每週影評：新宿事件

For my movie review this week, I'm focusing on the recent Hong Kong flick Shinjuku Incident by director Derek Yee, whose claim to fame is his knack for making excellent gangster films.

Shinjuku Incident is a typical gangster movie that stars action icon Jackie Chan. He plays the role of Steelhead, who illegally migrates to Tokyo, Japan, from a village in Northeast China in search of his girlfriend.

While working odd jobs in the bustling Shinjuku district, Steelhead offends the local Chinese gangs. In order to survive, he has to organize his co-workers into their own new gang.

Derek Yee reportedly spent 10 years collecting sources and stories about Chinese gangs in Japan, so to a certain degree the movie could give you a reliable portrait of the struggles and grievances of illegal Chinese immigrants in Japan.

The director doesn't filter out any of the darkness of the underbelly of Tokyo's gangs or the misery of illegal Chinese immigrants in the city. The result is a gritty film packed with violence and harsh realities throughout, but this was necessary to set the tone of the film.

Such a movie is also quite the opposite of Jackie Chan's previous works, suggesting a breakthrough in his acting career. Another brilliant performance comes from Daniel Wu, who delivers a genuine character whose personality is transformed by the violence he suffers at the hands of the gangs. But obviously, the director tries to portray so many characters in a two-hour drama that the result is an unbalanced and loose storyline. For instance, the only two actresses, Xu Jinglei and Fan Bingbing, do nothing more than look good and offer translating services.

All in all, the movie is worth a watch and is gripping mostly only due to the novel setting and unique historical background. It would be too foolish to believe everything the movie shows you, but it does give a glimpse into one particular group of people and their destinies.

On my movie scale between 1 and 10, I give Shinjuku Incident a 7.5.