Streaming Sleepers: Shunichi Nagasaki’s BLACK BELT Is A Martial Arts Spiritual For The Ages
It’s times like this when I look back on the year, 2007, and wish I still had a computer then. I still had a nascent little blog and some years later, I would finally… FINALLY get around to seeing Shunichi Nagasaki’s period drama, Black Belt (a.k.a. Kuro-Obi [黒帯]), written by Joji Iida (Spiral, Dragon Head). I hadn’t seen any of Nagasaki’s work prior or after, and by then I was already steeped in Asian film fandom with only so much money to spend on DVDs and, like most Westerners, very little access to certain obscure titles.
That this particular film ultimately suffered the blow of getting torrented to all hell was probably evident, though still unfortunate, and for all I know, it probably slowed down the film’s traction here in the states, save for a quiet DVD release via Tokyo Shock in 2008 and a little bit of buzz from niche sites, and a review via Variety’s Eddie Cockrell, who called the film “A thinking person’s martial-arts saga”; I should also add that Tokyo Shock was a subsidiary of Media Blasters at the time, and that makes me all the more thankful this company existed at the time it did, especially at the Suncoast outlet I went to before they shuttered their Herald Square location in New York City back in 2006.
Furthermore, that the last several years Media Blasters has spent rebounding and reformatting its operations during the pandemic made for quite the interesting observation, with Black Belt getting a fresh re-release on Blu-Ray as of last Fall (sans the Tokyo Shock co-sign), and from this week, a spot on the free, ad-supported streamer, Tubi… it’s pretty damn good news for anyone who has had their eye on this film for the longest time and might be only just now discovering its availability under one circumstance or another. Not to mention, it’s a terrific piece of work with a cast and a concept that, several years later, a modest lifestyle following online via YouTube.
As for the film, Cockrell is especially correct. I personally place the film right next to something like the first two Karate Kid films, as well as titles like David Mamet’s poignantly riveting Redbelt, and even Alex Ranarivelo’s Born A Champion and Xu Haofeng’s cerebral cinematic works such as The Final Master, The Sword Identity and Judge Archer; One characteristic of some of these movies is that they place their respective protagonists into seemingly insurmountable situations with all the “all-go-no-quit” gumption they can muster, with no choice but to defend what they love most. The struggle they face is hugely introspective, and all the more painful enough to strike a chord with audiences, compelling viewers to sympathize and get behind these protagonists as they fight to build themselves back with everything they can.
Such is what we get with the ensuing drama as it unfolds in 1930s Japan, between a trio of devout Karate students – Giryu (Akihito Yagi), Taikan (Tatsuya Naka) and Choei (Yuji Suzuki) – and their aging Sensei, Shibahara (Yosuke Natsuki). Cornered at their remote dojo by the Japanese military with orders to forego their land, Choei is attacked by the Captain without warning, initiating a brutal confrontation between several soldiers, and Sensei’s two remaining students, Giryu and Taikan.
From this point on, the remainder of the story elucidates the respective journeys of both Giryu and Taikan, and how it reflects on their love for the martial arts. Tragedy strikes and the trio soon finds itself uneventfully split when the largely non-violent Giryu is attacked by the Captain’s children as an act of vengeance and is left for dead, while the other two must march on under imperial orders and set up shop to train the military.
With Giryu in uncertain exile and recovering thanks to a peasant family that takes him in, he bides his time with farmwork and meditation. Meanwhile, Taikan, as instrumental as he’s become to the military in its campaign to assimilate other dojos, merely sees it as a chance to advance his own station as a martial artist, all but abandoning his Sensei’s strict defense-only teachings, and going as far as killing the opponents he faces.
Between Giryu’s ruminations and the actions of a small crew of military-backed gangsters using a casino as a front to prostitute young daughters, kidnapped and taken from impoverished debtors as recompense, Giryu resigns to help rescue Kenta’s (Arashi Fukasawa) teenage sister, Hana (Narumi Konno). However, one girl turns into a haul of the whole lot, and Giryu is soon warranted under the death penalty by corrupt military commander, Goda.
When word of the contract gets to Taikan and Choei, despite Taikan’s reluctance, it’s right then that the trio are reunited to share a fate that, while cruel, will either make or break them as purveyors of the fighting arts they dedicated their lives to. The contest? A bout between Giryu and Taikan – dueling opposites of one another, with Choei serving as mediator. The prize? Sensei’s withering, unraveling black belt, handed down from generations of previous wearers as a symbol of the spiritual purity the color represents.
Lead actors Yagi and Naka didn’t really bother continuing to pursue careers in movies after this film, save for a their own respective screen credits in reunion with Nishi Fuyuhiko directing for titles like the Rina Takeda-led High Kick Girl and Karate Girl, and Tsukasa Kishimoto’s Dancing Karate Kid. It’s sobering to take in, although similarly, it makes a film like Black Belt all the more worth appreciating. Their performances are stellar with a chemistry that fully exudes some of their best dramatic work. Extending this even further is Natsuki’s portrayal of the Sensei. You can feel the weight of the burden he feels just as Choei confides him about something personal to the point where all three students must tend to him on his deathbed.
Naka, nowadays a 7th dan Shotokan master, absolutely shreds the role of Taikan on screen. He brings an importance sense of nuance to the character that, while disturbing and vile as his actions are, remind you that he’s not simply the villain of the story. Like Giryu, his only goal is to live out his martial arts on the path of self-discovery, and it’s only through fighting, until the moment he faces off with Giryu, that he will get to truly test himself beyond his Sensei’s forbidden punches and kicks.
The action sequences themselves are more than impressive, and above all else, invoke an excitement that can only be drawn from watching the techniques performed in a fight scene be executed with instinct, and spritely fervor. It’s indicative of the kind of action that I loved watching prior to this film, as seen in Wheels On Meals (1984) and Special Forces (2003), home to two of my favorite conclusive movie fight scenes, with credit on the latter going to Akihiro “Yuji” Noguchi – formerly of Alpha Stunts – otherwise continuing to work on other films, just as he does here alongside Fuyuhiko who serves as the film’s martial arts co-ordinator, as well as co-star in the role of Sensei Togo; His fight scene opposite Taikan results in a character on the receiving end of a brutal kick to the head, which purely illustrates the level of brutality there is in the space Taikan is willing to occupy, all for the sake of being stronger. As reserved as he is, he’s drunk with power whether he knows it or not, and is fully resigned to it otherwise. The film culminates with an exciting black-and-white showdown between Giryu and Taikan that goes from grade-A techniques to downright rolling in the dirt and hitting each other with as much blunt force as possible. The second Giryu throws his first punch is the most gripping fight scene moment of the film, the one shot that encapsulates the rest of the fight scene just never lets up.
In the years since I’ve seen, and continue to see this film, it’s been an interesting period seeing all the opinions that have surfaced about it. A lot of us Westerners who watch these movies have had a notion about martial arts action cinema that unless the fight scenes look like something out of a Gordon Chan or an Isaac Florentine flick, that it didn’t meet the demand. Some would even go as far as trashing a film if its actors didn’t perform barnburner stunt sequences fresh from a Sahamongkol Film production or perform Boyka-level feats without wires or else it somehow emasculated the movie’s action.
To this end, I keep wondering if we’ll ever get to see internet action wunderkind Vlad Rimburg direct a feature iteration of his Osu short films, as they’re also partly inspired by this film. It definitely speaks to the fandom a bit on the question of what bodes as a “good martial arts movie” seeing what Black Belt does for fans or those familiar with Karate, much in the way of more spectacular undertakings like Ip Man, Ong Bak, Merantau and even João Daniel Tikhomiroff’s criminally underdiscussed Besouro (a.k.a. The Assailant) – all done years after America’s exposure to the ballyhoo of hits like Kickboxer, Bloodsport and The Perfect Weapon, and Sheldon Lettich’s iteration of Capoeira in Only The Strong (I can hear the jokers in the back of the class screeching at me about me not listing Gymkata here… Shut up.)
At any rate, the last fifteen or so years have been a teachable time as a fellow fan of the genre, as it’s made me realize the importance of learning about these films as often as I could for my own fulfillment, so as to become a voice for their posterity going forward. Understandably, that’s not necessarily something everyone has to do, or can do, really. It’s all just up to the viewer, and guys like me, well, all we can do is hope that the crowd listens to reason and adheres to more critical thinking and analysis. Because, it is worth the effort if it means getting to enjoy a movie for more than it is, and rest assured, Black Belt, a film that stands as one of the most pensive, provocative and hardest-of-hardcore martial arts spirituals ever shot on film, is no exception.
Black Belt is currently available on Blu-Ray in the United States from Media Blasters, and is now available on the free, ad-supported streamer, Tubi.
Native New Yorker. Been writing for a long time now, and I enjoy what I do. Be nice to me!