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1932, Japan. The Japanese government has invaded and occupied Manchuria. In an effort to prepare army recruits for future wars of conquest, exploitation, and occupation, the Japanese government has ordered the closure of traditional martial arts dojos, under the belief that only modern methods of instruction should be taught. When, however, the military police attempts to close the Shibahara Dojo, one of the students, Giryu (Akihito Yagi), defeats a sword wielding captain in a duel. Disgraced, the defeated captain commits suicide (offscreen), but the military police return soon after their sensei (Shinya Owada) dies, still intending to close down the dojo. This time, however, Giryu and the other two students, Taikan (Tatsuya Naka) and Choei (Yuji Suzuki), have been ordered to instruct new army recruits in karate. Before dying, the sensei entrusts Choei with safeguarding the sensei’s black belt and passing it on to the next sensei (i.e., the student or teacher who best exemplifies the sensei’s teachings).

On the road to the army camp, the disgraced captain’s children appear and attack Giryu. Refusing to use offensive techniques, Giryu allows himself to be defeated. With Giryu presumed dead, Taikan and Choei become karate instructors. Seduced by his position, as well as his first exposure to alcohol and women, Taikan allows himself to be manipulated by the local commander, defeating one dojo after another by using offensive techniques contrary to the teachings of his sensei. Giryu awakens in the house of a peasant farmer. Slowly recovering, Giryu helps the farmer tend his fields and other housework while developing relationships with the farmer’s pre-teen son, who worships Giryu, and the farmer’s teenage daughter. It’s not long, of course, before Taikan and Giryu’s paths cross again, not as fellow students, but as rivals, each representing a different approach to karate.

As characters, Taikan and Giryu aren’t particularly well defined. They appear in Black Belt as representatives of two different, diametrically opposed philosophies. Nagasaki and his screenwriter, Jôji Iida, obviously disfavor the rampant militarism of pre-World War II Japan, both in the depiction of the military police, especially the venal, self-serving commander, and Taikan’s slide into a militaristic mindset that places a premium on physical violence and domination over the self-defense principles espoused by their late sensei. There’s not much room for nuance, of course, but Nagasaki wasn’t going for nuance, at least not where Taikan was concerned. The nuance is all Giryu’s, but even there we know exactly what he’ll do and how Black Belt will end (i.e., with the obligatory knock-down, bone-crushing, tendon-tearing, fight scene).

While the storyline, character arcs, or themes in "Black Belt" doesn’t leave much room for the subversion of genre conventions, at least "Black Belt" delivers superb martial arts scenes. Be prepared, however, for inelegant, sloppy, and rough fight scenes, though, closer to what we’d see in the real world than in a typical martial arts film. Sometimes short, sometimes rough, but almost always brutal, the fight scenes are worth the price of admission alone. It helps, of course, that Nagasaki’s three leads all have a martial arts background (they’re actually master-level professionals) and that fight choreographer Fuyuhiko Nishi knows how to exploit their talents to maximum effect. Unfortunately, one of the leads, Yuji Suzuki (Choei), plays a relatively small part in the film, relegated to Taikan’s conscience (for reasons that are clear from the first scene on).

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originally posted: 05/03/08 15:00:00
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