Krieg in Chinatown

Director Abel Ferrara hit's the street's with this modern take on Shakespeare's Romeo and Juliet set amongst waring Italian and Chinese gangs… this is more so the younger generation… as the much older and wiser mafia / triad figures set out for peace so they don't draw unwanted attention from the man in blue. However these young-guns make it a battleground and caught between it is two love-struck lovers; a Chinese girl Tayn-Hwa and Italian lad Tony Monte. They don't care about colour or race, despite what's happening all around them and what it could do to them or even loved ones.

There's no real surprises to the old hat, if simply low-key material (which was penned by Ferrara's collaborator Nicholas St. John), as we pretty much know how this dangerous story plays out and eventually finishes, however director Ferrara has a gritty, but devoted style and upbeat tempo that's uniquely his own that elevates the conventional framework with his striking eye for a sense of place and powerfully lasting imagery that's uncompromising. He does more than just direct from the screenplay. The concentration on the tough, smoky urban setting (with excellent location photography of New York's bordering neighbourhoods Chinatown and little Italy), helps build a seedy atmosphere where hatred and violence is simply waiting to boil over, as obsession and pride becomes a death wish. Ferrara polarises it very well, especially the conflict not between (which is still quite blistering), but within the same races seeking out honour in who they are ---- this is where it was at its strongest, because the forbidden love angle (while important to the plot's progression) did stall and take away from some of the underlining tension. Although outside of its pushy race card slant, it does feel like it's just building up these explosive acts to glorify its foreseeable conclusion. Joe Delia's melancholy score fits in perfectly.

The performances are down-to-earth and genuinely projected by its cast. Richard Panebianco and Sari Chang are sympathetically touching as the two lovebirds. An admirable James Russo and especially a hot-headed David Caruso bring an unstoppable intensity to their roles. Russell Wong is quite laid-back in a sound performance, in his quest to please his elders by controlling his gang and that of his wayward sister. Journeyman actor James Hong pops up, as well as Robert Miano as heavies.

You might call it lesser Ferrara compared to his other works, but it's involving and efficiently handled with his trademark raw and brutal edge shining through.

William Shakespeare's eternal tale of young love gets yet another version in China Girl. Despite the racial tensions between the Chinese of Chinatown and the shrinking Italian population of Little Italy, Sari Chang and Richard Panebianco find each other and find love. Now if only those who might become their prospective in-laws will stop the hate.

China Girl was filmed completely on location in New York's neighborhoods of Little Italy and Chinatown. As the film says Little Italy where the fabled fictional Godfather had the Genco Olive Oil company is shrinking block by block as the Italians move out and a huge influx of Orientals move in and expand Chinatown. China Girl was done in 1987 so in twenty years the trend is exacerbated.

Players like James Russo, Russell Wong, and David Caruso have all gone on to bigger and better things, they're certainly more known than the leads are now. Still Panebianco and Chang are an attractive pair of kids.

The soundtrack is typical music from the Eighties in keeping with the times. Don't expect any songs for the ages like there were in West Side Story.

China Girl is a nice retelling of Romeo and Juliet a story that as long as there's life on planet Earth will never go out of style.

In the 80's, in New York City, the teenager Anthony "Tony" (Richard Panebianco) lives in Little Italy and works making pizza dough in a pizzeria. He goes to a nightclub, where he meets the gorgeous Chinese teenager Tye (Sari Chang) and they dance together. However the Chinese street gang led by Tsu Shin (Joey Chin) chases him, but he is saved by the Italian gang led by his older brother Alberto "Alby" (James Russo). Meanwhile Tsu Shin decides to blow-up a Chinese restaurant in Little Italy with two other gang members against the will of Yung Gan (Russell Wong), who is Tye's brother and real leader of the gang. His action provokes the wrath of Mr. Gung Tu (James Hong), who is the lord of the Chinese mafia. On the other side, Alby, his right arm and friend Mercury (David Caruso) and their gang decide to go to Chinatown in reprisal to the Chinese attack and the Italian mobster Enrico Perito (Robert Miano) warns them to respect the boundary of their neighborhood since there is a mafia agreement of the leaders. However Tony and Tye fall in love with each other and keep secretly seeing each other in the middles of the conflict between gangs with tragic consequences.

"China Girl" is probably one of the most commercial work of Abel Ferrara. Nevertheless it is a great film supported by magnificent direction and top-notch performances. The story of love and ethnic prejudice in tow close communities in New York City, Little Italy and Chinatown, slightly recalls the storyline of "Romeo and Juliet" and is closer indeed to the "West Side Story". Richard Panebianco and the gorgeous Sari Chang stopped their careers in the middle 90's despite their great performances. Last but not the least, thirty years after its release, "China Girl" has not aged and is still worthwhile watching. My vote is eight.

Title (Brazil): "Inimigos Pelo Destino" ("Enemies by Destiny")

China Girl was a hip and very violent movie, I wish I saw at the cinema, when I had the chance. Italian boy falls for Chinese Girl-true romance, a reciprocated love. Now, here's the impasse: they're both related to warring gangs, even though the Italians, really the good guys, do have it in for the Chinese, where this Chinese Gang are part of a mafia, merely puppets on a string. When the Italian boy, Gino (an impressive Richard Panebianco) narrowly escapes having his lights punched out, when chased by the Chinese gang, the head the lovestruck girl's brother, this doesn't detur him or her, from further progressing the relationship, where they keep sneaking off like little children, despite warnings from their older protectors. As Wong, an Asian actor I love watching, says to her little Sis, Thai (an equally impressive Sari Chang) "You don't understand, you're nothing but a chink to them". I appreciated Wong's honesty, here, where honor runs high among this race. Wong was never truer in his words, too. Gino's older brother, Alby, and his friends are racist goons. In particular is red haired Caruso, who I loved in this, despite playing a d..khead immature character of loathing. One scene has him ordering egg rolls, while disrespectfully making squinting eyes at some Asian cooks nearby, while also insulting the ones serving him. Now that's a d..khead. Panebianco sets him straight defending the Chinese, where a physical fight almost ensues. It would of been good to see how it ended up, if Russo hadn't stepped in, but we know all too well, that Caruso would of one won, ending this conversation by getting Panebianco in a headlock, simmering him, then cutting him loose, where Panebianco would of just shrugged him off, and walked away. It is too, the worst fitting time, for these gangs to be in an escalating turf war, a war which of course, is also personal, caused by our love struck duo, as the Asian and Italian mafia head are trying to make a peace, a business negotiation. This is complicated by the arch enemy gangs, feuding, the main plot of the story, which I really liked. China Girl has great pumping music, it's finale song, I loved, after one of the most memorable and tragic climaxes I've seen. It's a simple message told throughout it's story, the consequences of hate and racism, that we don't just have to view it on screen. The exterior shot settings of Chinatown, and the Italian hood are well chosen. This Romeo and Juliet tale, minus the happy ending, but with stylized violence, a plus, has some great action sequences, one involving a shootout I loved, that ended with Caruso's crazed look, as he mouthed "Mother fu..ers" through clenched teeth. China Girl has it all, where the action/blood craving viewer will get his three dollars worth. One of the '88 movie treats. One of Ferrara's best. Personally, China Girl is his favorite, in his list of filmographies.

'China Girl' is easily Abel Ferrara's most conventional and commercial movie to date. Thankfully it improves on his previous movie 'Fear City', which was too compromised and "Hollywood" to succeed. The story is a basic updating of Romeo And Juliet set against the background of Chinese and Italian gang rivalry. Newcomers Richard Panebianco and Sari Chang play Tony and Tye the ill fated lovers who continue their forbidden romance against pressure from their family and friends. Neither actor has went on to all that much but they are both more than adequate and make a sweet couple. The real action comes from solid performances by James Russo ('Donnie Brasco'), David Caruso ('Kiss Of Death'), Russell Wong ('The Prophecy 2'), Paul Hipp ('Teenage Caveman') and Joey Chin ('Year Of The Dragon'), many of whom went on to work with Ferrara on later projects. It was also good to see Judith Malina ('Dog Day Afternoon') and veteran character actor James Hong ('Big Trouble in Little China') in supporting roles. While by no means as flamboyant and confrontational as Ferrara's best known work, this is a surprisingly entertaining story which should appeal to a much wider audience than his "difficult" but rewarding movies such as the stunning 'Bad Lieutenant' or the fascinating 'The Addiction'. This movie doesn't deserve its obscurity and is well worth a rental.