Gangster drama THE GAME CHANGER coming to Digital, Blu-ray, & DVD on October 3rd

Well Go USA

Presents

The Game Changer

Directed by Gao Xixi

Starring Peter Ho, Huang Zitao & Na Zha

China, 2017, 133 minutes

An adaptation of the TV series “Shanghai Bund” and set during the gang wars of 1930’s Shanghai, the action-packed gangster drama THE GAME CHANGER debuts on digital, Blu-ray™ and DVD October 3rd from Well Go USA Entertainment. The film stars Peter Ho (Sword Master) and Huang Zitao (Railroad Tigers) as brothers united to bring down a powerful gangster (Wang Xueqi, Iron Man 3).

Synopsis:
Two escaped prisoners join one of the most powerful gangs in Shanghai, the Green Gang, as the right-hand men of the head boss Mr. Tang. When Mr. Tang tries to gain total control over business dealings in Shanghai, he discovers his closest allies are not who they seem and turns against his own men to protect his power.

WHY DON'T YOU PLAY IN HELL? opens today, Friday, November 7th

Drafthouse Films

presents

Why Don't You Play In Hell? / Jigoku de naze warui

Directed by Sion Sono

Japan, 2013, 129 minutes

Sion Sono's Why Don't You Play In Hell? opens today, Friday, November 7th at the Alamo Drafthouse in Austin Texas and VOD. It's a hilarious movie in which an aspiring film crew and two gangs of yakuza who are at war with one another manage to all come together. The film will be opening in various other cities throughout November and into January, 2015. For a complete listing of theaters, cities and opening dates, as well as VOD platforms, click here.

Hirata (Hiroki Hasegawa)

Hirata (Hiroki Hasegawa) and is an aspiring filmmaker. He wants to make Sasaki (Tak Sakaguchi) an action film star, Japan's Bruce Lee. Other members of Hirata's crew -- known as The Fuck Bombers -- are Miki, "king of the dolly shots," and Tanigawa, "queen of hand-held shots."

On the yakuza side of things are the Muto faily, headed by Boss Taizo Muto (Jun Kunimura). His wife is Shizue (actress Tomochika). Their pert young daughter is Mitsuko, who does toothpaste commercials. Following an attempt on Boss Muto by the Kitagawa yakuza clan which Shizue thwarted, she is given a ten year prison sentence.

The film then picks up approximately ten years later, when Shizue's  release date is approaching. Mitsuko, now played by Fumi Nikaidô, wants to make her film debut. The conflict between Muto and Kitagawa is about to reach a bloody climax. And who better to document the carnage than Hirata and his Fuck Bombers?!

Why Don't You Play In Hell? is awesome fun, terrifically enjoyable. There are some fun cinematic references (Bruce Lee's yellow jumpsuit and a red balloon, for example).

Mitsuko, played by Fumi Nikaidô

The film was shown at Japan Society this past July as a co-presentation of the society's JAPAN CUTS film festival and the New York Asian Film Festival. Actress Fumi Nikaidô, who also starred in two other films shown at NYAFF, was presented with the festival's first Screen International Rising Star Award.

AsianCineFest Rating: 3.5 out of 4 stars; very highly recommended.

FRIEND II: THE LEGACY available tomorrow, September 16th on DVD

CJ Entertainment

presents

 
Friend II: The Legacy / Chingu 2

Directed by KWAK Kyung-taek

South Korea, 2013, 121 minutes

Korean language with English subtitles

Friend II: The Legacy, director KWAK Kyung-taek's long-awaited follow-up to his 2001 cult phenomenon Friend, will be available on a single-disc DVD tomorrow, Tuesday, September 16th from CJ Entertainment. The original was a huge hit about four close friends who grew up in the 1970s and the course their lives took under the influence of gang life. It garnered over 8 million domestic admissions, making it the most successful Korean movie to that time. The 2013 sequel had 1.06 million admissions over its first weekend in release in South Korea, topping the local box office despite its "Restricted" rating.

Also known as Friend: The Great Legacy or Friend 2, the film begins with a flashback of LEE Joon-suk (actor YOO Oh-sung reprising his role from the first film) confessing in court that he ordered the murder of HAN Dong-su, one of his childhood friends.

The film then moves into the cinematic present, set seventeen years later as Joon-suk is about to be released from prison after serving his sentence. Before he gets out, however, he's visited by YEON Hae-ji, who requests that he use his influence in the prison to protect CHOI Sung-hoon (KIM Woo-bin), her 27 year old son who is just starting to serve a brief sentence. Joon-suk agrees and thereby saves Sung-hoon, who was marked for death because he and his gang had attacked a temple that was under the control of members of Lee's gang.

YOO Oh-sung as LEE Joon-suk

Upon his release,  Joon-suk finds that he has lost status in the gang that was founded by LEE Chul-ju (JOO Jin-mo) his father. (Chul-ju's founding of the gang in 1963 is shown in one of several flashbacks to various time periods that punctuate the film.) While Joon-suk was incarcerated the Chairman of the gang had health problems, and nefarious gang member Eun-gi essentially seized the power to which Joon-suk was rightly entitled. Joon-suk becomes a mentor to Sung-hoon after he too is released from prison and enlists him and his friends in the upcoming battle with Eung-gi.

I  must admit that I have not yet seen Friend (though I hope to before long), but thatdidn't prevent me from understanding and enjoying Friend II: The Legacy. I do know that the first film was centered on the friendship between the four main characters. The sequel differs in that there is no focus on any friendship between equals or cohorts. Rather it is the relationship between Joon-suk and Sung-hoon, who are basically a generation apart in age, upon which the narrative revolves.

Joon-suk (left) and CHOI Sung-hoon (actor KIM Woo-bin)

DVD Stats:
- Audio Options
  - Korean 5.1 with English subtitles
  - Korean 2.0 with English subtitles
  - english 5.1
  - English 2.0
- Extras
  - Characters
  - Making of Friend IIL The Legacy
  - Cast and Crew Intrviews
  - Trialers (for other CJ Entrtainment offerings; there's no Friend II trailer)

Sung-hoon (left) and Joon-suk

 
Friend II: The Legacy is a crackin' good gangster flick, in the vein of Coppola's Godfather movies, which KWAK has acknowledged admiring.

ACF Rating: 3.5 out of 4 star; highly recommended.

I also highly recommend the Korean Cinema Today podcast, which is also available at iTunes. The November 22, 2013 initial episode has host Pierce Conran talking with director KWAK Kyung-taek about Friend 2.