{{Short description|1966 Japanese film}} {{use dmy dates|date=July 2023}} {{Infobox film | name = Fighting Elegy | image = Fighting Elegy poster.jpg | caption = | director = [[Seijun Suzuki]] | producer = Kazu Otsuka | writer = {{ubl|[[Kaneto Shindō]]|Takashi Suzuki (novel)}} | starring = {{ubl|[[Hideki Takahashi]]|Junko Asano|[[Yûsuke Kawazu]]}} | music = Naozumi Yamamoto | cinematography = Kenji Hagiwara | editing = Mutsuo Tanji | studio = [[Nikkatsu]] | distributor = Nikkatsu | released = {{Film date|1966|11|09|Japan|df=y|ref1=<ref name="jmdb">{{cite web|url=http://www.jmdb.ne.jp/1966/cp004130.htm |title=けんかえれじい |website=Japanese Movie Database |language=ja |access-date=22 July 2023}}</ref><ref name="kj">{{cite web|url=http://www.kinenote.com/main/public/cinema/detail.aspx?cinema_id=22055 |title=けんかえれじい |website=Kinenote |language=ja |access-date=22 July 2023}}</ref>}} | runtime = 86 minutes | country = Japan | language = Japanese }} {{nihongo|'''''Fighting Elegy'''''|けんかえれじい|Kenka erejii}}, also titled '''''Elegy to Violence''''' and '''''The Born Fighter''''',<ref name="Jacoby">{{cite book |last=Jacoby |first=Alexander |date=2008 |title=Critical Handbook of Japanese Film Directors: From the Silent Era to the Present Day |location=Berkeley |publisher=Stone Bridge Press |isbn=978-1-933330-53-2}}</ref> is a 1966 Japanese [[Drama (film and television)|drama film]] directed by [[Seijun Suzuki]]. It is based on the novel ''Kenka erejii'' by Takashi Suzuki.<ref name="jmdb" /><ref name="kj" /><ref>{{cite web |url=https://kotobank.jp/word/%E3%81%91%E3%82%93%E3%81%8B%E3%81%88%E3%82%8C%E3%81%98%E3%81%84-688621 |title=けんかえれじい |website=Kotobank |language=ja |access-date=27 December 2020}}</ref>
==Plot== Kiroku Nanbu is a Catholic teenager attending a military-tooled middle school in 1935 [[Bizen, Okayama|Bizen]], [[Okayama]]. Living in a boardinghouse, he is infatuated with his landlady's chaste daughter, Michiko. Unable to express his feelings or his sexual desire, Nanbu turns to violent behaviour.
Taken under the wing of schoolmate Turtle, 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 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 [[Aizuwakamatsu]], [[Fukushima Prefecture|Fukushima]] 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 radical political activist [[Ikki Kita]], whom he had met briefly in a tea house, and, reinvigorated, marches on to join in the [[February 26 Incident]].
==Cast== * [[Hideki Takahashi]] – Kiroku Nanbu * Junko Asano – Michiko * [[Yūsuke Kawazu]] – Turtle * Mitsuo Kataoka – Takuan * Chikako Miyagi – Yoshino Nanbu * [[Isao Tamagawa]] – Principal of Kitakata J.H.S. * Keisuke Noro – Kaneda * [[Asao Sano]] – Kondo * Hiroshi Midorigawa – Ikki Kita * Seijiro Onda – Kiroku's father
==Production== Takashi Suzuki's novel was adapted by filmmaker [[Kaneto Shindō]]. During filming, Suzuki took many liberties with Shindō's script, adding scenes such as Nanbu's meeting with Ikki Kita and the violation of Michiko.<ref name="Criterion">{{cite web |url = https://www.criterion.com/current/posts/352-fighting-elegy |title = Fighting Elegy |access-date = 2007-09-04 |last = Rayns |first = Tony |authorlink = Tony Rayns |date=10 January 2005 |publisher = [[The Criterion Collection]]}}</ref>
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, in which Nanbu joins the army and dies in battle in China, but the project was cancelled after Suzuki was fired by [[Nikkatsu]] after his next film ''[[Branded to Kill]]''.<ref name="Criterion" />
==Legacy== ''Fighting Elegy'' was screened at the [[Museum of Modern Art]] in 2005,<ref name="moma">{{cite web|url=https://filmthreat.com/uncategorized/masters-of-japanese-cinema-at-moma/ |title=Masters of Japanese Cinema Opens at MoMA |website=Film Threat |date=8 September 2005 |access-date=22 July 2023}}</ref> at the [[Harvard Film Archive]] in 2016<ref>{{cite web|url=https://harvardfilmarchive.org/calendar/fighting-elegy-aka-the-born-fighter-2016-05 |title=Fighting Elegy AKA The Born Fighter |website=Harvard Film Archive |date=25 May 2016 |access-date=22 July 2023}}</ref> and at the [[Berkeley Art Museum and Pacific Film Archive]] in 2022.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://bampfa.org/event/fighting-elegy |title=Fighting Elegy |website=BAMPFA |date=November 2022 |access-date=22 July 2023}}</ref>
==References== {{Reflist}}
==Further reading== * {{cite book |last=Thompson|first=Nathaniel|title=DVD Delirium: The International Guide to Weird and Wonderful Films on DVD; Volume 3|year=2006|publisher=FAB Press|location=[[Godalming]], England|isbn=1-903254-40-X|page=221}}
==External links== * {{Rotten Tomatoes|fighting_elegy}} * {{IMDb title|0060586}}
{{Seijun Suzuki}}
[[Category:1966 films]] [[Category:1966 black-and-white films]] [[Category:1966 drama films]] [[Category:Japanese black-and-white films]] [[Category:Films based on Japanese novels]] [[Category:Films directed by Seijun Suzuki]] [[Category:1966 Japanese-language films]] [[Category:Nikkatsu films]] [[Category:Films with screenplays by Kaneto Shindo]] [[Category:Films set in Okayama Prefecture]] [[Category:Films set in Fukushima Prefecture]] [[Category:1966 Japanese films]] [[Category:Films set in 1935]] [[Category:Films set in 1936]] [[Category:Japanese drama films]]