Crying Freeman (film)
Encyclopedia
Crying Freeman is a 1995 French and Canadian produced action film
, directed
by Christophe Gans
, based on the "Portrait of a Killer" arc of the best-selling manga
of the same name
by Kazuo Koike
and Ryoichi Ikegami
.
Despite being heavily promoted by Viz Media
on Animerica
magazine and reprints of the Crying Freeman graphic novel, the film was never released in the United States
. Actor Mark Dacascos
had mentioned on his homepage that Universal Focus
(the company that released Brotherhood of the Wolf
domestically) was to release the film stateside. No update on this report was made ever since.
, a young woman named Emu O'Hara (Julie Condra
) witnesses the murder of a Japanese Yakuza
member. She notices that while the assassin stands emotionless in front of her, his eyes begin to shed tears. The assassin introduces himself to Emu as "Yo" (Mark Dacascos
).
Days later, after Emu returns to her home in Vancouver
, British Columbia
, Canada, the Hakushin Society led by Shido Shimazaki (Mako
) make their appearance at the local police precinct, announcing a war between his clan and the "Sons of the Dragons" - a Chinese
Triad that ordered the assassination of Shimazaki's son in San Francisco. Interpol
detective Netah (Tchéky Karyo
) explains to the police that the Sons of the Dragons are descendants of 108 Buddhist monks who rebelled against the Manchu
reign in China centuries ago, and that they have their bringer of death known in the underworld as the "Freeman." Shimazaki then tells everyone that Emu is the Freeman's next target, as she was the only witness to his son's assassination, and the assassin's code is that a person who is given Freeman's name becomes his next kill. However, shortly after their meeting is adjourned, Shimazaki and his bodyguards are ambushed outside the precinct by a masked Freeman and his assistant Koh (Byron Mann
) (sniping from the top of a nearby building). After dispatching the bodyguards and disabling the nearby police officers, Freeman successfully kills Shimazaki before running off. During his escape, he passes by Emu, who recognizes his eyes through his mask. As Freeman and Koh flee the scene, Emu utters Yo's name to the surprise of Detective Forge (Rae Dawn Chong
), who is assigned to protect her.
Later that night, Emu is interrogated by Netah and Forge over Freeman's identity. Due to a lack of evidence, she is shortly released and escorted back to her mansion. As Netah scouts the mansion's perimeters, he discovers that Forge is knocked unconscious and he encounters Ryuji Hanada (Masaya Kato
) and wife Kimie Hanada (Yoko Shimada
), who are out to claim the Freeman's head and take over the Hakushin Society. Inside the mansion, Emu discovers that Yo is in her room and begins to accept her fate. Yo, however, decides not to kill her and instead, makes love with her. Minutes later, Hanada's men enter the mansion, prompting Yo to immediately kill them before Ryuji confronts him. Koh throws a knife at Ryuji's back and a gun towards Yo. As Yo guns Ryuji down, Ryuji fires his machine pistol out of control, severely wounding Emu. Despite his orders, Yo cannot bring himself to kill Emu; instead, he has Koh drive them to the nearest hospital. En route, Yo tells Emu his last name being Hinomura, and to find him in Hokkaidō
, Japan
. It is later on revealed that Ryuji survived the gunfight by wearing a bulletproof vest.
With the help of members of the Sons of the Dragons (and at the cost of Detective Forge's life), Emu escapes police security at the hospital and flies to Japan to reunite with Yo. Yo tells Emu about his past before becoming the Freeman. He was a renowned pottery
artist who had an exhibition in New York. During the exhibit, someone was murdered by two unknown assailants. He realized that the murder victim placed a roll of film inside one of his vases several seconds prior to his death. Yo developed the photos in his hotel bathroom, revealing the torture and execution of a man wearing dragon tattoos similar to what he would eventually wear. Before leaving his hotel, he was drugged and abducted by the Sons of the Dragons, who implanted subliminal messages into his mind using acupuncture
techniques. During his first mission, where he killed Mafia
boss Antonio Rossi, he began to shed tears; hence his name Crying Freeman.
Yo is notified by Koh that Ryuji and his men have attacked a soya factory in Shanghai
, China
, that was protected by the Sons of the Dragons. As retribution, Yo and Koh travel to Shimazaki's funeral outside Tokyo to kill Ryuji and wipe out the Shimazaki clan. During the funeral, while having sex inside a closet, Kimie reveals to Netah that the Shimazakis were set up by the Hanadas to be assassinated so they could take over the clan. Disguised as Yakuza members recently released from prison, Yo and Koh begin their killing spree on the Yakuza clan. After incapacitating Ryuji by impaling his hand on a wall, Koh tells Yo to make an escape route while he deals with Ryuji personally by dropping an explosive in his pants. While Yo makes his escape, Koh attempts to kill him, only to be gunned down by Ryuji before the explosive destroys him and the house. A dying Koh tells Yo that he was ordered by the Sons of the Dragons to kill him for treason. A vengeful Kimie shoots Koh to death following Freeman's escape.
Yo returns to his home, where he prepares the area to self-destruct and arms himself to battle Netah and Kimie, along with her henchmen. Despite being wounded by Netah, Yo kills the henchmen and defeats Netah and Kimie - the latter by stabbing her near the heart. Yo then gives them an alibi that he killed Shimazaki on a personal feud and that he and Emu committed suicide. When Kimie refuses to accept the alibi on grounds of her husband's death, Yo pulls the knife off her chest, increasing her blood loss. Kimie then accepts the alibi and has her wound mended. While Yo and Emu leave the premises, Netah prepares to shoot them from behind, only to be killed by Kimie. Yo and Emu are last seen riding a speedboat into the sunset.
). Detective Nitta from the manga was also changed to the caucasian Netah. While the original story took place solely in Japan, the film was shot in British Columbia, Canada, with some parts of the region as stand-ins for San Francisco and Japan.
The 108 Dragons - Freeman's crime organization - was changed to the Sons of the Dragons. In addition, while the manga portrays Freeman as an indispensable member of the 108 Dragons, the Sons of the Dragons in the film consider Freeman as an expendable unit, as Yo sees pictures of the execution of a man presumed to be his predecessor. Koh and Netah are killed towards the end of the film, while their manga counterparts die on subsequent story arcs after "Portrait of a Killer" (Koh in "Shades of Death Part 1" and Nitta in "A Taste of Revenge").
wrote a favorable review of the film, citing it as "one of the few of the recent batch of comic-book adaptations that works, Crying Freeman has the potential to ring up the type of big numbers that would warrant a franchise. It's hoped that those involved with the first will still be aboard." Kung-Fu Cult Cinema gave the film a score of 3.5 out of 5, citing that it "is very well worth its weight in action." Beyond Hollywood, however, commented on their review that the acting was sub-par and the film's subplot of Yo's relationship with Emu is "not the best story in the world. It’s really rather, well, stupid."
Action film
Action film is a film genre where one or more heroes is thrust into a series of challenges that require physical feats, extended fights and frenetic chases...
, directed
Film director
A film director is a person who directs the actors and film crew in filmmaking. They control a film's artistic and dramatic nathan roach, while guiding the technical crew and actors.-Responsibilities:...
by Christophe Gans
Christophe Gans
Christophe Gans is a French film director, writer, and producer who specializes in horror, fantasy movies and video game adaptations.-Biography:...
, based on the "Portrait of a Killer" arc of the best-selling manga
Manga
Manga is the Japanese word for "comics" and consists of comics and print cartoons . In the West, the term "manga" has been appropriated to refer specifically to comics created in Japan, or by Japanese authors, in the Japanese language and conforming to the style developed in Japan in the late 19th...
of the same name
Crying Freeman
is a manga by Kazuo Koike & Ryoichi Ikegami about an assassin who sheds tears after he kills his targets. Crying Freeman follows the title assassin, a Japanese man hypnotized and trained by the Chinese mafia to serve as its agent, and covered in a vast and complex dragon tattoo...
by Kazuo Koike
Kazuo Koike
is a prolific Japanese manga writer, novelist and entrepreneur.-Biography:Early in Koike's career, he studied under Golgo 13 creator Takao Saito and served as a writer on the series....
and Ryoichi Ikegami
Ryoichi Ikegami
is a manga artist. He was assistant to manga artist Shigeru Mizuki in 1966. In 2001, he won the Shogakukan Manga Award for general manga as the artist of Heat. He became a professor at Osaka University of Arts in 2005...
.
Despite being heavily promoted by Viz Media
VIZ Media
VIZ Media, LLC, headquartered in San Francisco, is an anime, manga, and Japanese entertainment company. It was founded in 1986 as VIZ LLC. In 2005, VIZ LLC and ShoPro Entertainment merged to form the current VIZ Media LLC, which is jointly owned by Japanese publishers Shogakukan and Shueisha, and...
on Animerica
Animerica
Animerica is a quarterly digest published by Viz Media. It initially started as a monthly magazine featuring reviews of anime and manga titles, as well as related works. After a preview issue was released in November 1992, the magazine's first issue was released in February 1993 with a March 1993...
magazine and reprints of the Crying Freeman graphic novel, the film was never released in the United States
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
. Actor Mark Dacascos
Mark Dacascos
Mark Alan Dacascos is an American actor and martial artist. He won numerous karate and various styles of kung fu championships between the ages of 7 and 18....
had mentioned on his homepage that Universal Focus
Focus Features
Focus Features is the art house films division of NBC Universal's Universal Pictures, and acts as both a producer and distributor for its own films and a distributor for foreign films....
(the company that released Brotherhood of the Wolf
Brotherhood of the Wolf
Brotherhood of the Wolf is a 2001 French film directed by Christophe Gans, starring Samuel Le Bihan and Mark Dacascos, and written by Gans and Stéphane Cabel...
domestically) was to release the film stateside. No update on this report was made ever since.
Plot
One morning, while painting the landscape on a hill in San Francisco, CaliforniaCalifornia
California is a state located on the West Coast of the United States. It is by far the most populous U.S. state, and the third-largest by land area...
, a young woman named Emu O'Hara (Julie Condra
Julie Condra
Julie Michele Condra-Dacascos is an American film and television actress.She was born in Ballinger, Texas, the daughter of Priscilla Condra, and grew up in San Antonio, Texas. During her teenage years, she modeled in various catalogs and commercials.In 1982, Condra had a very small role in the...
) witnesses the murder of a Japanese Yakuza
Yakuza
, also known as , are members of traditional organized crime syndicates in Japan. The Japanese police, and media by request of the police, call them bōryokudan , literally "violence group", while the yakuza call themselves "ninkyō dantai" , "chivalrous organizations". The yakuza are notoriously...
member. She notices that while the assassin stands emotionless in front of her, his eyes begin to shed tears. The assassin introduces himself to Emu as "Yo" (Mark Dacascos
Mark Dacascos
Mark Alan Dacascos is an American actor and martial artist. He won numerous karate and various styles of kung fu championships between the ages of 7 and 18....
).
Days later, after Emu returns to her home in Vancouver
Vancouver
Vancouver is a coastal seaport city on the mainland of British Columbia, Canada. It is the hub of Greater Vancouver, which, with over 2.3 million residents, is the third most populous metropolitan area in the country,...
, British Columbia
British Columbia
British Columbia is the westernmost of Canada's provinces and is known for its natural beauty, as reflected in its Latin motto, Splendor sine occasu . Its name was chosen by Queen Victoria in 1858...
, Canada, the Hakushin Society led by Shido Shimazaki (Mako
Mako (actor)
, born , was an Oscar- and Tony-nominated Japanese actor. Many of his acting roles credited him simply as Mako, omitting his surname. -Early life:...
) make their appearance at the local police precinct, announcing a war between his clan and the "Sons of the Dragons" - a Chinese
China
Chinese civilization may refer to:* China for more general discussion of the country.* Chinese culture* Greater China, the transnational community of ethnic Chinese.* History of China* Sinosphere, the area historically affected by Chinese culture...
Triad that ordered the assassination of Shimazaki's son in San Francisco. Interpol
Interpol
Interpol, whose full name is the International Criminal Police Organization – INTERPOL, is an organization facilitating international police cooperation...
detective Netah (Tchéky Karyo
Tchéky Karyo
-Early life:Karyo was born in Istanbul to a Greek mother and Sephardic-Jewish father and raised in Paris, France. He studied drama at the Cyrano Theatre and later became a member of the Daniel Sorano Company, playing many classical roles.-Career:...
) explains to the police that the Sons of the Dragons are descendants of 108 Buddhist monks who rebelled against the Manchu
Manchu
The Manchu people or Man are an ethnic minority of China who originated in Manchuria . During their rise in the 17th century, with the help of the Ming dynasty rebels , they came to power in China and founded the Qing Dynasty, which ruled China until the Xinhai Revolution of 1911, which...
reign in China centuries ago, and that they have their bringer of death known in the underworld as the "Freeman." Shimazaki then tells everyone that Emu is the Freeman's next target, as she was the only witness to his son's assassination, and the assassin's code is that a person who is given Freeman's name becomes his next kill. However, shortly after their meeting is adjourned, Shimazaki and his bodyguards are ambushed outside the precinct by a masked Freeman and his assistant Koh (Byron Mann
Byron Mann
Byron Mann is an actor who has made films in both Hollywood and Asia. He is perhaps best known for his performance as Ryu in Street Fighter.-Biography:...
) (sniping from the top of a nearby building). After dispatching the bodyguards and disabling the nearby police officers, Freeman successfully kills Shimazaki before running off. During his escape, he passes by Emu, who recognizes his eyes through his mask. As Freeman and Koh flee the scene, Emu utters Yo's name to the surprise of Detective Forge (Rae Dawn Chong
Rae Dawn Chong
Rae Dawn Chong is a Canadian-American actress.-Life and career:Chong was born in Edmonton, Alberta, Canada, the daughter of Maxine Sneed and Tommy Chong. She and her sister Robbi were raised by her grandmother, Tommy Chong's mother. Chong's father is of Chinese and Scottish-Irish ancestry and her...
), who is assigned to protect her.
Later that night, Emu is interrogated by Netah and Forge over Freeman's identity. Due to a lack of evidence, she is shortly released and escorted back to her mansion. As Netah scouts the mansion's perimeters, he discovers that Forge is knocked unconscious and he encounters Ryuji Hanada (Masaya Kato
Masaya Kato
is a Japanese actor and seiyū from Nara in the Kansai region.-Biography:He is currently attached to Burning Production. He stands at 183 centimeters...
) and wife Kimie Hanada (Yoko Shimada
Yoko Shimada
is a Japanese actress. She is best known to Western audiences for her portrayal of Mariko in the 1980 miniseries Shōgun. She was the only female member of Shogun's massive cast of Japanese actors shown speaking English, for which she relied on a dialogue coach, as she was not fluent in the...
), who are out to claim the Freeman's head and take over the Hakushin Society. Inside the mansion, Emu discovers that Yo is in her room and begins to accept her fate. Yo, however, decides not to kill her and instead, makes love with her. Minutes later, Hanada's men enter the mansion, prompting Yo to immediately kill them before Ryuji confronts him. Koh throws a knife at Ryuji's back and a gun towards Yo. As Yo guns Ryuji down, Ryuji fires his machine pistol out of control, severely wounding Emu. Despite his orders, Yo cannot bring himself to kill Emu; instead, he has Koh drive them to the nearest hospital. En route, Yo tells Emu his last name being Hinomura, and to find him in Hokkaidō
Hokkaido
, formerly known as Ezo, Yezo, Yeso, or Yesso, is Japan's second largest island; it is also the largest and northernmost of Japan's 47 prefectural-level subdivisions. The Tsugaru Strait separates Hokkaido from Honshu, although the two islands are connected by the underwater railway Seikan Tunnel...
, Japan
Japan
Japan is an island nation in East Asia. Located in the Pacific Ocean, it lies to the east of the Sea of Japan, China, North Korea, South Korea and Russia, stretching from the Sea of Okhotsk in the north to the East China Sea and Taiwan in the south...
. It is later on revealed that Ryuji survived the gunfight by wearing a bulletproof vest.
With the help of members of the Sons of the Dragons (and at the cost of Detective Forge's life), Emu escapes police security at the hospital and flies to Japan to reunite with Yo. Yo tells Emu about his past before becoming the Freeman. He was a renowned pottery
Pottery
Pottery is the material from which the potteryware is made, of which major types include earthenware, stoneware and porcelain. The place where such wares are made is also called a pottery . Pottery also refers to the art or craft of the potter or the manufacture of pottery...
artist who had an exhibition in New York. During the exhibit, someone was murdered by two unknown assailants. He realized that the murder victim placed a roll of film inside one of his vases several seconds prior to his death. Yo developed the photos in his hotel bathroom, revealing the torture and execution of a man wearing dragon tattoos similar to what he would eventually wear. Before leaving his hotel, he was drugged and abducted by the Sons of the Dragons, who implanted subliminal messages into his mind using acupuncture
Acupuncture
Acupuncture is a type of alternative medicine that treats patients by insertion and manipulation of solid, generally thin needles in the body....
techniques. During his first mission, where he killed Mafia
Mafia
The Mafia is a criminal syndicate that emerged in the mid-nineteenth century in Sicily, Italy. It is a loose association of criminal groups that share a common organizational structure and code of conduct, and whose common enterprise is protection racketeering...
boss Antonio Rossi, he began to shed tears; hence his name Crying Freeman.
Yo is notified by Koh that Ryuji and his men have attacked a soya factory in Shanghai
Shanghai
Shanghai is the largest city by population in China and the largest city proper in the world. It is one of the four province-level municipalities in the People's Republic of China, with a total population of over 23 million as of 2010...
, China
People's Republic of China
China , officially the People's Republic of China , is the most populous country in the world, with over 1.3 billion citizens. Located in East Asia, the country covers approximately 9.6 million square kilometres...
, that was protected by the Sons of the Dragons. As retribution, Yo and Koh travel to Shimazaki's funeral outside Tokyo to kill Ryuji and wipe out the Shimazaki clan. During the funeral, while having sex inside a closet, Kimie reveals to Netah that the Shimazakis were set up by the Hanadas to be assassinated so they could take over the clan. Disguised as Yakuza members recently released from prison, Yo and Koh begin their killing spree on the Yakuza clan. After incapacitating Ryuji by impaling his hand on a wall, Koh tells Yo to make an escape route while he deals with Ryuji personally by dropping an explosive in his pants. While Yo makes his escape, Koh attempts to kill him, only to be gunned down by Ryuji before the explosive destroys him and the house. A dying Koh tells Yo that he was ordered by the Sons of the Dragons to kill him for treason. A vengeful Kimie shoots Koh to death following Freeman's escape.
Yo returns to his home, where he prepares the area to self-destruct and arms himself to battle Netah and Kimie, along with her henchmen. Despite being wounded by Netah, Yo kills the henchmen and defeats Netah and Kimie - the latter by stabbing her near the heart. Yo then gives them an alibi that he killed Shimazaki on a personal feud and that he and Emu committed suicide. When Kimie refuses to accept the alibi on grounds of her husband's death, Yo pulls the knife off her chest, increasing her blood loss. Kimie then accepts the alibi and has her wound mended. While Yo and Emu leave the premises, Netah prepares to shoot them from behind, only to be killed by Kimie. Yo and Emu are last seen riding a speedboat into the sunset.
Cast
- Mark DacascosMark DacascosMark Alan Dacascos is an American actor and martial artist. He won numerous karate and various styles of kung fu championships between the ages of 7 and 18....
as Yo Hinomura/Crying Freeman, a skilled assassin who sheds tears for every target he kills. The role was originally offered to Jason Scott Lee shortly after the release of Dragon: The Bruce Lee StoryDragon: The Bruce Lee StoryDragon: The Bruce Lee Story is a 1993 American semi fictionalized biographical martial arts action film telling the story of actor and martial arts expert Bruce Lee, starring Jason Scott Lee as Bruce Lee, Lauren Holly and Robert Wagner...
, but Lee was still under contract with Universal PicturesUniversal Pictures-1920:* White Youth* The Flaming Disc* Am I Dreaming?* The Dragon's Net* The Adorable Savage* Putting It Over* The Line Runners-1921:* The Fire Eater* A Battle of Wits* Dream Girl* The Millionaire...
for two more films. - Julie CondraJulie CondraJulie Michele Condra-Dacascos is an American film and television actress.She was born in Ballinger, Texas, the daughter of Priscilla Condra, and grew up in San Antonio, Texas. During her teenage years, she modeled in various catalogs and commercials.In 1982, Condra had a very small role in the...
as Emu O'Hara, a woman who witnesses a murder committed by Freeman and eventually becomes his lover. - Tchéky KaryoTchéky Karyo-Early life:Karyo was born in Istanbul to a Greek mother and Sephardic-Jewish father and raised in Paris, France. He studied drama at the Cyrano Theatre and later became a member of the Daniel Sorano Company, playing many classical roles.-Career:...
as Detective Netah, an Interpol agent assigned to assist Vancouver police in protecting Emu from the Freeman. - Byron MannByron MannByron Mann is an actor who has made films in both Hollywood and Asia. He is perhaps best known for his performance as Ryu in Street Fighter.-Biography:...
as Koh, Freeman's partner. - Masaya KatoMasaya Katois a Japanese actor and seiyū from Nara in the Kansai region.-Biography:He is currently attached to Burning Production. He stands at 183 centimeters...
as Ryuji "The Blade" Hanada, Shimazaki's right-hand man until Shimazaki's death makes him leader of the Hakushin Society. - Yoko ShimadaYoko Shimadais a Japanese actress. She is best known to Western audiences for her portrayal of Mariko in the 1980 miniseries Shōgun. She was the only female member of Shogun's massive cast of Japanese actors shown speaking English, for which she relied on a dialogue coach, as she was not fluent in the...
as Kimie Hanada, Ryuji's wife who has an extramarital affair with Netah. - Rae Dawn ChongRae Dawn ChongRae Dawn Chong is a Canadian-American actress.-Life and career:Chong was born in Edmonton, Alberta, Canada, the daughter of Maxine Sneed and Tommy Chong. She and her sister Robbi were raised by her grandmother, Tommy Chong's mother. Chong's father is of Chinese and Scottish-Irish ancestry and her...
as Detective Forge, a Vancouver detective partnered with Netah. - MakoMako (actor), born , was an Oscar- and Tony-nominated Japanese actor. Many of his acting roles credited him simply as Mako, omitting his surname. -Early life:...
as Shido Shimazaki, leader of the Hakushin Society until his death at the hands of the Freeman.
Differences from the manga
The film displays several deviations from the manga's storyline. Most notable in these changes is Emu, the female lead character. In the manga, she was a Japanese woman named Emu Hino; for the film, she was changed to a caucasian woman named Emu O'Hara (possibly named after Scarlett O'HaraScarlett O'Hara
Scarlett O' Hara is the protagonist in Margaret Mitchell's 1936 novel Gone with the Wind and in the later film of the same name...
). Detective Nitta from the manga was also changed to the caucasian Netah. While the original story took place solely in Japan, the film was shot in British Columbia, Canada, with some parts of the region as stand-ins for San Francisco and Japan.
The 108 Dragons - Freeman's crime organization - was changed to the Sons of the Dragons. In addition, while the manga portrays Freeman as an indispensable member of the 108 Dragons, the Sons of the Dragons in the film consider Freeman as an expendable unit, as Yo sees pictures of the execution of a man presumed to be his predecessor. Koh and Netah are killed towards the end of the film, while their manga counterparts die on subsequent story arcs after "Portrait of a Killer" (Koh in "Shades of Death Part 1" and Nitta in "A Taste of Revenge").
Reception
Reviews for the film have been mixed. Leonard Klady of VarietyVariety (magazine)
Variety is an American weekly entertainment-trade magazine founded in New York City, New York, in 1905 by Sime Silverman. With the rise of the importance of the motion-picture industry, Daily Variety, a daily edition based in Los Angeles, California, was founded by Silverman in 1933. In 1998, the...
wrote a favorable review of the film, citing it as "one of the few of the recent batch of comic-book adaptations that works, Crying Freeman has the potential to ring up the type of big numbers that would warrant a franchise. It's hoped that those involved with the first will still be aboard." Kung-Fu Cult Cinema gave the film a score of 3.5 out of 5, citing that it "is very well worth its weight in action." Beyond Hollywood, however, commented on their review that the acting was sub-par and the film's subplot of Yo's relationship with Emu is "not the best story in the world. It’s really rather, well, stupid."