User Reviews

I am probably the only person to think this, but I would rather watch this unseen boxing film than the universally appraised Rocky. Rocky was released a year prior, and there are countless similarities. Terayama improves on the source film ten-fold, and turns the story into a gripping, tense and enjoyable sports movie.

The story concerns a boxer which has just been told he should give up the profession. The day before, he accidentally kills a man at at a construction site. He approaches the brother of the victim, who was a boxing master years ago, to train him to become the next boxing champion.

I found the training montages (what everyone loves about Rocky), to be the best part of the film. By using the industrial landscape, desolate train tracks, open roads and concrete bridges, Terayama turns a polluted deteriorating city into something stylised and memorable. The story is incredibly predictable, limiting his typical insane aesthetic, although all of his other auteur techniiques are there. Mainly awesome music, an alternating colour palette, train tracks, and a Fellini influence. No clocks though...

For me, it's his third best film (Pastoral being first, Throw Away Your Books being second and Farewell to the Ark being fourth), but not to be missed at all.

Shuji Terayama's "Bokusa" was released shortly after the iconic film "Rocky" was unleashed upon the World, but this very Eastern film is hardly A "Japanese Rocky." It's many artistic, and sometimes avant-garde touches could not be more different from the style of that American produced film. Down on his luck Hayato, (the legendary Bunta Sugawara) is living a desolate life in a flophouse, slowly drinking himself to death, after his promising career as a champion boxer, crashes, when he suddenly decided to "quit boxing...." right in the middle of an important match. Fast forward a decade, and the story finds Hayato seeking revenge upon the young man that killed his brother, quite possibly intentionally, during a mishap on a construction site. The boy responsible, Kentaro, is an up and coming boxer who lacks the talents of the older man. An uneasy relationship develops between the men, when Kentaro convinces the washed up Hayato to train him, and mold him into a champion. That's the premise. The two men begin to form a kind of "father and son connection," as the grueling training process unfolds. But where a Western movie will tend to go for a sappy and sentimental angle, this strange production enters unfamiliar territory...unfamiliar at least, for a boxing movie. Art and boxing won't always blend well, unless you have a Master like Terayama behind the camera. He manages to incorporate the surreal touches that are synonymous with his name; the garish, artificial color schemes, which give the film a beautiful and odd look, the wild camera angles, as well as the inclusion of some truly bizarre characters, who seem like they have stepped out of some alternate reality. These touches are great, but they might diminish the emotional impact of the story, by alienating the viewer. Japanese cinema is truly art, that uses imagery, and not just a script, to tell a story. "Bokusa" still delivers what we expect from a boxing film, such as the adrenaline pumping training sequences, and the violent, exciting fight scenes, not to mention an unforgettable soundtrack that is unique and sometimes haunting, but always compliments the visuals. "Bokusa" is sadly and unjustly unavailable to Western audiences, but when you see it,you might understand why no American film distributor picked it up, as it is a very Eastern film that won't connect with everyone. But for fans of this genre, that are willing to take a gamble on something different, this is definitely worth tracking down. The only other film from director Shuji Terayama, that got general release in the West, was the erotic film "Fruits of Passion" with Klaus Kinski. The two films have many similarities, visual and otherwise.

Say okay let's take everything that is Rocky and make it more Japanese but only better because Japanese people have style and looking fortunately is very very very American siletz removal the American of Rocky and let's give it a more Japanese eastern-style years and then we have all these beautiful things chords the movie if Rocky wouldn't exist this movie would be great but unfortunately for this movie Rocky does exist or thank you God and then we can only agree to acknowledge that it is easy to see let the realization of defect performs itself within the depths of the inner sides how's the boxer by this creates director from the East did Matt some or whatever his name is and it's of course a beautiful thing everything about the movie is great because he does is beautiful music and his beautiful singing the beautiful inside and acting and everything about the movie is great then I can move very much it is to I fell asleep during the movie almost or even a little bit that tells because I hadn't slept much previews day but the movie itself is great you should all see it it's beautiful beautiful like Alana summers day inshallah and all these crazy things yes yes yes

Director Shuji Terayama was an established figure in sports commentaries and therefore was able to reach the members of the public who weren't into art. He became known as a commentator on boxing and horse racing, and in fact, was himself an avid boxer, thinking that by training he'd learn more about life.

His 1977 movie The Boxer, obviously inspired by the American blockbuster Rocky released one year prior, is the most "normal" of his films. The story is a rudimentary underdog tale and is played out mostly straightforward. That doesn't stop Terayama from injecting some of his trademark artsy touches here and there, which just makes this film more interesting and unique.

The soundtrack is excellent and the setting is very interesting. Even though the story is set in a deteriorating industrial town, Terayama is able to find some beauty into it, introducing some wonderful surreal locations, quirky characters and kick-ass training montages. This time, the color filters are limited to a single location (a bar), and some shots are just breathtaking, like the one of the girl in red next to a phone booth on the sea shore. Excellent film, very underrated and under- seen.