268-269 Youth of the Beast and Fighting Elegy

[Martha]

Youth of the Beast



When a mysterious stranger muscles into two rival yakuza gangs, Tokyo's underworld explodes with violence. Youth of the Beast/i] (Yaju no Seishun) was a breakthrough for director Seijun Suzuki, introducing the flamboyant colors, hallucinatory images, and striking compositions that would become his trademark. The Criterion Collection proudly presents the film that revitalized the yakuza genre and helped define the inimitable style of a legendary cinematic renegade.

Special Features

- New, restored high-definition digital transfer
- Video interviews with director Seijun Suzuki and actor Joe Shishido, made by Nikkatsu in 2001
- Original theatrical trailer
- New and improved English subtitle translation
- PLUS: A new essay by film critic Howard Hampton

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Fighting Elegy



High schooler Kiroku Nanbu yearns for the prim, Catholic Michiko, but her only desire is to reform Kiroku's sinful tendencies. Hormones raging, Kiroku channels his unsatisfied lust into the only outlet available: savage, crazed violence. Fighting Elegy (Kenka Erejii) is a unique masterpiece in the diverse career of Seijun Suzuki, combining the director's signature bravura visual style with a brilliantly focused satire of machismo and fascism.

Special Features

- New, restored high-definition digital transfer
- Original theatrical trailer
- New and improved English subtitle translation
- PLUS: A new essay by renowned critic and historian Tony Rayns

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[Pinback]

Weren't there a bunch of posts in these threads? I was looking for the links to Matt's reviews of the discs...but there's nothing here.

[lord_clyde]

The only thing we can do is rebuild. . .

[Martha]

Weren't there a bunch of posts in these threads? I was looking for the links to Matt's reviews of the discs...but there's nothing here.

I'm not sure if you're thinking of some other reviews that Matt wrote-- the ones I can find at notcoming.com are by Rumsey (Rumz).

Either way, here they are:

Youth of the Beast

Fighting Elegy

[Sai]

Totally unknown to Suzuki or what kind of movies he made/makes I bought these two discs and was not disappointed. Youth of the Beast was a great thrill, with style oozing out of every shot. I also immediately liked Jo Shishido, who's face (hey, I'm a European, I couldn't tell Mifune and Shimura apart if one was holding a sword and the other was sitting on a swing ) gave him a lot of extra character. The story was just a weak excuse to put the scenes together, but who cares if the scenes are so immensely entertaining? And Fighting Elegy was even better. Perfectly blended kitsch, action, satire, comedy and drama. It continually tricked me into thinking it was hilariously bad, and then throwing another brilliant scene showing me just how wrong I was. Maybe I've never seen a movie change so swiftly and so effectively between 'A' and 'B' and between genres, and being so enormously great in the process.

Two questions: is the soldiers going into the tunnel after they tread on Michiko meant as a metaphor for rape? And secondly: after this experience I'd really like to watch some more Suzuki/Suzuki-style films, but I'm a bit appalled by the sub-par level of the Criterion releases of Branded to Kill and Tokyo Drifter. Any tips?

[lord_clyde]

The Criterion releases of Tokyo Drifter and Branded to Kill are worth it simply because the movies are so amazing. Besides better transfers, the new Suzuki discs aren't much better extras wise. HVE also released three Suzuki films to region 1 dvd that you can find fairly cheap:

Tattooed Life
Underworld Beauty
Kanto Wanderer

Welcome to the wonderful, wacky world of Suzuki, my friend.

[Steven H]

I loved Youth of the Beast. One thing, did anyone else notice the odd extra footage in the trailer? There's a closeup of the knife under the fingernail bit, and there is also a different view/shot of the last scene (when he confronts the scheming couple) with the "bad guy" wearing a yellow jacket instead of the coat he wears in the film.

Odd stuff!

[Jun-Dai]

The Tokyo Drifter transfer is not just sub-par, it's atrocious. Branded to Kill, on the other hand, while not good by today's standards, is still quite watchable. That said, I'm not getting rid of my copies any time soon.

[lord_clyde]

Not only are the transfers bad, but I am dissappointed in the lack of special features in general. I own every Suzuki dvd on region 1 and the most in depth special feature I've come across are the short interviews on the Criterion discs. Aren't there any sweet docs out there about the guy? I'm all for a double disc Branded to Kill reissue. (Fighting Elegy, Youth of the Beast, and the three discs put out by hve all have great transfers though)

[oldsheperd]

Hey, bad transfer or not. I'm all for a movie that has a guy shooting peas at his oppostion then roller skating away.

[Simon]

I really loved Fighting Elegy. The others Sukuzi films I've seen were funny, campy, and highly stylistics affairs, but they didn't have any real substance. This one really changed my mind about Suzuki, I used to think of him as a skilled cfatsman, not he's a real artist for me.

[richast2]

SPOILER for Youth of the Beast.


I was pretty much ready to damn this one with faint praise until the scene where Jo is dangling by his feet and gets into a gunfight. Now THAT was impressive.

[ShishidoJo]

I don't have anything to add to the discussion of either of these films, though I am curious about something. I was browsing The 45. Caliber Samurai, and found this picture. It's taken from a scene not present in the Criterion Collection release of Youth of the Beast and it's probably a production still. However, my question is this: does anyone know if any deleted scenes from the film exist? I remember Suzuki talking about having to cut a dancing scene from the movie because Nikkatsu didn't want the film to have nudity (which is odd, considering that not only did they leave the half-naked thrashed woman in the movie, they also featured it prominently in the trailer), so I'm figuring this is taken from that scene.

[dwk]

John Woo to direct remake of Youth of the Beast

[knives]

Fighting Elegy is secretly Suzuki's weirdest movie, at least of the ones Criterion has released, doing Love Exposure in brief right down to a Yojimbo style showdown of comically epic proportions inserted in fairly early on. There's so much going on here with so little time to consider it that it is hard on first viewing if there is a method to the madness particularly with regard to the sex obsessed presentation of christians. That it is a period film clarifies the intent as a Japanese equivalent to The White Ribbon, but beyond that I'm not sure.