SASORI (Hong Kong/Japan, 2008)
NORTH AMERICAN PREMIERE
103 minutes, 35mm, Cantonese with English subtitles
Directed by: Joe Ma
Starring: Miki Mizuno, Emme Wong, Sam Lee, Bruce Leung, Lam Suet, Simon Yam
Showtimes: MON June 23, 4:20pm at the IFC Center [Buy Tickets];
THU July 3, 11:55pm (Midnight Show) at the IFC Center [Buy Tickets].
Note: "Buy Tickets" links will take you to the IFC Center website (for shows at IFC Center) and to Japan Society website (for shows at Japan Society). Tickets for each venue must be purchased separately
Get set for a scorching, two-fisted blast of Eastern estrogen fury as Hong Kong reinvents Japanese 70’s action icon SASORI, aka FEMALE CONVICT SCORPION, in the confrontational image of 80’s and 90’s notorious HK Category III films! Even if you've seen the landmark originals starring (mostly) the iconic Meiko Kaji, and heard that their titular hero served as a key influence on KILL BILL, forget everything you know because this eccentric redux is absolutely insane!
The political edge of the 70’s films has been dropped and the backstory has been changed, but the core of the Sasori we love is still there. In fact, this version of SASORI jumps through barrels to make itself its own outrageous beast, its purest link to the originals being its firm positioning between arthouse and grindhouse, its structure and tone often as radical as its set pieces.
A ruthless pack of thugs (including former young HK punk Sam Lee as a cool killer and KUNG FU HUSTLE's legendary Bruce Leung as a pissed-off martial arts master) force mild mannered, caught-in-the-middle-of-something-bigger Nami (Miki Mizuno, from the BAYSIDE SHAKEDOWN films) to murder her fiancee’s sister, ruining her pending marriage and landing her in the most brutal women's prison ever. Inside the hellblocks (naturally ruled over by perennial slimelord Lam Suet), she decides to stop being a victim, and ends up becoming stronger and even more vicious than the craziest inmates. She eventually escapes in a way most unusual, gets valuable fight training from a mysterious mountain man (played by none other than Simon Yam, whose makeshift punching bags are a slew of sheet-wrapped cadavers ghoulishly suspended from trees!) and returns to the streets to make the thugs who ruined her life pay... HARD. By this time, Nami prefers to go by the name Sasori (translation: Scorpion), and the film shifts gears to become a neon-drenched urban revenge story with ultraviolence and glam style to spare.
– courtesy of Mitch Davis, Fantasia Film Festival
