![]() This tangled setting, set in night-time, neon-lit Shinjuku, is classic noir material, and that's where Lee Chi-ngai's film centres itself. The film's dialogue, in - at least - Mandarin, Japanese and Taiwanese, makes this complexity audible. Arrayed in shifting patterns around and against this central group are the Shanghai gang (headed by Yuan Chenggui (played by Eric Tsang)), a particularly vicious Beijing group (a small gesture in the direction of political point of view, here, or merely the non-Beijinger's contempt for "northerners"?), with scatterings of Cantonese and Fujianese, plus two children of Japanese colonizers of Manchuria. Ryu Kenichi is connected with the Taiwanese sub-group, headed by Yang Weimin (Sihung Lung). With nary a cop nor detective in sight, Sleepless Town dwells in a self-sustaining underworld fraught with complexity: Chinese gangsters in Japan. From that point on, we're totally immersed in this mixed world of outsiders. To them, he's an outsider: he explains his "bastard" origins: half Japanese, half Chinese (casting comments on diegesis here: Kaneshiro himself is Taiwanese, of mixed Japanese Chinese parentage). ![]() The film addresses its central issue right away: the prologue opens with narrator/protagonist Ryu Kenichi/Liu Jianyi (played by Takeshi Kaneshiro) stopped by police in Shinjuku. It is a hybrid in many ways: a Lee Chi-ngai magical romance grafted onto a baroque neo-noir, a Hong Kong art film cum Japanese contemporary hyper-urban thriller. Sleepless Town, a Japan/Hong Kong coproduction, internalizes the issue of hybridization that can beset transnational film production. Coproductions, though, can come with their own problems, central among them a set of mixed or conflicting agendas. Given the recent phenomenal flow of pop culture products between Japan and Hong Kong, in both directions, it's not surprising that prominent HK filmmakers like Lee Chi-ngai find themselves working on Japanese-financed films like Sleepless Town (others include The Christ of Nanjing (1996), Kitchen (1997), and Moonlight Express (1998)). The Hong Kong film industry, mired in financial crisis for several years now, has looked to several alternative strategies for survival: idiosyncratic, ultra-low budget films that are quick to produce, and less risky if they lose money ( Made in Hong Kong (1997), 9413 (1998), Love Will Tear Us Apart (1999), The Accident (1999)) massive high-concept and high-budget spectaculars that aim to fill the SAR's theaters again ( Stormriders (1998), and A Man Called Hero (1999)) and coproductions, with the mainland, European investors, or East Asian partners who still have money to spend. Xiao Lian/Sato NatsumiĪlso starring :Seijun Suzuki, Toshiya Nagasawa, Kippei Shiina, Shosuke Tanihara, Producers: Masato Hara Tsuguhiko Kadokawa (exec. ![]() The album is available on all digital platforms.Screenplay: Lee Chi-ngai Seishu Hase (novel 2 is an absolute must-listen for fans of alternative rock and alt-country with a folk twist. Packed with powerful vocals, driving rhythms, and infectious hooks, Into The Light Vol. They have supported acts such as Chris Knight, Graham Colton, The Band Camino, and Jake Clemons of Bruce Springsteen’s E Street Band. Set to the vibrant jangle of a ukulele, and propelled forward by joyous "heys”, the song boasts an infectious chorus that just might make it the catchiest tune of the year and 2023's go-to wedding song.įaithless Town’s portfolio boasts some of the most famous stages in the country, including The Whisky a Go Go and The Viper Room. ![]() It is a lively, romantic track featuring a cheerful duet with Leora Joy Perrie of the Canadian folk duo Winsome Kind. “Bride” is the lead single from Faithless Town’s new EP, Into The Light Vol.2, which was released in April 2023. Their sophomore album, Empires, featuring the singles “California Come Home” & “New World Order” was released by Spectra Records in 2020.Ģ022’s Into The Light Vol.1, the first part of a two part album, featured the singles “What I’m Dreaming Of”, “Live Free”, & “Coal Mining Man” and received critical acclaim. Funded by fans through a successful crowdfunding campaign, their first full-length album, American Refugee (2012) featured the single, “Ghosts Of My Hometown”, which received FM radio play throughout the American Southeast. “You may find yourself singing their choruses out loud by the next morning.” - Bored Cityįaithless Town is an Americana rock band from Atlanta, GA.
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