San suk si gin (2009)

A simple Chinese immigrant wages a perilous war against one of the most powerful criminal organizations on the planet.

Director:

Tung-Shing Yee

Writers:

Tung-Shing Yee, Tin Nam Chun

Stars:

Jackie Chan, Naoto Takenaka, Daniel Wu

1 win & 6 nominations.

Cast

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

Storyline

In China, the poor worker Tietou repairs tractors and misses his sweetheart Xiu Xiu, back in Japan, she having never sent any news to her family or him. While illegally emigrating to Japan, Tietou loses his Chinese documents and so cannot return to his country. He is welcomed by his countrymen who lodge and work in Shinjuku where they also help him to find illegal work. While running from a police raid through the sewage system where Chinese are illegally working, Tietou saves Inspector Kitano from drowning in the dirty water. Later, after an incident with his cousin, Joe, and a Taiwan gang, Tietou saves the powerful Yakuza boss Toshinari Eguchi. He is the husband of Xiu Xiu, who is now called Yuko and are parents of a little daughter. The mobster offers a dirty job to Tietou; in retribution, he promises to deliver the quarter dominated by the Taiwan gang to him. Tietou becomes the boss of the Chinese illegal immigrants. But his peaceful methods make him unpopular and Tietou starts to...

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Plot Keywords:

gratitude | chinese | gang | japan | immigrant | 

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Taglines:

They destroyed his life... Now he'll destroy them all.

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Genres:

Action | Crime | Drama | Thriller

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Motion Picture Rating (MPAA)

Rated R for graphic violence, brief sexuality and drug use

Details

Official Sites:

Official site [Hong Kong] Official site [Japan]

Country:

Hong Kong

Language:

Mandarin Japanese Cantonese English Min Nan Hokkien

Release Date:

2 April 2009 (Hong Kong)

Also Known As:

Jackie Chan in Shinjuku Incident

Filming Locations:

China

Box Office

Budget:

$15,000,000 (estimated)

Company Credits

Production Co:

Emperor Dragon Movies

Technical Specs

Runtime:

119 min

Sound Mix:

Dolby Digital

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

2.35 : 1

Did You Know?

Trivia

According to director Tung-Shing Yee, the film has been in the planning stages for almost 10 years, and was due to start filming in May 2006 but because Chan was busy filming Rush Hour 3 (2007), filming for San suk si gin (2009) was delayed. Yee didn't mind waiting until Chan's busy schedule had a slot, as the two are good friends and because Yee feels Chan is right for the role. On 26 September 2007, it stated on Chan's website that filming will begin in "a few weeks" in Japan. Filming began in November 2007.

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Goofs

Jackie Chan's character's name, Tie Tou, is translated as "Steelhead", but the literal translation should be iron head.

User Reviews

Thoughts...

I went to see this film out of the blue, wasn't hyped, didn't even know it came out yet. However I am a fan of Asian films, not hardcore as some but I've watched my fair share, also you can say I'm a fan of Daniel Wu and of course Jackie Chan.

That said, this film you can put next to Jackie Chan's more serious films, and without a doubt IS his most serious film in all his career, in my opinion.

The plot is obviously based on the Chinese people who "migrated" to Japan and their struggles and battles to establish themselves, mix in Japanese yakuza, turf war and old missing friend(s), and then to top it off depiction of human tendencies to be corrupted by power.

Analyzing the plot is time consuming and I don't get paid for it, so I wont get into it too much at all. However I do want to mention that it is a gritty film, it is violent, harsh but these things were necessary to set the tone of the film. Don't expect the usual Jackie Chan flips, martial arts, fun kung-fu action scenes.. no.. its more realistic that violence is represented by people chopping each other almost Kill Bill-esquire.

It is a serious film, well shot, well acted and the cast were well suited. Daniel Wu is good in it, although some questionable and real quick turn of character as the movie goes on. Jackie Chan is good too, the man can put on a serious face and act in a dramatic role when he needs to. I'm glad it was made for the Asian audiences, I can imagine it being only being mediocre if not bad if westernized.

If you want a film with a scar face esquire story/plot, lots of gang members fighting, a bit of drama, heaps of blood and quiet frankly a pretty darn good film... then I recommend it.

Its a 4 star movie for me...