Japanese gangster movie She’s Just A Shadow on VOD Oct 22

Japanese gangster movie She’s Just A Shadow on VOD Oct 22

A beautiful Japanese madam. A deranged, drug-addled Tokyo gangster and his crew. A sadistic serial killer on the loose. The intersection of these stories, and the interior worlds of these characters, plays out against a dreamlike backdrop of ultra-violence and orgiastic sex as everyone tries futilely to rewrite their futures and cheat death. A dreamlike yet modern take on the gangster genre, SHE’S JUST A SHADOW is the action-packed story of a matriarchal crime family engaged in a vicious gang war, while a deranged killer is leaving his victims on railroad tracks all over Tokyo. The only thing more dangerous than the killer is the vicious love triangle within the family itself.

Director Adam Sherman had this to say about his love of filmmaking , “I honestly don’t know why I write stories or make movies, but I always have. When I was a very small child, I revealed these urges by telling my friends wild stories about dump trucks full of candy being delivered from my grandmother, or far away islands at the bottom of the world that I visited with my dad. It wasn’t long before I realized that this was called lying, and the other kids did not like my stories. Eventually, I started quietly writing my lies down. It was more of a lonely process, but I have been doing it ever since. I discovered at an early age that friends were eager to get back involved in my mad little tales if I pointed a video camera at them. They would say whatever I wanted and do whatever I said. I could even put them in great danger, cause them to grow angry at one another, or watch them fall in love. As an adult, what started with childhood lying has manifested itself into writing and filmmaking. I use basically the same process, it comes from the same desire and ends up as a story for people to see and hear.”

Gaku Nagao, 1st Assistant Director talked about Japanese culture and the reaction to topics in this film, “This film has Drug Culture and Prostitutes, and for the Japanese these are controversial topics… and the main reasons why the Japanese crews had difficulty scouting and finding actors and locations. However, the life of the characters have a unique story and that’s why I joined this production. Also, I wanted to prove to international productions that there are many great film crews in Japan.”

The colorful impact of dense neon-lit streets and Japanese gangsters, with their extensive tattoos and flashy lifestyles, as well as the extreme Yamanba dress and makeup favored by female  denizens of Tokyo’s trendy Harajuku district, shaped the look of Sherman’s story. Yamanba girls favor deep artificial tans, elaborate hair or wigs in colors like silver, orange or lilac, heavily made up eyes with black liner and lashes set off by white shadow, and facial gems or stickers. Their clothing is a bizarre mix of coy Bo-Peep ruffles and knee socks combined with sexy lingerie and
platform shoes. This hybrid Lolita+Yamanba look is what Sherman ultimately chose for his madam’s stable of escorts.

In addition to the vivid look of the characters, Sherman intriguingly cast Kihiro, the front man for Loka, Japan’s wildly popular punk group, as Gaven, best friend and confidant of crime boss Red Hot (Kentez Asaka). Kihiro makes his movie debut in “She’s Just A Shadow,” emphasizing the modern, disillusioned viewpoint of the film as it inherently reflects his punk credentials. Says Sherman about his casting choice, “I try to cast actors that look real, seem interesting to me, and have different types of personalities.”

Here are some stills from the movie:

“She’s Just A Shadow” stars Tao Okamoto, Kentez Asaka, Kihiro, Haruka Abe, Mercedes Maxwell and Mickey Curtis.

Run time: 117 minutes
Director of photography: David Newbert
Editor: Sam Bauer
Original music by: Bobby Johnson
Produced by: Adam Sherman in Association with Michaelgion
Co-producer: MeeRa Kim
Written by: Adam Sherman
Directed by: Adam Sherman

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