I was pleasantly surprised by Fuyajo. Seamy, seedy, with some of the most evocative steady-cam work I have seen in a while. The opening scene, especially, where the camera follows Kaneshiro's character Kenichi through the back-alleys of Kubuchiko, while the soundtrack wails ethereally is quite something. TK gives a solid performance, as usual, while Yamamoto is more-or-less convincing as the morally suspect Natsumi. I did feel, however, that she committed what seems to be a common on-screen faux-pas in Japanese and Taiwanese films particularly, of allowing her character to segue from the believable into the I'm-a-raving-hysterical-banshee-of-a-woman who will (case in point) throw myself out of a moving car if the man I *love* tells me I'm not to be trusted ... kind of stretches the whole verisimilitude thing a bit too far. Other than that, however, and a plot that could have benefited from a tad more exposition, a good film - stunning to look at (snaps to the cinematographer) and engaging to watch.

This Hong Kong/Japan co-production starts out as a traditional gangster thriller, as we meet our youthful hero and find himself caught between opposing sides: a violent criminal gang from Shanghai, who frequently employ torture and murder as their methods, and a lone gunman with psychotic tendencies. The first half hour follows this type of plot with some stylish direction and another solid performance from Takeshi Kaneshiro, who once again delivers a 'quiet but cool' type character with emotions bubbling just under the surface.

Unfortunately, Kaneshiro's character then meets a girl, and the whole film falls flat. For the next hour we're treated to a lifeless romance with one of the most worthless female characters I've seen in a film. The pacing slows down to a snail's crawl while this romance is explored, and the filmmakers do attempt to generate some suspense by keeping their character motivations murky, but it doesn't work very well. Then things pick up in the last half hour, with lots of action and shoot-outs and more twists and turns than in five regular Hollywood movies. I found the last scene to be overlong and devoid of the badly needed emotion it sought to generate, but at least something's going on, unlike in the middle section.

Kaneshiro is a good actor, but his character isn't given a great deal to do here and comes across as a little staid. Yamamoto fails to make her repulsive lead in the least bit likable and suffers because of that, while the excellent Eric Tsang is underused as the mob boss, appearing in all of three short scenes. A lengthy running time and derivative nature of the plot also work against this film, meaning that I didn't think much of it at all.

I forgot how much I liked this movie. Excellent cinematography seldom satisfies without a cohesive plot e.g. Lost Souls. In addition to both, this beauty has a teen-idol popular in Eastern Asia, a gorgeous lead actress (Mirai Yamamoto--you may have seen her spinning a car laying flat on its side in Jackie Chan's "Who Am I?"), a strong supporting cast, twists and more twists, the ever great lyrics of B'Z, captivating story-telling methods, intricate character relationships, and realistic bilingualism. And I cannot emphasize how gorgeous the lead actress is.