What a fascinating film. Too much to absorb in one viewing really so I will be watching it again a few times I am sure. I haven't watched any of Derek Yee's other movies. I must confess that overly realistic gangster films are not my cup of tea. And while there is certainly some very gritty realism in this movie with certain scenes they are however not only essential to the plot (I can see why they had trouble trying to edit the violence down for the Chinese market) but essential to the character and nature of the environment and characters.
While it is clear that this is not your usual light 'Jackie Chan' movie, I don't see that he is playing that far out of character. Steelhead is not a bad man. He is a man who does bad things because of circumstances. It is not even that he believes the end justifies the means. He is simply a man motivated by love, honour and a sense of brotherhood who will literally do anything for the people he loves and cares about - even kill. He comes to Japan to find the girl he loves. He tries to help Daniel Wu's character Jie out of love and brotherhood. He grows to love the other people who are in the same boat (pardon the pun) as he is and is motivated to help them - again out of a sense of brotherhood. This is so clearly brought home when he has won the territory for them, his sense of brotherhood with the other Chinese immigrants makes him put Jie in charge of collecting funds to help them. He tries to stop the illegal activities. He says that they must all work together to help each other. These are all the principles of love, honour and brotherhood that are inherent to his character. His ambition is simple - all he wants is to help his friends.
But what truly makes this movie interesting are all the different stories being told. The attitudes that are on display, the interactions between characters, between cultures, between moral codes. Steelhead is the pivotal character around whom all the action occurs. He is the catalyst, the connecting force, the driving force that carries the movie forward and it is so good to see Jackie in leading role of this kind. While he is the lead character in most of his movies he tends when scripting himself to - hmm - how can I put it because I haven't thought of it in quite this way before I saw this movie. Jackie's characters tend to have somewhat of a self-effacing quality. Although he is the lead, his characters tend to be reactive, and not the driving force. In other words he is central to the story but it is the decisions and actions of the other characters that drive the story forward and he just reacts to those. In this film Steelhead's decisions drive the story forward. He is not just reacting to circumstance but making circumstances happen. His decision to help Eguchi, for example, is one of those decisions that have far reaching consequences for everyone. Likewise his decision to help the policeman is also a factor that drives certain consequences as well.
Although over the years I have read a fair number of novels about Japan, Japanese fiction, and about Japanese culture I cannot in anyway regard myself as an expert and I think that in order to understand some of the subtext between the Japanese Yakuza as to their motivations and actions one would need to understand a bit more about that particular aspect of Japanese culture.
However one doesn't need to understand the culture to understand the race issues that are expressed in various ways throughout the film as well as the shifting dynamics of power.
In a way Steelhead is an innocent. He doesn't fully realise the complexities of the sub-culture in which he finds himself and he abandons his Chinese brothers to navigate some very deep waters that he took them into - believing in his innocence that he has done what he needs to do to help them. The end consequences of the film are inevitable given the circumstances.
Jackie has expressed a great deal of concern that fans will accept him in this kind of role. I want to say - Jackie! Please! MORE of this level of complexity of character and subtlety of acting. I don't want to say necessarily this type of film unless we understand by 'this type' movies that have good scripts, good character development, good directing, good cinematography, good acting, good .... everything.
I know that Jackie commented during the promotions for Shinjuku that is was hard for him to take the step back and "just" be an actor in this, but I think that if Jackie can find more directors whom he can trust to direct him well, and in finding roles that require more from him as an actor, he can then concentrate all his considerable ability on acting - we will certainly see some great movies in the future. If this movie is a foretaste of what Jackie can do - then I for one am very eager to see what else he can achieve.
Now I have to mention my 'wish list' I wish the Jackie/Zhang Yimou collaberation would happen. If there is one director whom I think could get an Oscar winning performance from Jackie it would have to be Zhang Yimou. While his recent movies have been incredible I think the very best movie of his that I have seen is a movie called Shanghai Triad. There are scenes in that movie that are unrivalled for poignant subtle emotion where every aspect of the onscreen image from sound, to colour, to light, to dialogue (or lack thereof), to the positioning of the characters, to the environment that tell a story. I long to see Jackie in a movie like that, no matter what the story is.
In my opinion Shinjuku was another step in the right direction for Jackie. I thoroughly enjoyed watched this movie, and while some of the scenes may be a bit much for some viewers they were not gratuitous. In actual fact the amount of blood that should have been present was underplayed considerably which also helps to lessen the impact some what. I have no hesitation in recommending this film with only one proviso - adult viewers only. This is not a children's film - simply because of the issues it deals with it is very much an adult movie.
