Boxing Scene Between Ryusei Yokohama and Masataka Kubota in “Spring Scattering” As One of the Most Famous Scenes in the History of Cinema!

Kotaro Sawaki, who has created his own unique world in the field of nonfiction, serialized his work in the Asahi Shimbun as the culmination of his career. His novel “Scattered in Spring,” which was popular among people of all ages, has been made into a movie and released in theaters.

In this film, former boxer Jinichi Hirooka (Koichi Sato) returns to Japan after 40 years in the U.S. after losing an unfair decision. Shogo Kuroki (Ryusei Yokohama), a boxer who was also beaten by an unfair decision, is brokenhearted.

The two meet by chance at a bar, and eventually they challenge each other to a life-threatening fight to become world champions.

The 20-minute title match between Shogo and world champion Toshio Nakanishi (Masataka Kubota) is one of the most famous scenes in film history.

Matsuura Shinichiro, who has taught and supervised boxing in films such as “Love for 100 Yen” by Ando Sakura, “Ah, Wilderness” by Masaki Suda, “A Certain Man” by Kubota Masataka, and “Keiko Me no Sumimete” by Kishii Yukino, as well as this film, had given up on the idea that it would be difficult to visualize this work, but he has successfully adapted it into a film. The staff and cast of the film are nothing short of brilliant,” said a producer from a production company.

Masataka Kubota played the role of Nakanishi, the world champion. In Takashi Miike’s film “First Love” (’20), he is a professional boxer who finds out he has a brain tumor and throws himself into the underground world. In the film “A Certain Man” (’22), he plays a professional boxer who suddenly disappears, and his boxing career is well established. However, as for this film, which carefully depicts an epic world title match

“I accepted the offer with determination,” he recalls.

“I was prepared for it!”

On the other hand, the actor chosen to play the role of Shogo, who challenges the world champion, was a world champion in Kyokushin Karate when he was in the third grade of junior high school, and challenged kickboxing in the movie “Kimi no Hitomi ga Kikakeru” (’20). In the film “Kimi no Hitomi ga Kowashite” (’20), he tried his hand at kickboxing.

However, it was not only his physical prowess that attracted director Takahisa Zeze to the role of the young newspaper delivery man in the Netflix version of “Newspaper Reporter” (’22), and he was struck by Yokohama’s life-sized acting ability.

Yokohama plays Ryo Kinoshita, a job-hunting student who attends college while delivering newspapers, and unlike the film version, the Netflix version of “Newspaper Reporter” highlights the problems of modern society in a stimulating way from the perspective of the young man, Ryo. His raw performance was full of the charm that can only be found in Yokohama,” said the producer.

Director Naoto Fujii, who also directed the Netflix version of “Newspaper Reporter” and is a close friend of Yokohama’s, commented on Yokohama’s appeal.

I think the most attractive thing about Ryusei is his eyes. The fact that he can convey emotion in his eyes without having to explain it is one of the universal characteristics of acting.

It is one of the universal acting styles. His eyes are also very attractive in this film.

Shogo meets Jinichi and tries boxing again to regain the light. Before and after he meets Jinichi, he looks like a different person.

As he changes from a violent boxer who is selfish and quick to lose his temper to a fighter who fights for the good of those around him, the change from a wild look to a calm, deep look is nothing short of magnificent. But there is a secret to Ryusei Yokohama’s performance that makes him look as if he is possessed.

In an interview, Yokohama himself confessed, “Like Shogo, I have a strong sense of ‘I want to burn up every moment because it’s the only time I have'” and “I feel very sympathetic to Shogo, who lives each day desperately so that he will not regret it. I was able to play the role without feeling any discomfort,” he confessed in an interview.

Is Ryusei Yokohama “Shogo Kuroki” in the modern age? The climactic 20-minute scene of the world title match was filmed over a period of four days.

The filming of the first five rounds on the first day of shooting, we couldn’t just start shooting the sixth round the next day. In order to create a sense of realism, we would start filming again from rounds 4 and 5. Each time, I would get sweaty and tired. In the process, Shogo Kuroki himself stated, “I could feel through Shogo Kuroki that we could understand each other through fist-to-fist combat.

Then, something unusual happened during the 11th round, which was filmed on the final day. The structure and movements of the fight, which had been set before filming, were suddenly changed to ad-lib, in other words, a gachinko fight with no promises.

Shinichiro Matsuura, who served as boxing instructor and supervisor, asked the two fighters, “Why don’t we challenge each other without any promises? This was a risky scene.

Director Zeze recalls, “The two were so powerful that it was like watching a real fight. In fact, this was the answer to Yokohama’s request to make a boxing scene that Matsuura had never made before.

Maki Sakai, who played Shogo’s mother, witnessed the scene.

Maki Sakai, who played Shogo’s mother and witnessed the scene, said, “I couldn’t stop crying, because it was a scene that transcended acting and showed her putting her life on the line.

Kanna Hashimoto, who played the role of Kanako Hirooka, who was close to Shogo’s mother, said, “I couldn’t stop crying.

I was really overwhelmed by the spirit and tension that made it impossible to get close to him.

Koichi Sato, who plays Jinichi Hirooka, saw a preview of the film,

I didn’t feel it was long at all.

he emailed Yokohama.

Martial artists call their fights “works of art,” and they try to move people’s hearts by pouring everything they have into one match. The world title match in this film is a perfect “work of art” for Ryusei Yokohama.

He may be the one and only person who can play out the ideal man as portrayed by Kotaro Sawaki.