Wednesday, April 9, 2014

Tokyo Fist (1995)


There's Enterprise (Japan)
Directed by Shinya Tsukamoto
My rating: 3 stars out of 4
IMDb
(DVD, Manga Entertainment)

A young door-to-door salesman slaves away in the hot streets of Tokyo. One day he is asked by his boss to give a bribe at a local boxing gym, where he meets a childhood friend with whom he shares a dark secret. Unable to satisfy his fiance, their relationship begins to disintegrate when she falls for his boxing friend. He decides to confront him by taking up boxing and is soon transformed by the demanding training regimen. His girlfriend undergoes a similar transformation through tattoos and body piercing. Tsukamoto exposes the dehumanizing effects of modern society through his main character, who uses boxing as a means of rebellion. Filmed in the director's instantly recognizable style consisting of hyper-kinetic action scenes overflowing with blood, this boxer becomes something almost inhuman. The girl follows suit, possibly motivated by a tragic incident in his past which occurred under a busy highway. Another fascinating film from one of modern Japan's masters of independent, rogue cinema.

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