Here's a piece of irony for you. Derek Yee's The Shinjuku Incident - featuring a much heralded dramatic turn from Jackie Chan - will not be exhibited in mainland China due to censorship concerns over the portrayal of Chinese living abroad, but it will be shown in Japan despite an overwhelmingly negative portrayal of the Japanese. And soon, too, judging by the just released Japanese trailer.
It's been a long and winding road for this one. The first obvious sign of trouble came when the film was announced as the opening night film of the Hong Kong International Film Festival, which should have been cause for celebration except they announced it before the film cleared censorship - a sure fire kiss of death, with censors consistently shunning films that refuse to play their game. And that is, of course, exactly what ended up happening with the censorship board demanding massive changes that director Yee refused to go along with. They've tried to spin the banning in a positive light in the international press, playing it up as "Too Violent For China!", which will probably be effective in come circles but will make life mighty difficult when it comes to actually making money on this thing, mainland China being by far Chan's most lucrative market. And then the Hong Kong censors hit the film with a Cat III rating (I haven't seen the official judgement but I assume this is because of the gang element), the hardest rating on the island, and faced with an outright ban on the mainland and a Cat III in Hong Kong, Yee suddenly softened from his hardline 'No alterations!' line and made some cuts to drop the Hong Kong rating down to a softer - and more lucrative IIB. It's still the Cat III cut screening at the HKIFF, though. Phew.
Anyway, all of that to say the Japanese trailer is out and below the break along with the earlier Hong Kong trailer.
** Regular reader and news hound Mary has just passed on some more details on the rating situation for this film, check that out below the break **
Sorry to forget mention this: Derek Yee said that the Cat III rating is because of two violence scenes, and he re-edited those those two scenes to drop the Hong Kong rating down to IIB.Why Derek Yee made cut for Hong Kong, but not made cut for mainland China? Here is the reason (from Grady Hendrix's blog): [SHINJUKU INCIDENT is a Hong Kong/Mainland co-production, with Jackie Chan Enterprises producing in partnership with China Film Group and Poly-bona, and Emperor Entertainment Group repping the picture worldwide. Being a co-production it's subject to Mainland rules regarding films. In the past you could get away with getting a wink and a nod from SARFT (China's censor board) to release one version of a film in China, one in Hong Kong and one internationally, but ever since last year's controversies over the Mainland release of a cut LUST, CAUTION and the sudden banning in the middle of the release of LOST IN BEIJING, which screened one cut at its festival premiere and another cut in China, SARFT has been cracking down and enforcing the letter of the law: one cut for all countries if you want your movie to play in China. Media Asia has most recently run afoul of this, having to reshoot and re-edit LADY COP AND PAPA CROOK in order to have a version accepted for Mainland and international release.]
In short, if Derek Yee made cut for mainland China censor, other countries' distributors of SHINJUKU INCIDENT couldn't be able to release the uncut version of this film; only the SARFT-approved version could be released in theaters worldwide. However, if Derek Yee made cut for Hong Kong censor. the uncut version of
SHINJUKU INCIDENT could still be released in other countries.
hey its Masaya Kato, havent seen him anymore after crying freeman, which is odd, he looks pretty cool for a Yakuza! I demand more Yakuza flicks heh. Looking forward to the shinjuku incident, just not so fond of Jackie playing a emotional role. ....
Ooh. Thank you for pointing out the HKIFF screening. I had forgotten to check the calendar. Just bought my ticket. Along with Che, W., the new Takeshi Kitano and Peter Greenaway films.
Very excited.
I've forked out for the VIP pass so will be going to see everything over the 3 weeks of the festival - my girlfriend isn't sure whether to laugh or cry. Saw a preview screening of Shinjuku Incident about 2 weeks ago and found the whole thing fairly underwhelming. It's not bad by any stretch, but definitely not up to One Night in MK's high standards. The Cat III rating is for violence - in particular two rather nasty incidents inflicted on one of the leads (which have been trimmed for the subsequent theatrical release). Will get a full review over to you asap.
Hm? One Night in MK was pretty average? I mean, sure, it had it's moments but the whole thing was pretty mediocre.
OK fine, then chalk Shinjuku Incident up as "below mediocre"
true story bout jackie chan:
A girlfriend of mine, went to a kung fu university in china about 15 years ago. She was just a young girl, bout 15. One of here teachers was, who could have guessed, Jackie Chan. According to here, he was a very evil, and sadistic teacher.
Because of a trauma, my friend, was terrified to do a handstand. And one day, of course, they where asked to do it, by mr.chan. One after n other they had to do a demonstration, and mr.chan made corrections, and made comments.
When it was my friends turn, she told him she couldn't do it. After asking here twice again, mr.chan grabbed here and hung her upside down, on a Bannister. She kicked, screamed, and cryed, but mr.chan left here dangling for 2 hours until the lesson ended.
When he took here down, he told here "from now on, you won't be afraid of doing the handstand!".. and he was right.
I swear, this absolutely true.
Some things you never forget from peking opera school I guess.
Oh man, did Jackie Chan just shoot Yasuaki Kurata (or a guy that looks like him) in the face at around 1:35?
yes, it was Yasuaki Kurata.