As our old wooden lad once said Hong Kong director Soi Cheang would appear to be saying bleak is the new black. His pics Dog Bite Dog and Shamo are by all accounts violent, relentless and uncompromising. And honestly we here love that this director has given the laboring HK film industry a much needed set of razor sharp teeth. How news of his next film flew under our radar I'll never know but you can trust the lads at 24FPS. They picked up this bit of news earlier this month.
Synopsis: When the facilitator and mastermind behind the intricate plots and designs of their operations is locked up by the special police force, a group of assassins who normally work independently and anonymously must get acquainted with each other for the first time, in order to coordinate their efforts for rescuing their one and only friend.
Yummy. Details on casting were slim but noted action film veterans Louis Koo and Richie Jen have been mentioned already. And just the idea of a number of assassins gathering together to open up a can of whoop-ass is so tantalizing.
I'm hoping to visit the set of this while at the HK Filmart ... expect a lot of news and photos then ...
Can't wait for this. If you haven't, check out Cheang's earlier genre work - HORROR HOTLINE and NEW BLOOD. Both are very cold-blooded, with outstanding atmosphere. NEW BLOOD is one of the best HK horror films of recent years, IMO.
Hopefully this time the man can get a decent script, he has visual flavour, he's just lacking a good story.
Markc: You are correct - Johnnie To is producing this, I just confirmed it by looking at ScreenDaily's production listings. Interesting catch there - I wonder if the film will be more akin to the Milkyway style or the newly established Sameway aesthetic - which means either moderately gritty, or gritty as hell.
Shamo is supposed to get a theatrical release in HK in early March, so I'd guess the HK dvd will be out roughly a month and 1/2 after that.
Thanks for that info. For some reason I thought it had already played HK cinemas in September 2007... Maybe I got that mixed up with a premiere or festival play.