Indican Pictures presents Jasmine, the full length film feature debut of writer/director Dax Phelan. This suspenseful thriller stars Jason Tobin (Pound of Flesh), Byron Mann (The Corruptor), Sarah Lian (XIII: The Series), Eugenia Yuan (Revenge of the Green Dragons) and Glen Chin (Knock-Off, Natural Born Killers).
Jasmine stars Tobin as successful Hong Kong businessman. One year after his wife’s murder, he becomes obsessed with a mysterious stranger he thinks killed his wife. Now he travels the world trying to find this stranger, and people keep dying everywhere he goes.
Jasmine hits theaters on May 12. Until then, don’t miss the film’s New Trailer below:
AKA: Suddenly in Dark Night Director: Go Yeong-nam Producer: Suh Byung-gi Cast: Kim Young-ae, Yoon Il-bong, Lee Gi-seon Running Time: 100 min.
By Paul Bramhall
While just like Shiri put Korean action movies on the map in 1999, a year prior the high school ghost tale Whispering Corridors did the same for the Korean horror movie. However both genres had been around for long before the titles that gained them international recognition, with horror in particular having been present in Korean cinema since the 1960’s. While sadly many of these early genre efforts are no longer around, a few did survive (with some of them even receiving English subtitled DVD releases, such as 1961’s A Devilish Homicide, and 1967’s A Public Cemetery of Wolha), although the availability of such titles by enlarge remains extremely limited.
One such example of the genre is 1981’s Suddenly in the Dark, the only horror movie to be helmed by prolific director Go Yeong-nam. Working within the Korean studio system of the era, from his debut in 1964 Yeong-nam would go on to direct over 160 movies up to his final feature, Picture Diary, in 2000. His remarkable span of work over such a long period makes it all the more surprising that Suddenly in the Dark was the one and only time he ventured into horror territory, with the bulk of his work consisting mainly of dramas. Notably however, he did direct a handful of 70’s Bobby Kim starring martial arts movies, including The Deadly Kick.
Suddenly in the Dark, on paper at least, owes a lot to Kim Ki-young’s 1960 classic The Housemaid (which was itself remade in 2010 by Im Sang-soo). The plot focuses on a wife and husband in a well-to-do middle class house set in the countryside. The husband is a butterfly collector who lectures at university, and is frequently away for days at a time on trips to collect and photograph rare species, which he then shows off to his university associates upon his return. On one trip, he arrives home with a young girl in tow. He explains that he found her wandering around, and since both her parents are dead, he thought they could take her on as a housemaid. The wife, delighted to have a helping hand, happily agrees. However, soon a strange doll that the girl carries around, and the revelation that she’s the daughter of a shaman, have the wife questioning what her true intentions are, as she begins to believe more and more that her husband is being seduced.
The wife is played by Kim Young-ae, an actress who has been active in the industry since 1971. Sadly, Young-ae passed away in April 2017, however remained acting until her final days. More recently she can be seen in the likes of 2012’s Confession of Murder, and her final appearance on the big screen can be seen in 2016’s Operation Chromite. Her husband is played by Yoon Il-bong, an actor with over 180 movies to his name, in a career which spanned from the early 50’s and continued for over 40 years. Il-bong can be found in many of the classics of 60’s and 70’s Korean cinema, from 1961’s Aimless Bullet to the likes of Lee Jang-ho’s 1974 debut Heavenly Homecoming to Stars, and 1975’s The March of Fools. The maid herself is played by Lee Gi-seon, an actress who made just 4 movies, all between 1980 – 1982, and all of which appear to have her typecast as a sultry seductress.
Traditional Korean shamanism has never been fully taken advantage of as a practice to incorporate into the countries horror genre, which is a pity, since it’s so unique. Korean shaman’s are usually women, and are able to communicate with the Gods via dancing themselves into a trance like frenzy adorned in colourful garbs. In 2013 Park Chan-kyong (the brother of director Park Chan-wook) made an insightful documentary on one of the most famous Korean shamans, with Manshin: Ten Thousand Spirits, which itself came about thanks to the pair making the 2011 short film Night Fishing together, which involved shamanistic practices. While more recently scenes with shamans can also be found in the likes of Possessed and The Priests, it was director Na Hong-jin who perhaps most effectively utilised shamanism for a modern audience, with 2016’s The Wailing.
In Suddenly in the Dark, the element of Gi-seon being a shamans daughter is played upon in a psychological way, which really plays to the benefit of the horror which begins to unfold, as Young-ae slowly begins to question her sanity. One of the biggest strengths of the plot is that it’s never implicitly stated whether or not Gi-seon is trying to seduce Il-bong, or if everything is a case of Young-ae becoming more and more paranoid. The fact that almost the whole movie plays out from the perspective of Young-ae keeps us on her side for the most part, so it’s only when her husband and friend begin to question her for further details, that we as the audience also question why we’re believing Gi-seon is out to break up their happy home.
Indeed the look and feel of Suddenly in the Dark is more reminiscent of Italian director Dario Agento’s work of the era than any Korean production, with even the pulsating synthesiser score recalling Goblin’s trademark soundtracks. Almost the entire movie is spent in and around Young-ae and Il-bong’s house, making it feel as much of a character as the trio that reside in it. Its garish red carpets and plethora of stuffed animals, which often prominently frame the foreground of many shots, add a sense of foreboding dread to many of the scenes. A variety of different shots are also used to portray Young-ae’s torment, from filming as a kaleidoscope of images, to lensing through what appears to be an empty glass bottle, the methods may be simple but they convey the desired effect of a disorientated frame of mind. Another noteworthy and unique touch that I enjoyed, is that many scenes fade out through the lighting of the scene being dimmed until it’s completely dark.
Despite film censorship still being prominent in Korea during the early 80’s (Park Chung-hee, who notoriously run the country as a dictator during his term in office, had only been assassinated in October of 1979), Suddenly in the Dark has a surprising amount of nudity. Upon Gi-seon’s arrival in the household, Young-ae bathes her and comments on what a perfect body she has, and as the plot moves forward, it almost seems as if Young-ae is more obsessed with Gi-seon’s sexuality than she believes her husband to be. In many ways Gi-seon represents everything that modern Korea was attempting to move on from at the time, with Park Chung-hee actively arresting and burning down the shrines of traditional shamans during the 70’s, labelling them as an embarrassing remnant of Korea’s past. Gi-seon’s presence in Young-ae and Il-bong’s western style home represents the ghosts of a past Korea wanted to move on from, but in fact never really went away.
Events eventually culminate in a finale that sees Young-ae alone in the house one night as a storm rages outside, and the madness that’s been threatening to take over on slow burn up until this point fully takes hold. Again the question is wisely never addressed of what’s real and what’s not, however regardless of the answer, it doesn’t take away any of the impact of what’s happening on screen. Young-ae struggles through the terror in a sequence which encompasses slow motion, more butterflies than you can shake a stick at, and the omnipresent wooden doll makes itself known as only a doll in a horror movie could. It would be a spoiler to go into any more details regarding the ending, but again, for those that familiarise themselves with Korean shamanism, the final shot has a lasting impact, and goes a long way to explaining all that’s come before.
I don’t usually mention specific releases during a review, purely because there can be that many, spread across countless different territories (just ask any Bruce Lee fan), that discussing any one version can quickly become a moot point. However for Suddenly in the Dark I’ll make an exception, which received a US Blu-ray release in February 2017 (after an initial numbered limited edition run of 500 in 2016) on the Mondo Macabro label. The release is significant, considering pre-1995 Korean cinema has been all but ignored when it comes to western releases (with the exception of the previously mentioned Housemaid, which was included in Vol. 1 of Martin Scorsese’s World Cinema Project on the Criterion label), which is bafflingly inexplicable. While titles are more readily available on the Korean Film Archive domestic releases (all of which come with English subtitles), hopefully this will open the door for more titles to receive western releases.
The tale of Suddenly in the Dark differs depending on how you look at it – is it a psycho-sexual thriller? A tale of supernatural revenge? A metaphor for Korea’s rapid rise to modernisation and the cost it brought? I’d argue that it’s all of these, but first and foremost, it’s an effective slice of horror, and if you’ve spent the last 20 years binge watching long black haired ghosts, then you’re in for a breath of fresh air.
On June 27th, 2017, Arrow Video is releasing Kinji Fukasaku’s Doberman Cop (read our review) on Blu-ray & DVD. Never before released on video outside of Japan, this 1977 thriller stars Shinichi “Sonny” Chiba as a Dirty Harry-type character. Read the official details below:
Released just as the popularity of yakuza movies was waning in Japan, and as the country’s film industry was undergoing some fundamental shifts, Doberman Cop is a unique entry in the career of director Kinji Fukasaku (Battles Without Honor and Humanity, Cops vs Thugs), and reunited him with star Shinichi “Sonny” Chiba (Battles Without Honor and Humanity Vol. 2: Hiroshima Death Match) in an American-style crime movie that mixes gunplay and pulp fiction with martial arts and lowbrow comedy to create one of their most entertaining films.
Based on a popular manga by “Buronson” (creator of Fist of the North Star), Doberman Cop follows the fish-out-of-water adventures of Joji Kano (Chiba), a tough-as-nails police officer from Okinawa who arrives in Tokyo’s Kabuki-cho nightlife district to investigate the savage murder and mutilation of an island girl who had been working as a prostitute. Initially dismissed as a country bumpkin (complete with straw hat and live pig in tow!), Kano soon proves himself a more savvy detective than the local cops, and a tougher customer than anyone expected. As he probes deeper into the sleazy world of flesh-peddling, talent agency corruption and mob influence, Kano uncovers the shocking truth about the girl, her connection to a yakuza-turned-music manager (Hiroki Matsukata), and a savage serial killer who is burning women alive.
Made to appeal both to the youth market with its biker gangs and popular music, as well as to old-time yakuza movie fans, Doberman Cop is an surprising oddity in Fukasaku’s career, his sole film adapted directly from a manga and never before released on video outside of Japan. Featuring Chiba at his charismatic best — channeling a Japanese Dirty Harry while doing all his own stunts — and Fukasaku at his most fun, deftly showcasing the combined talents of his “Piranha Army” stock company of actors and other regular players — Doberman Cop is a classic action comedy and a missing link in 1970’s Japanese cinema deserving of rediscovery.
Special Features:
High Definition digital transfer
High Definition Blu-ray (1080p) and Standard Definition DVD presentations
Original uncompressed mono audio
Optional English subtitles
Beyond the Film: Doberman Cop, a new video appreciation by Fukasaku biographer Sadao Yamane
New video interview with actor Shinichi “Sonny” Chiba
New video interview with screenwriter Koji Takada
Reversible sleeve featuring original and newly commissioned artwork by Chris Malbon
First Pressing Only: Illustrated collector’s book featuring new writing on the films by Patrick Macias
Director: Nah Hyeon Cast: Kim Rae-won, Han Seok-kyu, Han Suk-Kyu, Kim Rae-Won, Jung Woong-In, Kim Sung-Kyun, Shin Sung-Rok, Han Sung-Yong, Lee Geung-young, Cha Yup Running Time: 125 min.
By Paul Bramhall
In years to come, when people look back on the 2015 – 2016 era of the Korean film industry, it may well look like all it took for a movie to get green lit is for it be about figures in authority abusing their powers. The list is expansive – Inside Men, Veteran, A Violent Prosecutor, Master, The King, and there are likely more that have gone under the radar. However despite the recurring theme, all of the productions mentioned have been entertaining slices of cinema, whether they choose to wrap their tales of corruption in the guise of a thriller, action movie, or crime caper. On paper, The Prison would also seem to fall into the same category, with its name inevitably likely to draw immediate comparisons with Korea’s other 2016 prison-set production, A Violent Prosecutor.
Thankfully onscreen though, it turns out to be quite a different beast. Helmed by experienced scriptwriter Nah Hyeon, whose pen has been behind the likes of Spin Kick and My Way, here he makes his debut as a director, and as expected works from his own script. The 1995 setting serves as a breath of fresh air compared to other recent productions, and while the year never plays a particularly important role in the story (it’s never specifically mentioned apart from onscreen text at the beginning), the absence of smartphones and presence of 90’s style beer bottles provide subtle but welcome differentiators.
Hyeon also chooses to go with a mostly veteran cast, with Kim Rae-won, last seen on the big screen in 2014’s Gangnam Blues, playing a new inmate who is introduced as a former cop. Quick tempered, he’s barely a few steps out of the prison bus and is already trying to kick the daylights out of an inmate that was staring him down, despite being bound by rope. Rae-won’s introduction to inmate life sees The Prison heading down familiar territory, as just like Hwang Jeong-min’s character in A Violent Prosecutor, Rae-won quickly finds himself on the receiving end of savage beatings from those he was responsible for putting away in his former life. However unlike in A Violent Prosecutor, Hyeon keeps his cards close to his chest during the opening act of The Prison, taking a gamble with feeding the audience little to no information as to exactly why Rae-won is serving time.
Rae-won eventually ends up crossing paths with the most powerful prisoner inside, a character who the other inmates explain even has the prison warden in his pocket. The prisoner is played by Han Seok-kyu, an actor who featured in many of the 90’s Korean movies that are today considered early classics of the Korean new wave – from Lee Chang-dong’s 1997 debut with the gangster drama Green Fish, to Jang Yoon-hyeon’s blood drenched murder thriller Tell Me Something in 1999. Seok-kyu was also the star of the movie that can essentially be considered as the one that put Korea on the map for international audiences, Shiri. After being laden with some cringe worthy English dialogue in Ryoon Sung-wan’s 2013 action thriller The Berlin File, The Prison finds Seok-kyu on top form once more, and he provides an intimidating presence as the top dog.
Rae-won eventually ends up under the wing of Seok-kyu, and learns that not only is he the most powerful prisoner, but he’s also a criminal mastermind behind several unexplained murders that have taken place on the outside. Taking a page from Erik Matti’s On the Job, Seok-kyu has developed a well-oiled machine, that has the warden meeting up with a former inmate on the outside who provides the target, which is then relayed back to Seok-kyu and his associates on the inside. Groups of inmates are then sent out to perform the assassinations, before returning to prison, leaving in their wake a murder and a lack of any suspects to point at.
As Rae-won’s involvement with Seok-kyu and his prison gang develops, Hyeon begins to work in several flashback scenes (which it would be a spoiler to provide any details on) of Rae-won’s life on the outside, as a clear picture begins to emerge of both how and why he’s behind bars. While neither the prisoners-on-a-mission, and Rae-won’s eventual reveal, are particularly ground breaking, The Prison proves to be successful in its no nonsense approach to the tale it wants to tell. Indeed in many ways Hyeon’s debut feels like it could also belong to the era that it’s set in. Despite it being likely to be painted with the same brush as other recent productions, The Prison feels like it would sit more comfortably next to the likes of gangster movies like Oh Seung-uk’s Kilimanjaro from 2000, and Yoo Ha’s A Dirty Carnival from 2006.
Eschewing the subtle (or not so subtle for that matter) swipes at those in positions of authority that similar recent productions have gone for, Hyeon’s narrative is more focused on cramming in as many brawls and beat downs as possible. Despite mostly being set within the walls of the prison, the setting never feels confining, and there’s a surprising amount of action contained within the 125 minute runtime. From Rae-won’s fist fights with other prisoners, to a heist that throws in some unexpected MMA takedowns, to the chaotic group brawls with steel bars and choppers. The return of a movie that embraces the down and dirty style of Korean brawling, that appeared so frequently in movies throughout the 00’s, is a most welcome one, and the fact that the production had a dedicated martial arts team on-board is clearly evident.
Outside of the fists and feet, Hyeon doesn’t skimp on the violence either. An early remark that the last gang leader to try and topple Seok-kyu from his position had his eye ball carved out and devoured in front of his face is given credence, when another gang leader attempts a coup against him mid-way through the movie. It’s a credit to Hyeon that, much like the chainsaw-in-the-shower scene in Brian De Palma’s Scarface, it was only after the movie finished that I realised nothing particularly graphic was actually shown onscreen. However thanks to some smart editing and grizzly sound effects, the scene certainly leaves a lasting impression.
Rae-won and Seok-kyu are ably backed up by a fantastic supporting cast. Like Inside Men, The Prison doesn’t feature a single female cast member (with the exception of the opening 5 minutes, when one appears onscreen for less than 60 seconds), making it a very testosterone fuelled affair. Lee Kyeong-yeong, who played the presidential candidate in Inside Men, here plays the head of the Korean prison system, and is given a fantastically tense scene when he recognizes Seok-kyu from a prison he used to run, and begins taunting him to bow his head to the ground. Jung Woong-in, last seen in Veteran, also puts in an effective performance as the prison warden, who’s conflicts with Seok-kyu soon finds him in over his head. Sin Seong-rok, who also appeared in 2016’s Age of Shadows, also deserves a mention as the leader of a rival gang that wants to topple Seok-kyu.
At the time of writing The Prison is still very much hot off the press, and I feel there’s a risk it may be overlooked due to its similarities with A Violent Prosecutor. However these exist only on the surface thanks to their setting, with one being a crime caper, and the other a violent gangster movie. Hopefully The Prison finds it audience, and they enjoy it for the entertaining slice of revenge that it is. Hyeon has a refreshingly unpretentious directorial style, and if he decides to step into the director’s chair for a second time, I’ll certainly be watching. It’s been said many times before, but movies like The Prison prove it’s still as applicable in 2016 as it was in the early 00’s – nobody does the revenge movie quite like the Koreans do.
Today’s Deal on Fire is the Blu-ray for Donnie Yen’s Legend of the Fist: The Return of Chen Zhen, directed by Andrew Lau (Infernal Affairs).
In Legend of the Fist: The Return of Chen Zhen (read our review), Donnie Yen plays Chen Zhen, a role made famous by Bruce Lee in the 1972 filmFist of Fury. It’s set in Shanghai International Settlement, seven years after the events of the Bruce Lee classic.
Legend of the Fist also stars Shu Qi (Storm Riders), Anthony Wong (Punished) and Shawn Yue (Motorway).
Alexander Nevsky’s (Showdown in Manila) 2014 Russian-made action flick Black Rose has finally been acquired by ITN Distribution for a North American release.
Black Rose involves a Russian Police Major (Nevsky) who is enlisted by the LAPD to help solve a series of gruesome murders perpetrated against young women by a sadistic sociopathic killer on the mean streets of Hollywood.
Also in the cast are Kristanna Loken (Terminator 3: Rise of the Machines), Matthias Hues (Raging Thunder), Adrian Paul (Highlander: Endgame) and Robert Davi (Licence to Kill).
It should also be noted that one of the executive producers is Sheldon Lettich (Only the Strong), who is best known for directing Jean-Claude Van Damme’s The Hard Corps and Double Impact.
Black Rose hits theaters on April 28th, followed by a DVD release date on May 2nd. Don’t miss the film’s trailer below, which promises to deliver a vibe that’s reminiscent of the buddy cop films of the 80s and 90s.
Cityonfire.com and Well Go USA are giving away 3 Blu-ray copies ofSword Master(read our review) to three lucky City on Fire visitors. To enter, simply add a comment to this post and describe, in your own words, the video below.
We will be selecting a winner at random. Be sure to include your email address in the appropriate field so we can contact you for your home address. Also, please ‘Like Us‘ on Cityonfire.com’s Facebook by clicking here.
Sword Master will officially be released on April 11, 2017. We will announce the 3 winners on April 12th..
CONTEST DISCLAIMER: You must enter by April 12, 2017 to qualify. U.S. residents only please. We sincerely apologize to our non-U.S. visitors. Winners must respond with their mailing address within 48 hours, otherwise you will automatically be disqualified. No exceptions. Contest is subject to change without notice.
AKA: The Whole World at Our Feet Director: Salamat Mukhammed-Ali Cast: Karlygash Mukhamedzhanova, Armand Assante, Cary Hiroyuki-Tagawa, Bolo Yeung, Don ‘The Dragon’ Wilson, Peter O’Toole, Michael Madsen, Tommy ‘Tiny’ Lister, Aleksey Frandetti, Nurlan Altaev, Serik Bimurzin Running Time: 100 min.
By Paul Bramhall
As a candidate for the cinematic oddity of 2017, Diamond Cartel is certainly a strong contender for the prize. The Kazakhstan production was originally titled The Whole World at Our Feet, with filming and editing spread across 3 years from 2011 – 2013, and a domestic release eventually finding its way onto local screens in 2015. Skip forward another 2 years, and it was picked up for US distribution by Cleopatra Entertainment, before being re-cut and re-dubbed into English (from Russian) to create Diamond Cartel. This isn’t the first time such a practice has taken place in recent years, with Thai director Wych Kaosayananda’s 2012 crime drama Angels being re-cut (and even having new scenes filmed) to create the 2015 action flick Zero Tolerance. In both instances the original version of the movies is all but impossible to come across, with only the new edits available to pass judgement.
The question is of course why would a movie from Kazakhstan, a nation engraved into people’s memories due to its unfortunate but hilarious portrayal through comedian Sacha Baron Cohen’s character Borat, be of any interest to an action movie fan? The answer is a perplexing one, but one that’s as equally entertaining as it is bewildering. For reasons that remain unknown to this reviewer (believe me, I did my research), first time director Salamat Mukhammed-Ali managed to bring on-board a veritable smorgasbord of internationally known names to feature in his movie. The screen time of each varies considerably, from substantial roles (Armand Assante and Cary Hiroyuki-Tagawa), to a couple of minutes (Bolo, Don ‘The Dragon’ Wilson, and Peter O’Toole), to mere seconds (Michael Madsen and Tommy ‘Tiny’ Lister).
How did Mukhammed-Ali, a guy who’s done everything from being the lead singer of one of Kazakhstan’s most successful rock bands, to being personally head hunted by the countries President to direct his outreach commercials, manage to get these stars onscreen together!? There’s clearly something in the Kazakhstan air, as Mukhammed-Ali’s fellow countryman Erken Ialgashev brought together a similarly ridiculous cast for 2016’s Beyond the Game (which at the time of writing, has yet to have an official release), many of whom also turn up in Diamond Cartel. However none of these actors are the star of the show (despite what the posters would have you believe), instead the main character is played by actress Karlygash Mukhamedzhanova. Clearly dubbed, there’s no doubt she brings a visual appeal to proceedings, and was probably the reason why Vinnie Jones can also be found in a Kazakhstan production, when they appeared in 2011’s The Liquidator together.
Mukhamedzhanova is the focal point, and narrator, of Diamond Cartel’s rather muddled and often incoherent plot, which vaguely resembles a kind of love triangle version of Kill Bill. The main problem is that there are actually 2 main plots vying for attention, when what would have made the most sense is for one to be a sub-plot of the other. Firstly, Mukhamedzhanova takes a job at a casino run by gangster Armand Assante (who spends the whole film in a suit jacket minus a shirt underneath), and as she catches his eye, he tricks her into being indebted to him, training her to be one of his black leather wearing female assassins (think Naked Weapon). However she only wants to be with her one true love, a pure of heart but penniless handsome young man played by Aleksey Frandetti.
This setup results in an abundance of unintentionally hilarious dialogue, which manages to be as equally cheesy as it is stilted. Mukhamedzhanova and Frandetti were childhood sweethearts, however Frandetti has always had to compete against the richer and more powerful love rival, played by Nurlan Altaev, who by pure chance, is now Assante’s main henchman. As the training to be an unthinking assassin sees her disappear off the map for a number of years, it’s only when she comes across Frandetti by chance that she seizes the opportunity to get her life back. The pair go on the run (after she explains how she’s been murdering people during the time that she disappeared), chased by Assante (who wants his assassin back) and Altaev (who still wants her to only love him). Confused? You should be. Oh, and I mentioned there’s a 2nd main plot as well. So Assante is trying to get his hands on a huge diamond, which the loved up pair inadvertently end up in possession of.
To spend any more time on the plot would be a fruitless exercise, as on-screen it plays out as a dizzying mess. Extended flashbacks, bizarre double-crosses, characters that come & go with no rhyme or reason, completely misguided melodrama, and hyper-violent action scenes all get thrown at the viewer with merciless abandon. Songs used as a soundtrack start in the middle of scenes in which they make no sense, the voice performer dubbing Mukhamedzhanova provides a narration that’s reminiscent in both style and tone of Sarah Connor’s in Terminator 2, andat one point, Bolo says “Yeah.” However, somehow it all remains entertainingly watchable, although let’s be perfectly clear, it’s for all the wrong reasons.
Michael Madsen, playing a character called Mr. Mike, appears for a few seconds then gets shot in the face. During one action sequence a guy is set on fire, and the camera keeps cutting back to him running around in flames and screaming, but he’s so energetic it’s hilarious instead of horrific. Armand Assante has a quartet of blind folded violinists who play in a stable while he’s interrogating those who he thinks double crossed him. Cary Hiroyuki-Tagawa sits at a table which has a chained man in a cage next to it, who is never explained let alone utilised, he’s just part of the furniture. A character even comes back from the dead that rivals Nick Cheung’s so-called death scene in The White Storm, and that takes some topping. Some of the native English speakers are also dubbed, most glaringly Don ‘The Dragon’ Wilson, his new voice providing him with the performance of his career. Everyone else seems to have been dubbed by the guy that used to narrate trailers in the 80’s and 90’s, meaning every time someone says something, no matter how trivial it is, it sounds epic.
Assante and Hiroyuki-Tagawa seem to have been spared the dubbing treatment, however their performances alone provide enough entertainment. Assante in particular, in one scene during which he realises he’s been tricked, goes for the over-acting performance of the year, as he flips out in a way that makes Nicolas Cage at his most manic look like he’s on Valium. Hiroyuki-Tagawa deserves points simply for going to the effort of speaking in a Russian accent, an effort that must have been appreciated enough to be maintained. Then we have the elephant in the room – Peter O’Toole. Yes, the same Peter O’Toole from Lawrence of Arabia, here clocks in his final performance before his death. O’Toole’s appearance is almost as baffling as when Charlton Heston showed up in Jean Claude Van Damme’s 2001 DTV movie The Order. As a boatman that plans to help the couple escape the country, he appears onscreen for less than 2 minutes, mumbles some incomprehensible lines, and is gone. An interesting end to an acting career spanning 60 years.
Matching the craziness of the rest of the movie is a couple of equally crazy action scenes, both of which involve heavy duty machine gun fire and the bodily damage it entails. The violence is completely over the top, with knives lodged in mouths and through the back of heads, torsos ripped apart by mini-guns, shovels impaled in chests, and fingers shot off of the hands they belong to. Even Bolo gets a brief, poorly edited fight scene, which bizarrely keeps cutting away to a random kitten wandering around aimlessly. It was only while I was researching for this review that I read the kitten was Bolo’s idea, as he wanted the fight to be a homage to the Bruce Lee vs. Chuck Norris confrontation in Way of the Dragon, in which a cat also watches the fight. Let’s just say that here it didn’t work, and leave it at that.
While Diamond Cartel’s intentions are clear – it wants to be an epic tale of how true love conquers all (a message which its original title more fittingly conveys, as it’s a meaningful line actually spoken in the movie) – its delivery is so over-enthusiastic and incohesive that it’s impossible to take seriously. However, I also find it impossible to be too harsh on the production, just because its full-steam ahead approach and unapologetic over-the-top nature does result in a bizarre form of entertainment. While audience’s mileage will vary, taken as a kind of modern day incarnation of Samurai Cop or Miami Connection, there is a lot of fun to be had with Diamond Cartel. But if you’re expecting to find the answer as to why Mukhammed-Ali was personally head hunted to be a director for the President of Kazakhstan, then the answers are probably best found elsewhere.
On June 13, 2017, Lionsgate Home Entertainment will be releasing the DVD for Headshot (read our review), an Indonesian martial arts thriller directed by The Mo Brothers (Killers, Macabre).
A mysterious man (Iko Uwais) left for dead with a gunshot wound to the head jolts awake after months in a coma. Realizing that the man has lost his memory, Ailin (Chelsea Elizabeth Islan), a nurse, renames him Ishmael. The two grow close, but their peace is short-lived when Ailin is violently taken by ruthless criminals. Determined to save the woman who rescued him, Ishmael has no choice but to save Ailin.
Headshot also stars Julie Estelle (“Hammer Girl” from Raid 2), Sunny Pang (The Collector), Very Tri Yulisman (“Baseball Bat Man” from Raid 2) David Hendrawan, Epy Kusnandar and Zack Lee.
Director: Johnnie To Cast: Louis Koo, Wallace Chung, Vicky Zhao Wei, Lam Suet, Lo Hoi-Pang, Timmy Hung, Michael Tse, Eddie Cheung, Mimi Kung, Raymond Wong Ho-Yin Running Time: 89 min.
By Kelly Warner
After a couple years spent making comedies, director Johnnie To returns to the gritty crime genre with the cops vs. robbers vs. doctors thriller Three. Like all of To’s finest films, Three is positively dripping with style. Near the start is a P.O.V. shot from inside a brain as a scalpel digs in and the film builds to a final act slow-motion shootout that should make any Matrix fan lose their sh*t. And in between these two memorable visual moments, we get a tightly wound thriller with a surprisingly playful script and a strong cast of flawed characters.
Can you tell I liked this movie?
The law’s attempt to arrest a violent crew of thieves only nets them one suspect, Shun (Wallace Chung), and they only nabbed him because he got shot in the head. Shun didn’t die from the wound, though. The bullet is still stuck in his brain, so they rush him to the hospital. Inspector Ken (Louis Koo) watches on nervously as brain surgeon Dr. Tong (Vicky Zhao Wei) preps for surgery. Is Ken concerned for the man he says shot himself in the act of the arrest? Or is Ken more concerned about the violent suspect who, despite his current state, still might pose a threat to the public? When Shun wakes up on the operating table, he freaks out. Not only did Shun survive his headshot wound, he’s apparently suffered zero debilitating physical side effects of hosting a bullet inside his brain. Shun tells Dr. Tong that he doesn’t want surgery, he just wants a phone call. And so, handcuffed to his hospital bed with a time bomb of a health condition, Shun decides to spend what might be his final moments teasing his captors while promising that his men will be coming for him soon enough.
As things progress, we learn more about the characters. Dr. Tong is having a horrible week of failures. So desperate is she to get her confidence back, she’s pushing herself at the cost of her patients. And though she means well, her best intentions nonetheless cause trouble for the cops in the hospital. Inspector Ken, meanwhile, is trying to get the information out of his suspect about how he can track down the other criminals of his crew. Ken’s also dealing with a bit of intrigue about the mysterious circumstances which led to that gun being fired and putting a bullet in Shun’s brain. The villain Shun, who spends most the film in bed, is a well-read lunatic. He’s the sort of villain that I find annoying, but this time I think that’s exactly the point. Shun is a bully, and unable to exert violence on his peers he’s left with taunting words. It’s a character that’s pretty easy to hate, even in his sad state.
Vicky Zhao Wei (Shaolin Soccer) does a fine job as the self-loathing surgeon, likely the most sympathetic character in the film despite her many flaws. Louis Koo has done some of his best work before in To movies (Election 1 & 2, Drug War) and he’s good here, too. Ken is probably the most challenging role in the film; deadly serious most of the time, then suddenly submissive before his bosses, and occasionally faking a sense of humor when the situation calls for it. Wallace Chung is an actor relatively unknown to me, though he’s had roles in Drug War and Monster Hunt before this. Like I said, it’s an annoying character, but I think Chung is pretty convincing in the role. Also starring in a major supporting role is To regular Lam Suet (PTU), here playing a cop named Fatty (surprise) who spends most the film searching for Shun’s accomplices who may be hiding out in plain sight among the hospital visitors.
The entire film takes place on the hospital grounds. What I liked is that the world kept spinning around them, with other investigations and criminal acts taking place somewhere beyond the scope of our film. Three has a ‘real time’ feel to it, though it never embraces such a gimmick. It’s just that it’s so enclosed, so tightly plotted that you’d be forgiven for misremembering a ticking clock graphic somewhere in the movie. The plot unfolds in an interesting fashion, with every character trying to assert control over the situation and the errors that could bring it all crumbling down. A good deal is spent on minor hospital characters as well, whose antics at first seem to distract from the central story but actually add to it in unexpected ways.
Three isn’t the action-packed shoot ‘em up sort of Johnnie To crime film but the finale has some pretty good bang for your buck. In the final act, when guns are drawn and bullets are exchanged, To uses all his saved up style points on a slow-motion one-shot shoot-out within the hospital. And sure, it’s not a true one-shot sequence. It was achieved by some artificial means, but that doesn’t prevent the wow factor from going into the red.
The film’s not perfect. The sense of humor is off and the use of physically impaired individuals for a laugh reads as infantile (but that’s hardly anything new in a Hong Kong movie). I must also take issue with the final minutes of the movie; after sizzling for so long, the film fizzles out before the credits roll. I have more questions. I require more resolution. I want to stay in this story just a little while longer… but oh well.
A few issues aside, I thought Three was fairly excellent. It’s stylish, clever, tense filmmaking and probably the coolest ‘medical thriller’ since George Clooney left the ER. Johnnie To fits more style into a throwaway shot in a hallway than some directors would reserve for their audience grabbing, trailer spotlight money shot. The film may not be remembered as one of the director’s very best, but it’s a good reminder as to why many consider To one of the coolest directors in the game.
On June 6th, 2017, Lionsgate Home Entertainment will be releasing DVD for Lady Bloodfight (aka Lady Bloodsport), an upcoming “female” martial arts flick, starring Amy Johnston (Raze).
Directed by Chris Nahon (Kiss of the Dragon), Lady Bloodfight tells the story of a young American who arrives in Asia and begins training for a vicious martial arts tournament, The Kumite, where women must fight to the death in order to win.
Lady Bloodfight also stars Jenny Wu, Muriel Hofman, Kathy Wu, Sharon Zhang, Jet Tranter and Mayling Ng.
Director Rob Cohen, guilty of such celluloid atrocities as The Fast and the Furious and xXx, added a further misdemeanour to his list of cinematic mishaps during a recent interview, when he confessed that he thought Dragon Lee was Bruce Lee. The topic came up while discussing a proposed sequel to his movie Stealth, a potential Chinese co-production titled Stealth 2: The Chinese Connection. Cohen was explaining how Shanghai was the perfect location for the sequel, as the production cost barely covers the price of a Bruce Lee Blu-ray, so the level of smog in the city will allow the Stealth in question to disappear without the use of expensive CGI.
The title The Chinese Connection was of course also the US title for Bruce Lee’s Fist of Fury, which turned the conversation towards his work on Dragon: The Bruce Lee Story. When probed as to why the 1993 production involved dreams of samurai warriors and an actor who looked nothing like Bruce Lee, Cohen had this to say – “You know, as with most of my movies, I didn’t really have any clue what I was doing. I was approached and asked if I’d want to helm a Bruce Lee biopic, so of course I said yes, who doesn’t know Bruce Lee!?” While Cohen’s enthusiasm is admirable, he went on to explain – “So I decided to check out if any biopics had been done before, and of course came across 1977’s The Real Bruce Lee, which contained archival footage of Bruce himself. It also contained what I thought was one of his movies, so I simply assumed it was him, but now I know that the actor was in fact Dragon Lee. Ha!”
Cohen went on to detail that, so utterly deluded was he that Dragon Lee was Bruce Lee, all of the auditions he held for the role were based on how closely the actors resembled the Korean kung fu star. “Looking back in retrospect, you’ll notice how Jason Scott Lee looks much more like Dragon Lee than he does Bruce Lee, that’s because I was basing the auditions on the wrong Lee. Now I understand why the producers were so confused when I said I wanted to include a one-stick nunchuck scene.” Cohen whimsically recalled with a vacant smile. “I even spoke with Linda Lee, and she asked me if I knew any of her husband’s famous quotes. So I said of course I did, and bellowed at her ‘Are you tired of living!? Bastard!’ She never spoke to me again after that.” Amongst much laughter, Cohen quipped how “It should really be called Dragon Lee: The Bruce Lee Story.”
Asked if he thought returning to the Asian movie industry could result in any further mishaps, Cohen insisted that he’d now set himself straight when it came to Asian actors, stating that during the making of The Mummy: Tomb of the Dragon Emperor, “Myself and Donnie Yen, who was playing the Emperor, had a great working relationship, and I thought he was great in his recent movie Skiptrace.”
Today’s Deal on Fire is the Blu-ray for Triple Tap, a Hong Kong action film directed by Derek Yee (Shinjuku Incident).
In Triple Tap, a competitive marksman Ken comes across an armored van robbery where he shoots and kills four of the robbers. What follows is a tale full of revenge and bullet-ridden revenge.
Game of Death: Collector’s Edition | Blu-ray (Shout! Factory)
RELEASE DATE: May 16, 2017
Shout! Factory presents the Collector’s Edition Blu-ray for Game of Death, featuring an all-new 4K scan and restoration from the film’s original negative. This 2-Disc set will also include two extra cuts of the film: The Chinese (4K) and Japanese (HD) versions, both of which feature scenes not included in the U.S. version.
In Game of Death, Billy Lo (Bruce Lee) is a kung fu star with a promising career. When a syndicate leader (Dean Jagger) jumps at the chance to capitalize on his status, Billy’s kung fu mastery is put to the test. Tragically, Bruce Lee passed away during the production of Game of Death, so the film was completed with Kim Tai-chung (Tower of Death) in his place.
Special Features:
Disc One (The U.S. version, 100 minutes)
NEW! 4K RESTORATION OF THE FILM
Audio Commentary with Asian Film expert Mike Leeder
Game of Death Revisited
Game of Death Locations
Outtake Montage
Deleted Scenes
Alternate Opening and Ending
Bloopers
Theatrical Trailers
Still Gallery
Japanese Print in HD
Disc Two (The Mandarin/Cantonese Version, 90 minutes)
Director: Kim Seong-Hun Cast: Ha Jung-Woo, Bae Doo-Na, Oh Dal-Su, Shin Jung-Keun, Nam Ji-Hyun, Cho Hyun-Chul, Kim Hae-Sook, Yoo Seung-Mok, Park Hyuk-Kwon Running Time: 126 min.
By Paul Bramhall
Not to be confused with the 2014 South Korean horror movie, Tunnel 3D, director Kim Seong-hoon’s latest effort is a decidedly 2D disaster movie, which, in the grand tradition of many a disaster movie, puts its ill-fated location as the title. For many, the concept of Tunnel will most likely bring back memories of Sylvester Stallone bringing his macho heroics to the tunnel that provided the setting in the 1996 disaster movie Daylight. While that movie used the testosterone primed plot of a tunnel filled with flames and enough air to last a few hours, Seong-hoon dials things back to a more realistic setting. 20 years on since Daylight, Kia car salesman Ha Jeong-woo finds himself trapped behind the wheel of his car (a Kia of course), when a tunnel literally caves in on top of him.
It’s unusual for me to cover the plot for a movie I’m reviewing in the very first paragraph, but the plot for Tunnel can essentially be summarised with the above sentence. Just lose the Daylight reference. There’s no doubt that the sales pitch to make Tunnel must have been a tough one, not only is Jeong-woo’s predicament limited to the caved in tunnel, for a large part he’s not even able to budge from the interior of his car, as it’s completely surrounded by rocks and dirt. The fact that Seong-hoon is the man in the director’s chair likely put the producers mind at ease, as his 2013 sophomore feature, A Hard Day, proved to be one of the best thrillers to come out of Korea in a long time. Displaying a deft hand at incorporating a number of laugh out loud moments of black humour into the narrative, he’s an obvious choice to adapt So Jae-won’s novel of the same name.
The same goes for Ha Jeong-woo as the leading man. In 2015 Jeong-woo could do no wrong, starring in Choi Dong-hoon’s Assassination and Park Chan-wook’s The Handmaiden. Ironically Tunnel is not the first time he’s had to put on the equivalent of a one-man show, with 2013’s The Terror Live seeing his performance restricted to that of a TV studio. Jeong-woo brings a likeable presence to the role, and the same applies to the actress playing his wife, Bae Doo-na. After her powerhouse performance in 2014’s A Girl at my Door, the role of the wife in distress seems remarkably slight as a follow-up (not withstanding her 2015 collaborations with The Wachowskis in Jupiter Ascending and the Netflix series Sense8), and she doesn’t have much to do except act upset and hopeful in equal measures, but it’s still a welcome sight to see her back on the movie screen.
Seong-hoon has to be given credit for cutting straight to the chase (which considering the protagonists predicament, may not be the most appropriate word to use). Within the first 5 minutes it’s quickly established that Jeong-woo is (a) a car salesman, (b) it’s his daughter’s birthday and he’s bringing a cake home with him, and (c) the elderly gas station attendant fills his car with more fuel than he asks for, so gives him 2 free bottles of water to apologize. From the moment he drives out of the gas station in the opening scene, it’s only a matter of minutes later when the tunnel he’s driving through begins to collapse around him, in an impressively rendered CG sequence which again goes for realism more than spectacle.
It’s once Jeong-woo finds himself alone, buried under half a mountainside, that we start to see the elements of Seong-hoon’s style that made A Hard Day so successful. The same streak of black humour runs throughout the perilous scenario Jeong-woo finds himself in. From the first time he manages to make contact with emergency services, and the person taking the call fails to grasp exactly how much of the tunnel has ‘caved in’, to his encounters with a mischievous Pug that’s also trapped. Contact is eventually made with the head of the rescue operation that arrives onsite, played by Oh Dal-soo, continuing his mission to appear in every other Korean movie that gets made (in 2015 alone he had roles in 6 productions). While Dal-soo constantly gets cast as the bumbling everyman, somehow he still injects enough of whatever character he’s playing to ensure his performances never blend into one, and here he’s as effective as always.
It quickly becomes apparent that Tunnel has broader intentions than just providing a straight forward tale of a man stuck in a tunnel. Ever since the Sewol ferry capsized in 2014, which resulted in 304 deaths (many of them secondary school students), followed by the government and medias subsequent poor handling of the facts in the aftermath, there’s been an increasing undercurrent of mistrust towards those in authority. This has spread to the countries cinematic output, with productions like Inside Men and Train to Busan taking the opportunity to make scathing attacks on a government which has largely lost favour with the Korean public. This trend continues in Tunnel, however it’s handled in a less angry manner than in the examples mentioned, instead using comedy to take just as effective swipes at the media and government officials.
In one particular scene, Bae Doo-na arrives on the site of the collapse for the first time, and at one point is called to meet a government official. Frantic to hear some good news, the official tells her to look in a certain direction, revealing it to be a photo opportunity for the press to grab a snap of him and the wife of the man who’s trapped together. The other officials then awkwardly step into the shot so that they can each get a photo taken with her for the press. The awkwardness is only matched by how funny it is. In another the rescue team send a drone in to gain visibility on the extent of the cave in. After the drone is airborne, Dal-soo gives the order to the press that they can activate their drones, at which point about 20 others zoom up into the air, some crashing into each other and the entrance to the tunnel in their eagerness to get in first.
It’s a completely cynical look at the way both the media and the government use tragedies to further their own personal interests, but it’s done with a razor sharp wit, easily making such scenes some of the highlights of the movie. Of course Jeong-woo is never off-screen for long, and even without any other characters to immediately interact with, his performance is completely engaging as he comes to terms with his predicament, and exactly how long he’s going to be in it. Suddenly the 2 bottles of water and birthday cake take on a significant level of importance, and the juggling act of trying to keep a cell phone battery alive for an uncertain amount of time, all bring a fitting level of tension to proceedings. Seong-hoon also wrings plenty of subtle comedy from the confined space Jeong-woo is in, such as when he decides to open a bottle of washer fluid and starts cleaning the interior of his car, simply because there’s nothing better to do.
Of course, being the most commercial movie Seong-hoon has helmed to date, it raises the tricky question of exactly how Jeong-woo is going to get out of his seemingly impenetrable burial. Like many Korean movies, regardless of all that’s come before, the tone ultimately leads to a switch towards the melodramatic. This aspect is actually handled relatively well, the main issue is that Seong-hoon aims to cram in a number of scenes regarding the bureaucracy of the rescue attempt, all of which see Jeong-woo disappear off-screen for just enough time to notice. The fact that the scenes are thrown in towards the end also hinder the pacing. From an accidental death, to the public losing interest, to the corporations decision to restart construction on a 2nd tunnel being built. None of these abruptly introduced sub-plots really add to the story, with the new characters the scenes introduce us to barely registering.
Thankfully the plot reins itself back in for the final scenes, providing an expected happy ending that, while predictable, is still very much welcome. Tunnel is clearly Seong-hoon’s most commercial feature to date, and he handles it well, faring much better than higher budgeted Korean disaster movies like 2009’s Haeundae and 2012’s The Tower. While it doesn’t feature any spectacular scenes of mass destruction or feats of heroism, instead it gets by on its sharp wit and a trio of stellar performances from Ha Jeong-woo, Bae Doo-na, and Oh Dal-soo. Its premise may be basic, but thanks to some smart storytelling and an assured sense of direction, the light at the end of the Tunnel is definitely a bright one.
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