In the midst of a match, a successful boxer - Hayato, has had enough of the sport. He lets himself get knocked, quits boxing, leaving his wife and start living alone with his mangy dog. One day a young mediocre boxer knocks at the door and wants to be Hayato's apprentice.
Bunta Sugawara Kentarō Shimizu Masumi Harukawa Hiroko Isayama Juro Kara Yōsuke Natsuki Shoichi Ozawa Keiko Niitaka Yasushi Suzuki Yoko Ran Akira Ōizumi Yuka Kamebuchi Hiroshi Nawa Pancho Meguro Tokishi Sasada Namiko Tainaka Yutaka Nemoto Toshiyuki Tsuchiyama Takashi Hio Akira Kuji Seiya Satō Tatsuya Kameyama Gōzō Sōma Teruo Shimizu Satoshi Kurihara
Japan
Japan
Less Rocky than Tokyo Fist, and more Cockfighter than either; bloodsport-as-noir spiral, redemption inextricable from downfall, and all the HARD WORK, DEDICATION the sport requires is given its full Sisyphean weight. I like the friction between the sports/genre film confines and Terayama's perpetual tendency to branch outward symbolically and overstuff cerebrally--he engages with the sport's national history via repurposed archival footage without losing his plot or thesis. And all genre notes/studio interference aside, Terayama kicks around an almost non-narrative loser-and-his-dog neorealism for as long as possible before belatedly hitting some plot beats--and even then, in the obligatory training montage for example, he's still maintaining his striking imagery and raw, urgent location shooting. Plus his knowledge of the fight game can't be faked, and that extends all the way to the philosophy that girds it.
Another knockout
I'm convinced at this point that, yeah, Terayama's almost definitely a top 10 for me, 10 shorts and 3 features into his work. I'm actively avoiding Pastoral and Farewell to the Ark for a while because I just know they're gonna be up there as excellent movies -- Throw Away Your Books instantly jumped up to my #11 of all time on first watch back in March which really is something. I can't stop thinking about the guy and I'm glad I got to watch this for his birthday.
As most have noted it's definitely Terayama's most straightforward and understandable movie but it's not without its own bits of transgression or uniqueness so don't let it be a…
Terayama's Boxer is easily his most accessible work to get into his Filmography because of the normal passing of the film, and it's having a relatively simple and effective plot structure with a pretty decent boxing story too.
I have been diving deep into Terayama's films these past couple of months, and it mainly has to do with how out there a lot of his shorts are watching them makes you feel dumb for even trying to understand them and even Laura from 1974 makes fun of the viewer for watching Art House films, Boxer feels like a film could be taken out of context of Texas filmography and be a well known boxing film, and it is a shame not much people know about movie because it is a pretty captivating film with interesting characters and relatively normal film for Terayama's standards.
Part of my Japanese New Wave Top 200
New wave Rocky? Since this was released the year after Rocky Balboa entered the ring, comparisons between the two films are inevitable. It is no wild guess that Toei studios wanted to capitalize on the success of Rocky on the Japanese market by creating their own domestic equivalent. How they got avant-garde legend Shūji Terayama on board I’m not sure, but apparently he was very interested in boxing. Anyway, Boxer is Terayama’s only foray into mainstream filmmaking. It is said to have been a frustrating experience for him due to studio interference, but the resulting film is solid.
At the heart, this is a relatively straightforward boxing-drama, but Terayama pushes it towards…
Watched at the Barbican Centre, London with the Japanese Avante-Garde and Experimental Film Festival.
Boxer was my first Shuji Terayama film and, perhaps, an odd place to start his filmography, given how it's mostly a genre piece bereft of the director's more avant-garde tendencies. Yet, between one Rocky-inspired montage and the other, it's easy to see an incredible sensitivity pervading Boxer.
Terayama has a keen eye for social realism, crafting a story that is first and foremost about working-class masculinity and all of the pitfalls that come with it: violence, alcoholism, loneliness, poverty. At the same time, the film has a somewhat poetic gaze, often lingering on landscape shots or capturing serendipitous moments of quietude.
It may sound like this is a potpourri of different styles and sensitivities, and it kind of is, but somehow they all work together in creating a wonderful, frightening and emotional portrait of two deeply haunted characters.
Shūji Terayama can do no wrong. Even within the confines of a big studio (Toei) and a Rocky rip-off, he brings his genuine real-life interest in sports commentary and sheer style into this film. Watch this and wonder why every major studio can’t be lit in psychedelic colors. Why can’t the MCU use less CGI and watch more Kenneth Anger? A24 films look like Netflix-productions compared to Terayama’s colors.
I prefer Terayama weirder - with sexuality, artistic violence, and his trademark trauma, but this uses his regular actors to craft a human story. I just saw the aged boxer (played by Bunta Sugawara) recently in “The Man Who Stole the Sun.” I don’t think that would the be the best…
Nippon November III: October Is Still November 22/30
so proud of you teriyama for making an entire feature length film without a single sexual assault xoxo
I suppose there was some Rocky, but where was Terayama? I think he took a dive.
Probably the best boxing film ever made. Once again Terayama illustrates how any film and subject gets better with an addition of artistic visuals.
See the ranking of this film and all others I've seen this year here!
The Chickens of Shuji Terayama
Boxer begins and feels the least like a Terayama work until he adds some of his signature color. That color is really the only aspect that lets you know that it was directed by Terayama. Terayama reminds me of David Lynch. Both have had a lot of success with different kinds of artistry. David lynch with painting, short experimental films, films, television, and music; Terayama with plays, novels, essays, poetry and haiku, short experimental films, films, music, and screenplays for radio, television, and film.
I enjoyed the different types of training used for the training montages. The music doesn't fit well during the first training montage, but it sounds interesting. It uses horns and reminds…
