Tokyo Fist

Starring:Kahori Fujii, Nobu Kanaoka, Naomasa Musaka, Tomorowo Taguchi, Naoto Takenaka, KÃ´ji Tsukamoto, Koichi Wajima
Studio: Manga Video
Product Type: DVD

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Shinya Tsukamoto is most famous for his two Tetsuo films, nightmarish tales of flesh fusing with metal in a hallucinatory metamorphosis that would give David Cronenberg pause. For Tokyo Fist, he leaves the technological transmutations for a bloody bout with flesh, muscle, and self-mutilation, a domestic melodrama gone schizophrenic and emerging as a cyberpunk boxing picture: Raging Bull meets Eraserhead in an all-out sensual assault. Insurance salesman Tsuda (played by Tsukamoto himself) is a social zombie numbed by his deadening job and in a static relationship with live-in fiancée Hizuru (Kahori Fujii), but he is jerked out of his stupor when a former schoolmate turned pro boxer blows into his life. Kojima (the director's real-life brother Kohji Tsukamoto) bullies Tsuda and puts the moves on Hizuru, like a repetition of a decades-old cycle of aggression, but this time Tsuda turns to the boxing club to beat his body into a match for his once and future rival. Tsukamoto's vision of modern Tokyo is an alienated world of disconnected citizens repressing raw emotion under a social veneer of manners and passivity. Uncork the emotions, and faces are pummeled into bloody pulp, boxers broken in the ring, bodies ritually pierced and tattooed... and then it gets weird. The film runs down before the conclusion, but until then it's an unbelievably visceral ride. --Sean Axmaker

Customer Reviews:

a very weird, very blueish, very noir japanese extreme movie .......2007-05-07

the triangle relationship, the phobia, the betrayal, the boxing revenge, fear, hatred, killing machine, transformation from a wimpy guy to a guy with a death wish, a normal girl unleashed herself into self-abusive body piercing and tatoo. soft flesh and hard muscle difference and desire. lush, lust, craziness, jealousy, desperation, haunted memory....these are all the stuff that the screenplay writers and the director had thrown into this weird, torture-chamber like viewing experience. messy like 'natural born killer', similar to 'fight club'. very pretentious and pointless too like 'bullet ballet'.

one of Tsukamoto's best.......2007-01-20

man this film was one hell of a ride. the cinematography was beautiful as always(the back & forth reel shots; the speeding shots throughout the city alleyways, reminiscent of Tetsuo & Bullet Ballet) the story was the director's best next to Vital, though i was much more impressed by the visuals particularly his intense imagery of boxing & all the ferociously shot scenes vigorously depicting men practicing in a boxing gym as if they're robots training for battle.

i was most impressed by Tsukamoto's brother's role in the film amongst the others. everyone delivered flawlessly, but he was beyond exceptional in playing the most mysterious character of the three. like i said before, the story was amazing & very unique, particularly the mystery surrounding Kojima & how the character serves as a bitter catalyst to the chaos that takes form around them.

the film was very unconvential & unpredictable, much like most of Tsukamoto's work & even though it is so story-driven, it still is one of the most abstract works the director has created. i really enjoyed how the characters of Tsuda & Kojima really looked a lot like eachother yet were, personality-wise, polar-opposites(yes, they're brothers in real life, but i think maybe Tsukamoto did that on purpose) the film feels a lot like it's one of the director's more personal works. it truly is a feast for the eyes & it lets people like myself feel good to know how great movies can be. it isn't anywhere as out there as the Tetsuo films, but if you are into them or any of Tsukamoto's work, then this is very worth checking out. i'd even put it up there as one of his top 3.

Not comparable to Fight Club.......2004-06-15

I just want to mention that although this movie is extremely good it is compared to Fight Club far too much. Everyone says it's the Japanese Fight Club, but the only similarity is that there happens to be some fighting in both movies. You might as well compare the next Van Damme movie to Fight Club. But if you are a fan of Japanese films you won't be disappointed. It might not be as wicked as The Iron Man or Visitor Q, but it's still really good.

Make sure you know who the creator is!.......2002-07-12

Thinking this was "just" a Japanese movie, I found Tokyo Fist anything but. Its raw unsubtle imagery -- not to mention over-the-top boxing "makeup", made me quite happy that I was watching this on an empty stomach. Yet, despite the human imagery of violence and spiraling downward, the sterility and facelessness of Tokyo itself is quite powerful -- more frightening, since it's the only part of the movie that doesn't seem impossible. The film is primarily shot in alienating, washed out blues, with red the primary visual for contrasting, jarring, color scenes. Sensibility and plot take a firm back seat to evocation and statement. It's kinetic, low-budget, and relentless, yet not at all preachy or pretentious.

It's not "Tetsuo", but good on its own merits.......2002-03-08

Truthfully, I'm not sure what the other reviews are complaining about: "Tokyo Fist" is arguably more coherent than "Tetsuo", although it's hardly a finely tuned plot. Nor are the goings-on more extreme than in "Tetsuo." The tattoos and piercings are not "ritual"; in fact, they're pretty direct self-mutilation and alteration. I really don't understand why this is slapped with "Warning: Adult Content" labels, because frankly, the American cinema has seen much worse.
The "Fight Club" paralells people draw are also very misleading; first of all, the plots are nothing alike. This is more similar to "Tetsuo" than anything else. Second, this is in terms of direction simply a better film. It's obvious Tsukamoto sat down and thought hard about how exactly he wanted each shot to be presented, whereas David Fincher tried to assault the senses by NOT thinking. It's not as digestible to American audiences, but them's the breaks.
Tsukamoto's distinct directorial style (there's even a little stop-motion here) is better defined here, especially his use of color. His "video game" style is very much present here, and while it's not for everyone, if you're interested in being challenged, it's probably for you. It's also a good lead-in to "Tetsuo", although the same warning there applies here: if you haven't sampled of David Cronenberg, David Lynch and a few other "perverse" filmmakers, I'd step carefully.

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