| SLEEPLESS
TOWN (1998)
IMDB
dir.
Cheng Ngai Li starring:
Takeshi Kaneshiro,
Mirai Yamamoto
Cheng
Ngai Li's film set in the Chinese underworld community
in Shinjuku is a tightly directed neo-noir featuring Takeshi
Kaneshiro as a half-Taiwanese half-Japanese freelancer
who is being pressed on all sides by factions who want
to see him take sides.  Playing
a character similar to Tom Regan in Miller's Crossing,
Takeshi Kaneshiro is a small-timer known to everyone, who
is trying to rebuild his credit after his former partner skipped
town but not before shooting a prominent gangster. When it
is learned that his partner has returned under mysterious
circumstances, he is given an order to find and kill him. His
search is further complicated when he is contacted by a woman
claiming to be his partner's girlfriend (the gorgeous Mirai
Yamamoto). In good noir fashion, this complication becomes
a source of sexual tension as he agrees to use her as bait.
Considering
it is essentially a work for hire by director Cheng
Ngai Li, Sleepless Town is a totally classy
film filled with beautiful dreamy shots, wonderful personal
scenes and a really steamy connection between the two co-stars.
The neo noir formula has never worked quite so well as in
the neon lit alleys, restaurants and rooftops of Shinjuku,
even as the stereotypical Yakuza elbow their way through crowds
or the pony-tailed Takeshi Kaneshiro pays his respects in
crowded backroom mob hangouts.
Centered amongst
the playful conventions of hammy, posturing criminals
is the grinning but entrancing romance between Takeshi Kaneshiro
and Mirai Yamamoto. Her nymph-like but cunning byplay slowly
pulling together a more complex scheme draws in the gruff
freelancer who is aware that he is being fooled. He
falls in love with her because we can't but fall in love with
her. The final act becomes a bit of a test for the viewer
who has to sort out a jumble of characters and factions but
the resolving scene, on a wharf with just the two co-stars
embracing one last time under the eyes of the gangsters is
a memorable, rich resolution.
The
DVD from Poker Industries is non-anamorphic and the image
quality is so-so. The extras include a handy chart showing
the connections between the main characters and factions in
the Chinese underworld. You may need it to make sense of the
'sorting out' of characters in the final act.
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