San suk si gin (2009)

User Rating:

7.3/10   

Director:

Tung-Shing Yee

Writers:

Tung-Shing Yee (written by) and
Tin Nam Chun (writer)

Release Date:

2 April 2009 (Hong Kong)

Genre:

Crime | Drama | Thriller

Plot:

In China, the poor worker Nick repairs tractors and misses his sweetheart Xiu Xiu, back in Japan, she having never sent any news to her family or him...

Plot Keywords:

Drug Dealing | Racist | Rescue From Drowning | Butcher Knife | Stabbed In The Neck

Cast

Jackie Chan	...	Steelhead
Naoto Takenaka	...	Inspector Kitano
Daniel Wu	...	Jie
Jinglei Xu	...	Xiu Xiu / Yuko Eguchi
Masaya Katô	...	Toshinari Eguchi
Tôru Minegishi	...	Koichi Muranishi
Jack Kao	...	Gao Jie
Kenya Sawada	...	Nakajima (as Kenya)
Hiroyuki Nagato	...	Hara Ooda
Yasuaki Kurata	...	Taro Watagawa
Bingbing Fan	...	Lily
Paul Chun	...	Uncle De
Suet Lam	...	Old Ghost
Kar Lok Chin	...	Hongkie
Ken Lo	...	Little Tai

Also Known As:

Shinjuku Incident (International: English title)
Xin Su shi jian (Hong Kong: Mandarin title)

Runtime:

120 min

Country:

Hong Kong

Language:

Cantonese | Mandarin | Japanese

Aspect Ratio:

2.35 : 1

Sound Mix:

Dolby Digital

Certification:

Hong Kong:IIB (cut) | Japan:R-15 | Australia:MA | Singapore:M18 | Singapore:NC-16 (edited version) | Hong Kong:III | South Korea:18 | New Zealand:R16 | China:(Banned) | Philippines:R-13 (MTRCB) (heavily cut)

Filming Locations:

China

Company:

JCE Movies

Power Changes People

In China, the poor worker Nick (Jackie Chan) works repairing tractors and misses his sweetheart Xiu Xiu (Jinglei Xu) that moved to Japan and has never sent any news to her family or him. While illegally emigrating to Japan, Nick loses his Chinese documents; therefore his journey would have no return to his country. He is welcomed by his countrymen that lodge and help him to find illegal work in Shinjuku. While running from a police raid in the sewage system where Chinese are illegally working, Nick saves Inspector Kitano (Naoto Takenaka) from drowning in the dirty water. Later, after an incident with his cousin Joe (Daniel Wu) and the Taiwan gang, Nick saves the powerful Yakuza boss Toshinari Eguchi (Masaya Kato) and husband of Xiu Xiu, who is now called Yuko and has a little daughter with Eguchi. The mobster offers a dirty job to Nick; in retribution, he promises to deliver the quarter dominated by the Taiwan gang to him. Nick becomes the boss of the Chinese illegal immigrants; however he loses control of his countrymen, leading the Chinese gang to a tragic end.

"San Suk Si Gin" is a surprisingly great Yakuza movie that discloses the raise and fall of a poor illegal immigrant with warming-heart in an environment of corruption, betrayal and greed. I dare to say that the storyline is very similar to 1983 "Scarface", now set in place in an exotic neighborhood. The anti-hero Jackie Chan is a contradictory man with good principles that loses his innocence in a hostile environment and is capable of murdering to improve his and his countrymen's lives. My only remark is the ridiculous Brazilian DVD released by the distributor Califórnia Filmes that does not offer the original languages (Cantonese, Mandarin and Japanese) but only awfully versions dubbed in English or Portuguese instead. My vote is seven.

Title (Brazil): "Massacre no Bairro Chines" ("Massacre in the Chinese Quarter")