A R O U N D T O W N 發光的城市 17 TAIPEI TIMES • FRIDAY, APRIL 3, 2009 aving built a reputation as a articulate genre director H through works such as One Nite in Mongkok (旺角黑夜, 2004) and Protege (門徒, 2007), Derek Yee (爾冬 SHINJUKU INCIDENT 陞) returns with Shinjuku Incident (新宿事件) (新宿事件), a crime drama about the plight of Chinese illegal immigrants DIRECTED BY: DEREK YEE (爾冬陞) in Japan that has been banned in China for its violent scenes. STARRING: JACKIE CHAN (成龍) AS Yee’s first collaboration with Jackie STELLHEAD, DANIEL WU (吳彥祖) AS JIE, Chan (成龍) is being hyped as the XU JINGLEI (徐靜蕾) AS XIU XIU, MASAYA action star’s first attempt at serious This time, Jackie Chan KATO AS EGUCHI, NAOTO TAKENAKA acting, as Chan plays a character AS KITANO fighting to survive in a dark, grimy and morally complex underworld. LANGUAGE: IN MANDARIN, Set in the 1990s, the film begins CANTONESE AND JAPANESE WITH when Chinese refugees are swept CHINESE AND ENGLISH ashore on a Japanese beach. Among RUNNING TIME: 119 MINUTES them is Steelhead (Chan), a simple, isn’t joking honest mechanic from northern TAIWAN RELEASE: TODAY China who has come to find his long- The Hong Kong funnyman and martial arts star’s first foray into lost love, Xiu Xiu (Xu Jinglei, 徐靜蕾). From migrant workers toiling Steelhead joins hometown pal serious acting has been banned in China for its gruesome scenes in sewer drains and landfills to the Jie (Daniel Wu, 吳彥祖) and other turf wars between rival gangsters, illegal immigrants in Tokyo’s BY HO YI each segment of this bulky narrative Shinjuku district, where they eke STAFF REPORTER is strong and gripping. Overall, out a meager living doing work that however, the film strikes one as a Japanese themselves are unwilling composite of discrete vignettes rather to do. After finding out that Xiu Xiu, than a cohesive whole. And while who now goes by the name Yuko, Yee is adept at eliciting raw, direct is married to Japanese gangster emotions through a melodramatic Eguchi (Masaya Kato), Steelhead form of storytelling that he deploys turns to crime to build a better life with great skill, he can overdo it. for himself. Some of his characters — such as But when Jie gets his hand cut the junkie played by Louise Koo (古 off after inadvertently falling afoul 天樂) in Protege — come off as overly of a Taiwanese gangster (Jack exaggerated caricatures. Kao, 高捷), Steelhead throws his lot There’s a fine supporting cast with Eguchi to protect his friends. that includes veteran Japanese Steelhead becomes the leader of a thespian Naoto Takenaka, Hong Chinese gang that is the governing Kong’s Lam Suet (林雪) and force of the underworld in Tokyo’s Taiwanese actor Kao, but Chan’s Chinatown, though he tries to performance is the main point of go clean by running legitimate interest. In this, his first foray into businesses. As rival yakuza syndicate serious acting, Chan puts aside his plot against his gang, Steelhead finds goofy charm and kung fu stunts and himself caught in a web of intrigue, makes a decent stab at acting purely avarice and betrayal. for dramatic effect. But he often As with Protege, his film about seems uncomfortable or perhaps drug trafficking that shows a deep even unable to express nuances understanding of the machinations of emotion or wear any look on of the criminal underworld, Yee his face other than one of grim spent years conducting research for stoicism, when so much more is Shinjuku Incident. Both movies needed for this film and its morally weave dramatic sentimentality ambiguous lead character. with tight action sequences and sudden spurts of gruesome violence, Without the slapstick and kung fu, Jackie which in the case of Shinjuku Chan, left, has trouble pulling off the range Incident involve a severed hand and of emotions that his role in Shunjuku Incident disfigured face. requires. PHOTOS COURTESY OF SONY PICTURES.