I bought this during last month's B&N Criterion Sale. The reasoning is weird and complicated: a year and a half or more ago, fye was selling off a bunch of its Criterions for a major discount and I got Fighting Elegy. I watched 15 minutes and thought it was great, but I got distracted and never finished it. It was enough to tell me Suzuki was a cool director, though, and I'm a sucker for cop/crime films, so I got this.
It's a pretty straightforward revenge thriller, but it's just so fucking cool. After a brief (mostly) B&W opening, Joe Shishido strides into the movie and it doesn't really let up. Lots of great supporting characters on both sides, and the whole thing is just knock-down, drag-out brutal in places (like a scene where they knife Shishido's finger, or the stunningly hateful torture of a crack addicted prostitute). Love the brief but very memorable fight where one participant is strung upside-down from a chandelier.
I also bought the Nikkatsu Noir box, and I'm excited to watch it when I have the time, and I also grabbed Branded to Kill, Tokyo Drifter, and Gate of Flesh following my viewing of Youth as part of the sale.
It's a pretty straightforward revenge thriller, but it's just so fucking cool. After a brief (mostly) B&W opening, Joe Shishido strides into the movie and it doesn't really let up. Lots of great supporting characters on both sides, and the whole thing is just knock-down, drag-out brutal in places (like a scene where they knife Shishido's finger, or the stunningly hateful torture of a crack addicted prostitute). Love the brief but very memorable fight where one participant is strung upside-down from a chandelier.
I also bought the Nikkatsu Noir box, and I'm excited to watch it when I have the time, and I also grabbed Branded to Kill, Tokyo Drifter, and Gate of Flesh following my viewing of Youth as part of the sale.
