Fighting Elegy (Kenka ereji)
Directed by Seijun Suzuki
Written by Mitsutoshi Ishigami and Kaneto Shindo from a novel by Takashi Suzuki
1966/Japan
Nikkatsu
First viewing/Netflix rental

[box] Kiroku: Oh, Michikio, I don’t masturbate, I fight.[/box]

Something a bit different, but not better, from gonzo director Suzuki.

It is 1930’s Japan.  High school student Kiroku boards with a Catholic family and falls in love with daughter Michiko.  There is no relief for Kiroku’s sexual frustration so he vents his energy into bloody gang fights.  Eventually, Kiroku and his buddy align themselves with a right-wing organization in the background of a Japan that is becoming increasingly imperialistic and militarist.

Suzuki usually treats viewers to highly-stylized stories of contemporary yakuza violence. This film is also graphically violent but less stylized and with more of a message.  For me the whole thing was horribly marred by unnecessary comic relief.  I have found Japanese comedy rarely translates well and the comedian in this movie is of the stereotypical type that I find the most irritating.