Ironfinger (1965)

directed by Jun Fukuda

Japan

101 minutes

4 stars out of 5

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I've been watching a lot of movies that I truly enjoy without reviewing them for various reasons, so I wanted to at least do a quick review of this, which has been the most elusive film on my watchlist for quite some time. It's in the Criterion Collection, but I'm constantly surprised that, apart from being streamable on their subscription-only channel, you can't access it more readily. 

Jun Fukuda is perhaps better known for his Godzilla films, but I think I might actually like his work outside of the sci-fi genre better. He directs a lot of spy and spy-parody-type stuff, and his work always has a liveliness to it that makes it magnetically engrossing for even me, somebody who really doesn't care about spy movies. He's quite obviously a huge fan of James Bond, and Ironfinger is directly making fun of/paying tribute to Bond films, but the thing that makes is such an achievement is that it never feels like "just" a Bond parody - it's a movie all of its own that works even if, again, you've never seen and don't care about James Bond.

The most surprising thing about this, to me, was Akira Takarada's performance in the lead role. I guess I'd been watching too many yakuza films that featured him as this kind of stoic, inexpressive, usually doomed character to realize that he can play extremely dynamic roles like this one as well - and hit them out of the park. His character never stops moving and is generally always one step ahead of his pursuers, somehow. He isn't necessarily cunning or wily, but the universe of the film seems to bend towards getting him out of danger in the end - this didn't bother me, because literally everything is so larger than life and absurd in Ironfinger that the fact that the protagonist continually slips out of the grasp of danger despite limited resources at times didn't feel like a stretch. Your view of this might vary, and the ability of one guy to keep avoiding getting killed by, like, a dozen guys, who actually do capture him several times, might be too hard to accept for some. But you gotta roll with it. Anyway, Takarada is extremely funny without feeling forced, and brings depth and personality to his riff on a classic character who, to me as an outsider anyway, seems to have little personality as a rule. He also switches between three languages effortlessly the whole time, which was entertaining to watch.

The shortfalls here are largely the same as with any spy movie of the time: mostly misogyny. Mie Hama plays a girl well-versed in explosives who allies herself with all sides but is ultimately in the service of herself, and her role is also as fun and nutty as Takarada's lead, but she's written with less dimensionality and seems defined mostly by just being a girl. I don't want to repeat the mistakes of how her character was written by further reducing her, because she is integral to the plot, but she definitely is cut from the template of women characters who are there less for their abilities and more for the occasional half-nude scene. Although, to be fair, Takarada spends a great deal of time in nothing but boxers and socks, but I guess the difference is that he gets to do stuff in his skivvies, while Hama's bomb expert is pretty much stalled more the less clothing she has on.

I want to get back to what I said about this being more than just a Bond parody, because Fukuda's specific vibe is something that really takes effort to get right, and a lot of people don't. Everything that happens in this movie is so outlandish that it comes off, on paper, sounding like a bunch of silly fluff, while in practice, it's genuinely good. It's not something that made me feel like I had to suspend my disbelief, it just had me going along with it unquestioned because the way it's directed and put together is so spot-on that it never feels like it's stretching itself too far. It's got a loose, no-rules feeling, but to be able to establish that feeling and not tip the film over the edge into being inane is a feat.

I'm kind of astonished that anybody could call this "forgettable" and reduce it to simply being something shot between Godzilla films using recycled actors. It's just so much fun and is well-made too. If you had no idea that Toho still utilized their on-call practical effects wizards in things that don't involve Godzilla, this can be your introduction. I especially love the ending, where it looks like for all intents and purposes the effect of a bunch of guys getting creamed by oil drums was achieved by actually creaming a bunch of guys with oil drums. This is a movie that can't be pigeonholed, and I would recommend it if you can get your hands on it.