Despite having directed some excellent films, as in the case of “Dog Bite Dog” and “Love Battlefield” and a masterpiece in “Limbo”, Soi Cheang's filmography is actually filled with titles of questionable quality, to say the least. “Shamo” which is based on the homonymous manga written by Izo Hashimoto and illustrated by Akio Tanaka definitely lies in the second category.
Buy This Title
on Amazon by clicking on the image below
In an expectedly failed effort to fit 34 volumes of a manga into a 105 minutes movie, the script revolves around Ryo Narushima, a young man who ended up in prison for killing his parents. While inside, he is being tortured and abused, with the permission of the notorious warden, Principal Saeki, who seems at least as sinister as the convicts. Just before he commits suicide, though, Ryo is saved by Kenji, a karate master who is in prison for killing the Japanese Prime minister, and who starts training him, after the instigation of Saeki. A training montage ensues, including some fights that highlight how Ryo has progressed, sending other inmates flying, and the next scene has him released, working as a gigolo, and looking for his sister, Natsumi who had announced to him while she was in prison, that she will become a prostitute. Eventually he gets involved with a hostess, Megumi, and becomes part of a feud between the old and the new Banryu group, with the latter, headed by Mochizuki, being in charge of Lethal Fight, a fighting tournament that Ryo wants to reach in order to win against the champion, Naoto.
It is easy to say that nothing makes sense here, even for an HK action movie, with the way the story moves forward and the characters are introduced and presented through the narrative being faulty and nonsensical to say the least. The pacing follows suit, while if anyone ever dares to ask why and when at any given time, they will probably end up with no answers at all. Evidently, transferring manga and anime to the big screen was never easy, even more so back in 2007 when the technological advancement, particularly in SFX, had not reached the level it has today, but that is no excuse for a movie whose narrative does not work even for a minute. Just watch the ending of the fight with the Thai fighter, the way Natsumi's character is presented in the end, and the whole arc of Kenji and you'll realize what I am talking about.
That being said, there are some redeeming qualities here. The cinematography by Fung Yuen-Man is impressive on occasion, with his implementation of shadows in particular being quite memorable. The visual flair extends both to the coloring and the overall presentation of the many settings, with the fight in the woods, the blowjob scene, the visit to Megumi's parlor and the montage of the first time Ryo visits the Lethal Fight being truly memorable. Regarding the last scene, it is also where Kwong Chi-leung's editing finds its apogee, along with the fighting scenes, although the issues with the pace make it rather difficult to deem his work anything more than mediocre
And talking about the fights, there are some that are quite interesting, with the ones in the prison setting the tone, the sparring between Ro and Kenji continuing, and the Lethal Fight ones providing the apogee. There is an issue with the latter, though, since Ryo seems to be receiving constant punishment, without ever proving worthy of the level there, while his ways of reaching the fight with Naoto just make him despicable. As such, the fights end up being disappointing, even through the prism of adding drama to the narrative.
Also of note here is the casting, with Shawn Yeu playing Ryo, Francis Ng Kenji, Ryo Ishibashi Principal Saeki, and Bruce Leung, Mochizuki. Weiting Pei as Natsumi gives a nice performance, if somewhat excessive, but the rest of the actors suffer due to the writing, which essentially makes them appear as caricatures, and not in an entertaining way.
Overall, “Shamo” is a film with very few redeeming qualities, essentially ones addressed only to completionists of some sorts.
