ratio:

1.85 : 1

Sound Mix:

Mono

Certification:

Italy:VM14 (DVD rating) | New Zealand:R18 | Finland:K-16 | France:-16 | Japan:R | South Korea:18 | UK:18 | Argentina:18

Company:

Kaijyu Theater

Quotes:

[Tsuda has just been beaten nearly to death]
Tsuda: At least I don't have any problems staying awake anymore.

Movie Connections:

Features Metropolis (1927)

Director, Producer, Co-Scriptwriter, Art Director, Star, Cinematographer, Editor Tsukamoto must be an amazing guy.

I've seen Tsukamoto's Tetsuo films but here he has found a way to be almost as outre but infinitely more accessible and coherent. The film is about 3 people (two men and a woman caught in a triangle) whose lives suddenly become charged with transformative psychosexual and psychoviolent energies revolving around the world of Japanese boxing (but it is nothing like a 'fight' film). Actor/Editor/Cinematographer/Director Tsukamoto has found a way to give a high impact, extremely rhythmic (in both time and space) look and feel to his ideas that is very original and striking. The spatial rhythm of the lead characters boring ordinary 'day' life passed in high rise apartment complexes and the incredibly kinetic temporal rhythm of his alternate 'night' life provides a terrific cinematic contrast of these two worlds. The film is rather short and gains immensely thereby in both concentration and focus. I, too, thought about Raging Bull at times but probably Tsukamoto is more akin to David Cronenberg (the new flesh) in his concerns, not his approach, than Scorsese. It may not be for the squeamish, but it is strong, brilliant film making which you should definitely try.