On Dec. 16, HBO Go will give us the opportunity to watch Brillante Mendoza’s first HBO Asia Original film, Gensan Punch. A lauded film at Busan earlier this year, where it garnered the Kim Jiseok Award; it’s a departure of sorts for Director Mendoza, as it’s essentially a sports film/biopic. It recounts the life of Naozumi Tsuchiyama - a Japanese boxer from Okinawa with a prosthetic leg, who trained and got his boxing license in our own city of General Santos in Mindanao.

Internationally co-produced by Center Stage Productions of the Philippines, and Gentle Underground Monkeys of Japan, and distributed by UK-based SC Films International, the film stars Okinawan-born Shogen in the role of Nao, with Ronnie Lazaro as Coach Rudy, Beauty González as Melissa, Kaho Minami as Nao’s mother, and Jeffrey Rowe as his father. Filming took place in Okinawa, Fukuoka, and in General Santos. And working with Japanese actors, Mendoza talked about how he worked with a ‘non-scripted’ method, and that the boxing sequences were not choreographed.

Mendoza and Shogen were the special guests of a virtual media event that HBO organized, with Asian press. And the two were visibly excited to talk about the film, and what it means to them, recounting their filming experiences, and the elation over the excellent reception the film received in Busan in October.

What drew Brillante Mendoza to the story is partly fueled by how Nao is still alive, having retired some five years ago. Denied a boxing license in Japan for health reasons, Nao truly came to the Philippines, trained in Gensan, won a bout, and earned his license. Unfortunately, he never got to fight professionally in Japan, but this Okinawan lived his dream of being a professional fighter.

As for Shogen, he admitted that when he started his career, his big disadvantage was that Japanese producers would insist he did not look Japanese enough. It was only his determination that eventually opened doors, and for Shogen, this immediately made him sympathize with what Nao went through, as a perceived outsider. That they both hail from Okinawa was just icing on the cake.

Brillante Mendoza was adamant about our knowing that the film has nothing to do with Sen. Manny Pacquiao, or that the film is connected in any way with his political run for the Presidency. It’s just that Pacquiao does hail from GenSan, and it is the boxing capital of the Philippines. In fact, Mendoza went further to say that Gensan Punch isn’t some formulaic sports underdog, or empowering the handicapped, film. Nao was always empowered, taking his dream in his own hands, and forging his destiny.

As for the absence of fight sequence choreography, Shogen smiled saying that Mendoza would just have him spar with real boxers, and it was both scary, and resulted in some minor bruises. Shogen has watched two of Mendoza’s social realism films, and welcomed the opportunity to work under this much-admired, Cannes-winning Director.



This absence of fight choreography only reinforced what Mendoza was saying, how it isn’t a boxing film per se; but more about the relationships Nao made while here in the Philippines, and about his journey to rewrite his destiny. Dec. 16 on HBO Go, for this film that packs a lot of punch, and should be a clear winner.