Fighting Elegy
Set in 1935, the films central axis Kiroku (played by Hideki Takahashi, Nikkatsu matinee idol of some 88 features including Suzuki's Life of a Tattooed Man / Irezumi Ichidai between his debut in Kogenji in 1961 until leaving the studios in 1971, and currently a popular TV gameshow host) is one of a horde of surly adolescents who partake in a bit of testosterone-charged rough 'n tumble after the school bell has sounded, fighting under the aegis of the OSMS (Okayama Second Middle School) gang. "A famous group of young men training their bodies", the OSMS take their brawlings with their local rivals to paramilitary levels of hyperbole, lining their school bags with razor blades and carving shurikens out of wood, indulging in lengthy training sessions punching beanbags full of rocks and hitting each other with sticks in the forest.
The OSMS live by a number of tenets, including "A man finds rebellion most satisfying", and "No talking to softies". Unfortunately for Kiroku, who's got the hots for Michiko, the daughter of the owner of the Catholic boarding house where he lives, there's also "No chasing after girls". Kiroku, however, is quite willing to have his sentiments educated at the piano by Michiko in the privacy of the house, but when he is caught strolling through the cherry blossoms hand in hand with his sweetheart by Pickles, the leader of the OSMS, it's obvious that he's going to have to try that little bit harder to regain his face in front of his contemporaries.
As the students of the all-male school environment channel their sexual tensions into acts of aggression, Kiroku's personal diary is peppered with immortal lines such as "Oh Michiko! I don't masturbate, I fight!" Every time he finds himself hot under the collar at the thought of his virginal love interest ("my blood throbs at those white hands!"), with an upward glance to the crucifix on the wall of his Catholic boarding house, it's back out for another bout of backstreet brawling.
However, Shindo's script is more than a broad-edged attack on violence itself, but an absurdist look at the forces that gave rise to fascism in 1930s Japan. When Kiroku's unruly antics get him kicked out of school and he is sent to study in rural Aizu Wakamatsu, he is unimpressed by the "Aizu spirit" of his classmates. Kiroku's catcalls of "Aizu monkeys!" single him out for attention amongst the local school gangs, but he soon emerges top dog, attracting the shadowy figure of real-life dissident writer and "founder of modern Japanese fascism", Ikki Kita in the process.
Kita was a strong advocate of National Socialism and was executed in 1937 for allegedly influencing the young officers who took place in the failed coup known as the "ni ni roku" incident that took place in February 26, 1936 (see our review of Yukio Mishima's Yukoku), in which 1400 soldiers occupied a number of key buildings in the center of Tokyo, and killed the Finance Minster and The Inspector General of Military Education. The goal was to restore direct rule to the Showa Emperor, Hirohito, by removing any corrupting influences from the politicians and capitalists then cluttering up the political process. Suzuki's film ends during the coup, in which a state of martial law has been declared in Tokyo. With the now-unattainable Michiko packed off to a nunnery, Kiroku embarks on a lengthy snowbound train journey to Tokyo to join Kita in the revolution.
courtesy (I hope) of The Midnight Eye
The OSMS live by a number of tenets, including "A man finds rebellion most satisfying", and "No talking to softies". Unfortunately for Kiroku, who's got the hots for Michiko, the daughter of the owner of the Catholic boarding house where he lives, there's also "No chasing after girls". Kiroku, however, is quite willing to have his sentiments educated at the piano by Michiko in the privacy of the house, but when he is caught strolling through the cherry blossoms hand in hand with his sweetheart by Pickles, the leader of the OSMS, it's obvious that he's going to have to try that little bit harder to regain his face in front of his contemporaries.
As the students of the all-male school environment channel their sexual tensions into acts of aggression, Kiroku's personal diary is peppered with immortal lines such as "Oh Michiko! I don't masturbate, I fight!" Every time he finds himself hot under the collar at the thought of his virginal love interest ("my blood throbs at those white hands!"), with an upward glance to the crucifix on the wall of his Catholic boarding house, it's back out for another bout of backstreet brawling.
However, Shindo's script is more than a broad-edged attack on violence itself, but an absurdist look at the forces that gave rise to fascism in 1930s Japan. When Kiroku's unruly antics get him kicked out of school and he is sent to study in rural Aizu Wakamatsu, he is unimpressed by the "Aizu spirit" of his classmates. Kiroku's catcalls of "Aizu monkeys!" single him out for attention amongst the local school gangs, but he soon emerges top dog, attracting the shadowy figure of real-life dissident writer and "founder of modern Japanese fascism", Ikki Kita in the process.
Kita was a strong advocate of National Socialism and was executed in 1937 for allegedly influencing the young officers who took place in the failed coup known as the "ni ni roku" incident that took place in February 26, 1936 (see our review of Yukio Mishima's Yukoku), in which 1400 soldiers occupied a number of key buildings in the center of Tokyo, and killed the Finance Minster and The Inspector General of Military Education. The goal was to restore direct rule to the Showa Emperor, Hirohito, by removing any corrupting influences from the politicians and capitalists then cluttering up the political process. Suzuki's film ends during the coup, in which a state of martial law has been declared in Tokyo. With the now-unattainable Michiko packed off to a nunnery, Kiroku embarks on a lengthy snowbound train journey to Tokyo to join Kita in the revolution.
courtesy (I hope) of The Midnight Eye
posted by Quin Finnegan at 10:56 PM
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