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Thu, September 09, 2010
SHINJUKU INCIDENT
by Greg Lynch Jr.
 Part of being an artist is to constantly challenge yourself as an artist.
You try new things. You find different ways of exploring your ideas and
presenting them. Until you become successful at your art; then, it's
all about maintaining the status quo. Your drive to expand your creativity
might still be there, but your legions of fans want you to continue to produce
the art that brought you to the public's attention. If you are Stephen
King, you better continue to churn out horror novels. People didn't want
to hear Neal Young sing Techno as he did on the album "Trans."
This seems to be especially true if you are an actor. John Wayne made a
career out of playing western heroes. Cary Grant was suave and sophisticated
in a slew of movies. Sylvester Stallone spent a lot of time hitting
people.
But when actors turn away from their niches, audiences tend to turn away
from them. When Jim Carry veers away from comedy into movies like THE NUMBER
23 or THE MAJESTIC, he gets little traction with his fans. Stallone had to
return to the boxing ring and the jungles to recharge his career after forays
into COPLAND. People want to see their stars at their iconic best. Actors have
a need to try new things.
This is the point where Mr. Jackie Chan finds himself. He no longer wants
to be referred to as simply comedy action star, he wants to be taken
seriously. As he has said in interviews, he wants to be looked at as an actor
like Robert DeNiro.
To that end comes the film SHINJUKU INCIDENT. Released last year in Asia,
with the exception of the People's Republic of China, it is now making it
to the United States courtesy of Barking Cow Productions, the same company
that released THE MYTH in the United States.
The story takes place primarily in Shinjuku, one of the 23 special wards of
Tokyo, home to the highest concentration of registered foreign nationals of
any community in Japan. Mr. Chan, as the character "Steelhead," has
traveled from his rural community in China to discover what happened to his
fiancée, Xiu Xiu, after she emigrated to Japan. He ends up in the Shinjuku
area surrounded by other illegal Chinese immigrants. In order to survive,
Steelhead takes on the messy jobs that citizens of developed nations around
the world leave to people on the margins of their society. As Officer Kitano
(played by Naoto Takenaka) points out during a raid against the
illegal aliens: "Why are we getting rid of them? They are doing
the jobs no one else wants to do."
At first Steelhead resists the temptation of easy money offered by the
Yakuza gangs that infest Shinjuku. But when he finds out that Xiu Xiu, played
by Xu Jinglei, has partnered with the gangs, his aversion wanes and he becomes
a Yakuza enforcer. He goes to work for Eguchi, played by Masaya Kato, of the
Sanwai Kai. Steelhead rises far and fast, eventually ruling the Shinjuku
nightclubs. Ostensibly, Steelhead becomes boss to help the Chinese immigrants
to a better life. He hopes that some day they can all be citizens with lawful
employment. But it's not to be. While Steelhead pursues his dreams, his
gang cannot resist the lure of easy money. The Japanese members of Sanwai Kai,
with the exception of Eguchi, don't like the immigrants' power in what
they consider their district. The clash between the two forces is
inevitable.
It's a great story hearkening back to the Warner Brothers gangster
films of the 1940s and 1950s. You can see Shinjuku incident as a direct
descendant of films like WHITE HEAT and SCARFACE with their tales of an
immigrant's rise to power. The players give subtle nods to the films THE
GOOD, THE BAD, AND THE UGLY and the ultimate family gangster film THE
GODFATHER. At one point Eguchi makes an offer that can't be refused.
Stylistically, the film is very staid. There are a few times when the film
reaches intrusive by going into hyper slow motion for the death scenes or
using frenetic cutting during the fight scenes, but it's mostly
put-the-camera-down-and-let-the-story-play-out.
Although the mantra for the film is "no kung fu," there is still
plenty of action. The fights appear very authentic with lots of confusion
during the battles. When Steelhead rushes to defend Lily, played by Fan
BingBing, he flails around with the pipe, missing as often as he hits.
It's how you would expect a fight to play out if you were fighting for
your life. In the fights, anything goes in order to win. You throw rocks. You
toss chairs. If you have to push a locker down the stairs to defend yourself,
you do it. Although the ballet of choreographed kung fu is absent, it's
not missed.
The whole world of the film plays very realistically. Do the Yakuza really
act as portrayed in this film with the Old Guard in traditional garb calling
the shots for the young warring factions of their gang? Who knows: but
it feels real and adds depth to the picture. You believe in world-weary
Officer Kitano. You empathize with the struggles of the immigrants as they
pick through the garbage at the dump or work cleaning the sewers.
The one false note in the picture is Steelhead. As an immigrant struggling
to find his fiancée, he's completely believable. You believe in Steelhead
running to protect his compatriots or nobly turning away from the lure of fast
money. When he makes the transition to mobster, it plays falsely. One could
argue that Steelhead is a good guy doing whatever he can to help his
compatriots. But after Steelhead's betrayal, he's supposed to be dead
inside. You want him to abandon his morals and do anything it takes to get
ahead. You expect to see the meanness. You want him to inspire fear in those
around him. You fear DeNiro and Pacino when they get angry. When Clint
Eastwood says he has come here "to kill you, Little Bill," you
believe him. You don't fear Steelhead. He does all the things that should
make you respect and fear him, but you don't really feel in jeopardy from
the character. In one telling scene, Steelhead gets jumped by the younger
members of his own gang. They don't recognize him and he doesn't
project enough menace to make them step back. Of course, if you want him to
seem horrified by his actions, show that. That would be another level of
complexity for the character, if when he kills, he were to show remorse.
Steelhead doesn't. He has the same temperament he had when he cleaned up
the dump.
If you want to see a more believable depiction of character change, look no
further than Daniel Wu's character, Jie. Jie is the innocent who is too
nervous for the criminal life. He befriends Steelhead when he arrives. Jie
shows Steelhead how the Shinjuku underworld operates and helps him survive.
Jie's big goal in life is to have a chestnut cart. But after a horrifying
ordeal, Jie embraces all that is wrong with the world around him. He does
drugs. He corrupts the recent immigrants put in his charge. He rules by fear.
He is dynamite waiting to explode. When he confronts the other characters, you
do fear what he will do.
In the end, this is not the film that will make you forget Robert DeNiro
and laud Jackie Chan. Perhaps indicative of how little people want to see
Jackie Chan outside his assigned box - despite his star power - fewer
than half the 500 theater seats were filled for this free screening of the
film. Then again, the fact that it was up against the premiere of LOST on
television might have had something to do with it. You would think a star of
Mr. Chan's caliber would have the draw to fill a theater with one of his
new releases.
It took a long time for Jackie Chan to crack the American mainstream
audience. In the end, he did succeed. Now, his uphill battle is for people to
simply accept him as an actor in all kinds of films. As Jackie Chan said after
a great reception for the movie at the Hong Kong Film Festival, "Last
night's premiere was exciting, but I'm still wondering if a normal
audience will accept it or not - because it's a really, really big
change for me."
The film opens in the United States on February 5 in eight cities across
the United States, targeting predominantly Asian markets. You can see the film
in New York, Los Angeles, San Francisco, Atlanta, Honolulu, Houston,
Ridgefield Park and Seattle. The first 500 film goers to the AMC theaters in
Los Angeles will receive a limited-edition poster from the Hong Kong
release.
Sony Pictures will distribute the DVD version in May. The DVD will come in
two flavors, one with subtitles and a version dubbed into English. Jackie Chan
will be doing his own dubbing on the English version. Jackie Chan will also do
some limited commentary tracks in English on the DVD.
Written by Greg Lynch Jr. for KUNGFUMAGAZINE.COM
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