The real thing adaptation, "bed drama, gangster, tragic death", this movie subverts your perception of Jackie Chan
During the War of Resistance Against Japanese Aggression, Japan emigrated 1.5 million people to the areas controlled by Northeast China. After the defeat of the war, Japan fled in a hurry, abandoning all these immigrants to China.
These people are uniformly known as the Japanese expatriates.
In the 1990s, Sino-Japanese relations improved, and Japan formulated a policy of returning overseas Chinese to China. Many northeasterners saw hope and relied on false identities to smuggle into Japan to start a life of gold panning.
These Chinese who are at the bottom of Japan have no status, no formal job, and are often discriminated against by society, and more seriously, they still have to seek a way to survive in the hands of the Japanese underworld.
Director Er Dongsheng began to pay attention to such events in the late 1990s, and after 10 years of collecting materials and integrating materials, he made a unified plan for a large number of real cases of Chinese in Japan, and after 3 years of repeated revision of the script, he finally contributed to this landmark classic film "Shinjuku Incident".
Er Dongsheng and Jackie Chan once had an agreement, he promised to make a literary film for Jackie Chan to change Jackie Chan's fixed image in the hearts of all audiences.
When Jackie Chan received Er Dongsheng's invitation, he agreed without even reading the script, but his wife Lin Fengjiao was the first to stand up against it.
Jackie Chan's father He Guanchang once made a rule: "In the movies shot by Jackie Chan, he can't die, can't have bed scenes, and can't play bad guys."
However, Er Dongsheng's "Shinjuku Incident" completely broke these 3 taboos. The protagonist not only has a bed scene, but is also a triad leader who is eventually hacked to death in the sewers.
Jackie Chan's screen image accumulated over the years was all destroyed by this film, and to this day it is the boldest of all Jackie Chan's works.
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In 2009, "Shinjuku Incident" was released in Hong Kong but not broadcast on the mainland, and the main reason was not that it was "banned".
Because there are a lot of violent scenes in the film, this is a naked challenge for the mainland film market.
At that time, there was no film classification system in the mainland, and director Er Dongsheng could not bear to delete the film footage, and finally chose to release it in Hong Kong.
Kabukicho
"Shinjuku Incident" boldly set the filming location in the world's first "sound and color place", Shinjuku Kabukicho in Tokyo, Japan.
This 500-meter-long street is home to Japanese erotic culture and gangster culture, and is where the story takes place.
The "iron head" played by Jackie Chan does have his own person in history, he is Li Xiaomu, who is second to none in the Chinese world in Japan.
In 1988, Li Xiaomu, who went to Japan to study, was only 27 years old. As soon as he got off the plane, he was infected by Japan's international atmosphere, and the money in his hand was quickly spent.
Li Xiaomu
In order to make a living, he lived near Kabukicho and helped others clean toilets and clean up garbage every day.
Kabukicho, Japan, has an unwritten rule: "Foreigners are not accepted." An important reason for this is that foreigners do not speak the language, coupled with cultural differences, there are often violent incidents, so it is very difficult for tourists to "enjoy" it.
Li Xiaomu saw a business opportunity in it and became the first "insider" in Kabukicho.
The so-called "insider" is the middleman who solicits customers. He was responsible for communicating with the guests and vouching for Kabukicho, from which the "insider" collected the commission after the successful cooperation between the two parties.
In the face of a large number of "evil wolves" who came to visit, Li Xiaomu's business became bigger and bigger. Because "insiders" are legitimate professions, many people are beginning to follow suit, and there is competition.
In order to gain more territory, Li Xiaomu set up his own company and became entangled with the underworld, eventually becoming a "fierce character" that even the Japanese underworld could not afford.
Different from Li Xiaomu's "righteous business", the iron head played by Jackie Chan is all the business of the underworld.
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At the beginning of the film, Xiu Xiu (played by Xu Jinglei) went to Japan to pan for gold by false identity in order to make more money, and has not been heard from since.
In order to find his beloved Xiu Xiu, He smuggled himself into Japan and became one of the lowest migrant workers.
A sentence in the film perfectly reveals the current situation of these Chinese in Japan:
A group of people united because of the oppression and built up their power. Power begins to transform into power, and violence evolves, because power changes humanity.
Wu Yanzu plays Ajay, a timid and fearful stowaway in the movie. In order to live a better life, Jackie Chan and Ajie did a "partial door". Together, they go stealing, reselling fake phone cards, and installing cheats to exchange for game currency.
In the hearts of the audience, Jackie Chan's image is too positive. In order to make Jackie Chan completely "collapse", Er Dongsheng specially arranged a "bed play" for Tietou.
This good scene of "bombing Tokyo" staged by Jackie Chan and Wu Yanzu, although the camera is only a few seconds, has become the biggest attraction, and to this day Jackie Chan has no bed scene.
The cowardly Ajay was not suitable for "fishing for the wrong door", so his friends partnered to buy him a chestnut car.
A few friends who wanted to hug the group for warmth were harassed by the Tainan gang, and Ajie was cut off his right hand and never recovered.
In order to avenge his friend, Iron Head sneaked into the Tainan gang boss and cut off one of the other's hands, but he was involved in the Japanese triad fight.
At this time, the iron head has no choice, he assassinated the triad boss, and helped Toshinari Eguchi (played by Masaya Kato) sit in the "top chair".
The "fat meat" of Kabukicho has since fallen into the hands of the iron head.
Driving out the Tainan gang and taking control of Kabukicho, Tetsuto and his brothers start big business. Money and power poured in in an instant, making the Chinese at the bottom momentarily dizzy.
Ajay began to trade illegally with an iron head on his back, making himself look like a human ghost and not a ghost, with a "kill Matt" look. With power, Ajay becomes a demon who can kill people in the street without scruples, and his inner timidity and cowardice can no longer be seen.
The Chinese became more and more arrogant, and eventually angered the upper echelons of the triad.
When a large number of killers crowded the door, Ajay was once again frightened into pissing. It wasn't until the moment of his death that he repented, and no matter how much he disguised himself, he was still the coward who was afraid of death.
Everyone was killed, including The Iron Head himself, his body floating in the sewers with the waves.
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"Shinjuku Incident" really happened in Japanese history, and these low-level Chinese really almost "bombed Tokyo".
However, the social phenomenon reflected by the event itself is worth pondering.
The iron head played by Jackie Chan is a northeastern man who does not know martial arts and has a simple and honest personality. His only purpose in smuggling into Japan was to find his girlfriend, Hidehide.
When he learned that Hidehide had married triad boss Eguchi Toshinari, he did not change his initial determination.
Although Tie Tou has an affair with Li Li (played by Fan Bingbing), in the end he still gives up Li Li and chooses to save his old lover Xiu Xiu.
While the friends around him swelled up because they had gained power, The Iron Head did the right thing on his own. When a friend has a difficulty and needs help, The Iron Head does not hesitate to strike again.
Everyone is changing because of the change of status, and only the iron head has the same original intention.
Another focus of the film is on Wu Yanzu, judging from the bold styling design of "Shinjuku Incident", the character of Ajay is constantly subverted.
At first he was an honest man who would tremble even when he lied. When the body was persecuted, Ajay began to fear the society, all oppression and violence.
But when he took control of power himself, the fear that had accumulated in his heart turned into a violent release.
Also changing is Aberdeen, played by Qian Jiale. This character was saved by a sentence from the iron head when he appeared, and then he was dead set on being good to him.
When power was transferred to him, Aberdeen began to become cold and selfish. At the end of the film, Aberdeen, faced with the questioning of the iron head, stabs the former benefactor with a knife, and even kills a good friend with his own hands to vent his anger.
This is a reflection of the phrase in the film, "Power makes people change their humanity."
"Shinjuku Incident" is a tragedy, and all the people in the film are killed by power.
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As a literary film, "Shinjuku Incident" shows too many unknown social states.
Jackie Chan went to Kabukicho in Tokyo at the beginning of the filming to feel the atmosphere. As soon as the car stopped, I saw a row of people dressed in black bowing and saying hello on the side of the road, while the shops on both sides of the street were closed.
After asking about this matter, Jackie Chan learned that the Tokyo government attached great importance to Jackie Chan's arrival and specially arranged for people to come to protect him, which turned out to be self-defeating.
Today's Tokyo Kabukicho has no longer had the feeling of being in the limelight. Those Chinese who were born and died in this "prosperous land" have also lived a dull life.
A reporter once asked Jackie Chan what was the biggest feeling of filming "Shinjuku Incident"?
Jackie Chan said: "No place is better than his own country!" ”
Some say they are heroes, some say they are the underworld, and maybe only they understand the hardships along the way.