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Fighting Elegy

Original title: Kenka erejî
  • 19661966
  • Not RatedNot Rated
  • 1h 26m
IMDb RATING
7.0/10
1.5K
YOUR RATING
Fighting Elegy (1966)
  • Action
  • Comedy
  • Drama
During the 1930s, a teenager yearns for a Catholic girl, whose only desire is to reform his sinful tendencies. Hormones raging, the young man channels his unsatisfied lust into the only outl... Read allDuring the 1930s, a teenager yearns for a Catholic girl, whose only desire is to reform his sinful tendencies. Hormones raging, the young man channels his unsatisfied lust into the only outlet available: savage, crazed violence.During the 1930s, a teenager yearns for a Catholic girl, whose only desire is to reform his sinful tendencies. Hormones raging, the young man channels his unsatisfied lust into the only outlet available: savage, crazed violence.
IMDb RATING
7.0/10
1.5K
YOUR RATING
  • Director
    • Seijun Suzuki
  • Writers
    • Mitsutoshi Ishigami(screenplay)
    • Kaneto Shindô
    • Takashi Suzuki(novel)
  • Stars
    • Hideki Takahashi
    • Junko Asano
    • Yûsuke Kawazu
Top credits
  • Director
    • Seijun Suzuki
  • Writers
    • Mitsutoshi Ishigami(screenplay)
    • Kaneto Shindô
    • Takashi Suzuki(novel)
  • Stars
    • Hideki Takahashi
    • Junko Asano
    • Yûsuke Kawazu
  • See production, box office & company info
    • 9User reviews
    • 18Critic reviews
  • See production, box office & company info
  • See more at IMDbPro
  • Photos

    Fighting Elegy (1966)
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    Top cast

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    Hideki Takahashi
    • Kiroku Nanbuas Kiroku Nanbu
    Junko Asano
    • Michikoas Michiko
    Yûsuke Kawazu
    Yûsuke Kawazu
    • Suppon 'Turtle'as Suppon 'Turtle'
    Chikako Miyagi
    • Yoshino Nanbuas Yoshino Nanbu
    Takeshi Katô
    Takeshi Katô
    Isao Tamagawa
    • Principalas Principal
    Jun Hamamura
    Jun Hamamura
    Asao Sano
    Kensuke Akashi
    Iwae Arai
    Hiroyuki Atami
      Hiroshi Chiyoda
      Hiroshi Chô
      Hideo Fukuhara
      Yûzô Harumi
      Michio Hino
      Akira Hisamatsu
      Yôko Hokota
      • Director
        • Seijun Suzuki
      • Writers
        • Mitsutoshi Ishigami(screenplay) (uncredited)
        • Kaneto Shindô
        • Takashi Suzuki(novel)
      • All cast & crew
      • See more cast details at IMDbPro

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      Storyline

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      Did you know

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      • Trivia
        This film is part of the Criterion Collection, spine #269.
      • Connections
        Referenced in Century of Cinema: Nihon eiga no hyaku nen (1995)

      User reviews9

      Review
      Top review
      WACKY Satire of Repressed, Fascistic Youths
      Even though it suffers from acute VBS (Vinnie Barbarino Syndrome, i.e. all the "schoolchildren" are Thirtyish), this tale of burgeoning adolescent sexuality and burgeoning adolescent aggression is both funny and powerful. Directed by Suzuki Seijun [Tokyo Drifter, Branded to Kill] and scripted by Shindo Kaneto [who was in turn the director of Onibaba], Elegy to Violence has a lot more to say about conformity and militarism than allegedly profound films like Teshigihara's Face of Another.

      As the young lad torn between swooning adoration for his Catholic girlfriend and the sense of power and purity he finds in paramilitary gangs, Hideki Takahashi overplays marvelously. He is an encyclopedia of twitches and cringing at first, but that gradually gives way to ridiculous hypermachismo as he gets into more and more fights. (or, as the subtitles put it, "scuffles")

      Seijun Suzuki shows that he is keenly aware of the absurdity that underlies all of that hyperbolically heroic bloodshed that makes his other films so sublime.

      But those of you just looking for your fix of hip 60s cinema won't be disappointed--with cartoonish sound effects, brutal action, stoned continuity, split screens, sudden fits of slapstick worthy of The Knack or Help!, and immortal lines like "Your manhood will cry if you are afraid" and "Oh Michiko, I do not masturbate--I FIGHT!", how can you go wrong?

      Watch for the scene in which Our Hero climbs a watch tower to witness a "scuffle" that he himself fomented--an explicit homage to Yojimbo.
      helpful•15
      3
      • scottbaiowulf
      • Mar 20, 2000

      Details

      Edit
      • Release date
        • November 9, 1966 (Japan)
      • Country of origin
        • Japan
      • Language
        • Japanese
      • Also known as
        • The Born Fighter
      • Filming locations
        • Okayama, Japan
      • Production company
        • Nikkatsu
      • See more company credits at IMDbPro

      Technical specs

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      • Runtime
        1 hour 26 minutes
      • Color
        • Black and White
      • Sound mix
        • Mono
      • Aspect ratio
        • 2.35 : 1

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