By Matthews Hawkins

Recently making it's North American debut at the New York Asian Film Festival is Shamo, a Hong Kong adaptation of a Japanese manga. The movie is the quintessential example of Asian shock cinema, with a bit of MMA action, hence the review for Wrestling Observer and Figure 4!

The movie tells the tale of one Ryo Narushima, a seemingly mild mannered and perfectly ordinary young man that snaps one day at the dinner table and kills both his parents, though his younger sister who is present is spared. The actual murder and the circumstances surrounding it is never explained... in fact, at a certain point, one might assumed that it was a set-up, perhaps by his sibling, due mostly because of her change in character, but again it's never really explored (in the comic, Ryo is without a doubt the killer, so perhaps the director sought to make mix things up, perhaps to make the character more sympathetic?).

Anyway, our star ends up in a correctional institute where he's thrown to the wolves. Almost instantly he gets raped by the tough guys that are also serving time; as savage as these dudes are, they still have morals, and have zero tolerance for someone that kills his parents. This goes on and on, completely breaking Ryo's spirit. Making things worse is when his sibling comes to visit, and she's no longer the innocent, demur looking little sis from before. Now she's all slutty looking, sucking on a lolipop, and basically stopped by to let her big brother know that she's a mess because of him and has decided to become a whore, so thanks, and hope to never see you again, bye! Ryo takes this worse than being sexually violated by other men, believe it or not.

Eventually, at his wit's end, Ryo tries to kill himself, but is saved by Kenji Kurokawa, the new prison martial arts instructor. Huh, what? So the prison decides to train these ruthless, deranged criminals so they become killing machines? Just one of the many things that makes zero sense in the movie! Anyway, Kenji takes a liking to Ryo for whatever reason... I believe he sees something in him. BTW, the reason Kenji is in the clink himself is he tried to assassinate the prime minister with his deadly kung fu. Anyhow Kenji, portrayed by Francis Ng, one of the best and busiest actors working in Hong Kong cinema today, is perhaps the best part of the film; at a certain point, Ryo finds himself in solitary confinement (due to kicking his assailants' asses, which he was able to finally do thanks to his new teacher's advice), and Kenji must offer instructions in the room next to him, totally blind, simply relying on the sounds of Ryo's arms and legs in the air, as well as his breathing, to know what the kid is doing right and wrong, and it's TOTALLY believable. Though once again, another bit of totally nonsense get thrown into the mix when the prison head decides that he wants Ryo dead and has Kenji do the job. So it's teacher verses mentor with very little logic or emotional payoff. Ryo survives and Kenji gets transferred to another prison.

Now, because Ryo is a minor, instead of spending the rest of his days in the slammer, he's set free after just a few years. So we immediately cut to the future, where he's become a blonde-haired male prostitute, who happens to be servicing a fat woman the evening we happen to catch up with him. No longer a part of the middle class, living in a home surrounded by a white picket fence, Ryo is now living in the city, among the scum and the riff-raff. Though he's not necessarily there cuz he wants to... he's actually looking for his sis. At one point he thinks he spots here and goes to a club with a bunch of ladies of the night all doing striptease acts. Thinking that his sis is part of the scene, he almost understandably disrupts the scene. One particular girl, whom he originally thought was his sis, claims to know who he's looking for, but it's all b.s. and next thing you know, Ryo is fighting with a bunch of tough dudes for messing up their shindgig. Next thing you know, the brawl spills over next door to an arena where a mixed martial arts competition is taking place.

The organization is known as Lethal Fight, and it's made clear that the folks behind the event have some sort of ties to the criminal underground. The fed's champ is one Naoto Sugawara, who is a stand up, kick-boxing type, and is having yet another match that very moment, while Ryo's is going on in the rafters. BTW, the LE seems quite reminiscent of Pride... actually, K-1. You've got a traditional boxing ring, and the presentation and theatrics that you mostly see from Japan. Anyhow, the head of LE (who isn't at all like Dana White... which would have been hilarious) takes a liking to this kid, and decides to sign him up. Though before that happens, we get this brief scene in which some other dude tries to convince Ryo to join his camp, but the head of the Gangryu Group (the body that runs Lethal Fight... so I guess its kinda like Zuffa) shows up and kicks the dude's ass. What purpose this scene serves is beyond me. And the fact that Ryo shows some initial interest in joining this new guy and then immediately does an about face and hooks up with the Gangryu head doesn't exactly help to build Ryo as a likable character. Oh, and in between all this, he ends up hooking up with the prostitute that was pulling his leg earlier. Remember, this is the girl that reminded him of his sister. Exactly...

Eventually, Ryo forms his own camp, consisting of some fat dude Ryo met in prison, who was his only buddy there (he was actually the dude that covered his ass after it was ravaged, so I guess that's a best bud for life), and who is now his manager and trainer, and the new girlfriend, who provides moral support I'm guessing. LE head hancho is excited for his new fighter, if only to exploit him for his own nefarious means. When Ryo heads to the ring for his first fight, against some Muay Thai kick-boxer, and has the crowd at least somewhat behind him, all of a sudden news footage from when he was arrested is shown. And the old pictures of him, as a lanky minor with his parents blood all over him instantly turns the crowd against him. The fight itself was decent... no ground and pound action, but quite exhilarating. Also rather realistic; no wacky kung fu here.

Ryo ends up the victor, which the crowd is less than pleased with.... though the Gangryu head is naturally happy since that just means a stronger heel for Sugawara to take down in the eventual match, which is almost instantly set-up. Guess the director, or perhaps the comic's creator reads Bryan's newsletter and remembers what he's always said about MMA match-making; when you have a hot, potential fight, get that shit done quick, before any of the competitors can possibly loose their steam in other fights beforehand. Naturally, out of the blue, Ryo's old teacher shows up to help him get ready for the match. And this is where the film just gets really silly and retarded. For example, one bit of winning advice that Kenji offers is... shoot up with steroids! There's also a showdown between the two in the dark, in a forest, which looked cool at least, but I'm still trying to figure out what the hell that was all about (unfortunately, I wish I could have taken notes, but when you're in a dark movie theater...).

Eventually, Ryo just becomes a bigger and bigger jerk, to the point that his manager gets pissed and walks out on him, and if I'm not mistaken, the gf gets beaten up on Ryo's behalf, and kinda doesn't give a rat's ass. There's also a scene in which he finally encounters his kid sister, who is a recovering junkie at the same hospital his girl is at (though right before that moment, he's more concerned about stealing meds to further enhance his body than his girl) and the big emotional scene has very little of it. Why? Because Ryo has become such an unsympathetic douchebag we just don't care about him or how he feels. Not helping is how virtually none of Ryo's action has held any semblance of rhyme or reason, so one can't help but give up and put one's brain on auto pilot. But maybe that's the director's intention? A friend of mine who is actually familiar with the original manga tells me that the movie adaptation is pretty spot on... which is actually the biggest problem, how it tries to fit so much into so little space of time.

Though, for the purpose of this review, I guess I should just concentrate on the fighting. Again, given its nation of origin, one might expect mostly kung fu, but it's mostly a mixture of boxing with some MMA sprinkled about, as well as traditional martial arts. There's one big fight scene left in the movie, against Sugawara, and even though the film as a whole has fallen apart by the end, it's still quite enjoyable. Though not to give anything away... despite the fact that the chances of most people reading this being able to get their hands on the film anytime in the near future is rather doubtful... the ending is a bit of a let-down. Once more, the only thing lacking is serious on the ground action. Worth checking out if one ever gets the chance!

So that's Shamo, this year's MMA offering from the NYAFF. Unfortunately, there's been stronger choices in the past, especially when it came to wrestling. My personal fave would have to be Oh! My Zombie Mermaid.

Real quick, the plot goes something like this: Shishio is a pro-wrestler who has just built a dream house for his wife and the kids and decides to celebrate by throwing a huge party. All his pro-wresler buddies are in attendance, and everything’s just dandy until someone with a beef with Shishio shows up to cause trouble, and next thing you know, a full blown battle royal ensues among all the party-goers, and the house is totally trashed (plus it then explodes). Shishio’s wife is then rushed to the hospital, and the initial fear that she might have brain damage from smoke inhalation is quickly dismissed, only to discover that she’s been infected with the “Mermaid Bacteria”. So as her skin peels off to reveal scales underneath, and she starts to grow fins and squeak, Shishio decides to build another house, believing it’ll be the cure to his wife’s affliction.

Problem is, the guy’s swimming in debt, and when he decides to adopt a grueling touring schedule, all the other grapplers in his company quit, leaving only his wife’s sister who helps run things, as well as two wrestling dorks that tag along, by Shishio’s side. With his back to the wall, a sleezy television executive decides to build a new house for Shishio that’s virtually a palace, but there’s a catch: he has to claim it as his own by defeating all a gang of evil wrestlers, and for the television cameras. This evil game of wrestlers btw consists of a barbarian, an army commando-type, an Amazonian woman who might be a guy, a Chinese martial arts expert, and a zombie.

Shishio was portrayed by Shinya Hashimoto, who I believe passed away shortly after the film's production. Anyway, it's easily the greatest wrestling movie that almost no one will ever see. Anyhow, for a taste of the wackiness, simply refer to this trailer: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vfBMTEICMgg.

Matthew Hawkins
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