Jackie Chan Gets Dramatic
Jackie Chan as Stealhead in "Shinjuku Incident"
In Shinjuku Incident, an uncharacteristic non-comedic passion project from Jackie Chan, produced by his longtime management partners and distributed comfortably out of sight of international family audiences, Chan explores a more mature and darker dramatic range as a socially-conscious anti-hero who cheats, steals, kills mercilessly, and even sleeps with a prostitute.
Shinjuku Incident (Xin su shi jian; San suk si gin;新宿事件 )
Chinese - Lark Films - 2 April 2009
Crime melodrama suspense from writer-director Tung-Shing (Derek) Yee and producers Willie C.K. Chan and Solon So; starring Jackie Chan, Daniel Wu and Bingbing Fan.
Story Situation: rescue - missing
Maturity Rating: 17+
Satisfaction Rating: above average
Plotline: 1990s. Harbor near Kobe, Japan. A shipload of illegal Chinese immigrants rushes ashore and disappears into the crowd of locals. Among them, a tractor mechanic nicknamed “Steelhead” from Heilongjian province in northeastern China has come to locate his childhood sweetheart Xiu Xiu after having lost all contact. He finds temporary refuge with his cousin Jie in the Chinese ghetto in Tokyo’s Shinjuku ward. Immigrants there remain in the shadows. Unwelcome to respectable Japanese and harassed by both the indigenous Yakuza mob and the imported Taiwanese triad, they live in fear of being discovered and repatriated. In particular, Steelhead cannot go back because he lost his national identity documents. Jie shows Steelhead how to survive the lean times between real jobs by committing petty larceny. But good-natured Steelhead also rescues innocents in trouble - a black market worker, pretty bar maid Lily and even police inspector Kitano during a vice raid.
Meanwhile, Jie’s petty scams run him afoul of the Triad. They torture Jie and chop off his hand. Stealhead immediately seeks revenge by taking a machete to the arm of the Triad boss who ordered Jie’s dismemberment. During the same melee, he also foils an attempt to ambush Yakuza chieftan Eguchi. Steelhead soon discovers that Eguchi married Xiu Xiu, renamed her Yuko, and that they have a baby. Steelhead now accepts a hitman gig from Eguchi to assassinate the rival Yakuza boss who had joined with the Triad for the failed plot. Afterwards Eguchi puts Steelhead in charge of the Shinjuku nightclubs and brothels. However disinterested in the Yakuza lifestyle, Steelhead quickly finds love with bar maid Lily and starts a tractor repair business outside of Tokyo.
Police inspector Kitano now tells Stealhead that his immigrant comrades are being used by Eguchi to front the Yakuza drug trade. Kitano will have to arrest and eventually deport them - including Stealhead - unless Stealhead can get them to provide evidence against Eguchi. Steelhead feels torn between loyalties to his friends, to the woman he once loved and to the woman he now loves. Lily wants him to run away with her to Brazil. Instead he attempts to organize the Chinese immigrants by explaining the inspector’s deal. That’s precisely when the rival Yakuza mob attacks in retaliation for their boss’ assassination. During the ensuing chaos, Eguchi is mortally wounded but hands over to Stealhead a memory stick with evidence against all illegal Yakuza activities. Stealhead escapes into the sewers where inspector Kitano finds him trapped in the same place that Stealhead had rescued the inspector. Kitano tries to pull Stealhead free. But it’s no use. Stealhead hands over Eguchi’s memory stick before he floats deeper into the sewer. Stealhead tells Kitano that they are even, then passes from sight.
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