February 06, 2007

28 Stills From Soi Cheang's Shamo!

(Posted In Action Asia Film News Martial Arts )

shamo24small.jpgDirector Soi Cheang stormed back into the public eye with last year's Dog Bite Dog, a very violent, very bleak piece of work which - despite the worst version of You Are My Sunshine ever heard by human ears - stands as a reminder of the sort of raw energy Hong Kong film seemingly used to summon up at will. You can read Peter's excellent review of that film here. Not content to rest on his accomplishment with Dog Bite Dog Soi moved immediately into production on his next film, Shamo, again a very bleak action picture boasting Shawn Yue, Masato, Dylan Kuo, Francis Ng, Bruce Leung, Annie Liu and Ryo Ishibashi in the cast. Here's the synopsis:

After killing his parents, teenaged Ryo became a target for bullying from the moment he arrived in the boys' home he was sent to. As he was being beaten to the verge of death, training officer and fellow prisoner Kurokawa Kenji stepped in and taught Ryo a harsh lesson in survival: If you want to leave prison alive, you'll have to destroy all your enemies. Intensely practicing karate with Kurokawa from then on, Ryo learned to fight until he could defeat his tormentors one by one.

Three years later, Ryo is released from prison. Word gets out in the triad society of his fighting skills and he falls into the care of prostitute Natsumi. Yet no matter how hard he tries, he cannot be accepted in the masses because he had murdered his parents - an act of the lowest of beasts. By chance he finds a new calling: to rise through the ranks of the Lethal Fight karate competition. There could be nothing better to Ryo than overcoming Sugawara Naoto, the championship's most powerful fighter, in the ring. For both Sugawara Naoto, who stands for righteousness, and Ryo, who represents evil, going head to head in a final battle is unavoidable.

Our good friend Jiangtou managed to get a look at twenty eight stills from Shamo courtesy of the film's producers - Same Way Production - and, being the kind and generous soul that his is he has passed them along to us here. Continue on for the complete set.

» Posted by Todd at February 6, 2007 03:35 PM
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Reader Comments

awesome. cannot wait.

» Posted by DanielLee at February 6, 2007 04:48 PM

i'm excited.

» Posted by smarterray at February 6, 2007 07:43 PM

I'm not looking forward to this. I thought Dog Bite Dog's wonderfully kinetic first 1/2 hour was utterly ruined by the leaden writing and acting that followed it...

FYI, Shamo is a manga by Izou Hashimoto. It's a strange mix of prison/crime and sports themes. Lots of raping, thuggery, and dangerous criminals abound though :)

» Posted by kumi at February 6, 2007 08:30 PM

You did watch Shawn in Dragon Tiger Gate...

right... !

» Posted by ROGER at February 6, 2007 08:40 PM

this looks fucking epic (well, on a HK level anyways). can't wait!

» Posted by Brian at February 6, 2007 08:42 PM

by the way...

Dog Bite Dog was a very good movie, from start to finish... !!!

» Posted by ROGER at February 6, 2007 08:42 PM

the team at Same Way are definitely on the ball, they hit a biggie with "Dog Bite Dog", and this could be Shawn Yue's time to shine

They just sent me the stills last night, so we'll be running a full review and itnerviews in Impact very soon

Mike Leeder
www.impactmoviemagazine.co.uk
www.screenops.com

» Posted by mike leeder at February 6, 2007 09:42 PM

Love battlefield and Dog bite dog are IMHO the two of the best Hong Kong movies of the last five years, can't wait for this one!

» Posted by axleu at February 7, 2007 01:15 AM

I thought Dog Bite Dog was crap but this looks pretty nice.

» Posted by Ramen89 at February 7, 2007 05:43 AM

Yeah, there is lots of rape in the manga. Gay rape. Can't wait!

» Posted by Caterpillar at February 7, 2007 06:44 AM

I have read the eight-teen numbers of the manga "Shamo" and I was left in many pieces!I love the Narushima's style and her volunter to survive versus Sugawara!

» Posted by Fardezal at May 19, 2007 09:09 AM

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