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Crying Freeman

1995, Movie, NR, 101 mins

Crying Freeman: Review

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Based on Kazuko Koike and Ryoichi Ikegami's popular manga and previously made in anime form, this multi-national, English-language tale of a reluctant assassin who is recruited by the Chinese mafia, pitted against Japanese yakuza and cops of all nationalities, and bewitched by an American girl with a tormented family history marked the feature film debut of French director Christophe Gans. Once, Yo Hinomura (Mark Dacascos) was a fine-art potter. But he had the misfortune to witness an underworld assassination at one of his exhibitions and was conscripted by the 108 Dragons, a Chinese crime syndicate with mystical roots. With a massive dragon newly tattooed on his torso, Yo is forced to assume the mantle of the Freeman, a nearly indestructible assassin who weeps silently after each killing. Sent to San Francisco to murder the son of Japanese gangster Takeshi Shimazaki (Kevan Ohszi), the Freeman is seen by Emu O'Hara (Julie Condra, Dacascos' wife), who happens to be painting a landscape in the isolated spot where the murder takes place. A wealthy heiress orphaned when her father, a crusading judge, was murdered by underworld assassins, Emu has remained a virgin out of some sense of guilt for her father's death. Arrested by Interpol agent Netah (Tcheky Karyo), who's in cahoots with the yakuza, Emu sees the Freeman kill Shimazaki and learns that anyone who glimpses his face is doomed to die at his hand. Resigned to her fate, she returns home. When the Freeman comes to kill her, she asks him to make love to her first. They fall in love, but can only be together if the Freeman can extricate himself from the ever-escalating gang war between Shimazaki's successors — egged on by his Lady MacBeth-like widow, Hanaka (Yoko Shimada) — and the 108 Dragons. Made for a mere $8 million and shot primarily in Vancouver, BC, this stylish action film was hugely successful in Europe and Asia but was never released commercially in the US. It has nevertheless developed an enthusiastic cult following through import and bootleg tapes, laserdiscs and DVDs. leave a comment --Maitland McDonagh
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