Gôruden suranbâ

Golden Slumber is a conspiracy tale about an everyday guy framed for a political assassination. It is a portrait of nostalgia and friendship. It is a critique of modern Japan's lapdog media and uncritical consumer citizenry. It is also slyly comic.

Nakamura studs his cast design with rockabilly boys, b-list starlets, aging anarchists, and an avenging outlaw, sprawled over 139 minutes, in a narrative that strains but does not break. It is all pulled together in some wonderfully moving moments, as motifs such as fireworks, teachers' gold stars, and personal quirks such as pressing lift buttons with one's thumb recur and are given layered meaning. Great scenes abound - the father telling his son through a media frenzy to escape is both hilarious, and a powerful dig at Japan's lynch mob media.

Yûko Takeuchi as a loyal ex has never been better. Teruyuki Kagawa is his usual reliable self, oozing menace. Masato Sakai leads the line as the naive Masaharu Aoyagi, the fall guy who learns to grow a pair as his troubles pile up. His expressions, both pure and embittered, reveal an actor who knows acting is reacting. The comedy is entertaining, but the emotional punch is perhaps surprising given the significant shift in tone it requires.

A clever, engaging script that holds you all the way. Highly recommended.

This movie is a suspense movie. The main character is Aoyagi. One day, he is mistaken for a murderer so that he runs for dear life. However, when he runs, there are a lot of difficulties. In order to live, he runs away many chaser with the help of his friends. I think that his performance is really good. In particular, I strongly feel sense of urgency. If you are interested in his performance, please watch this movie.

This is a movie that could be a promising mystery/thriller, and does have a capable director and a reasonable cast. However the story itself was so bad that I have no idea how it was even made into a movie.

Just to name a few things that are sorely lacking in this movie without spoiler: 1. No mystery was really solved in this movie. 2. The mystery was not really even developed that much in this movie. 3. How the hero succeeded was nothing short of miracle - multiple miracles in fact. Things that happened really don't make sense in reality.

I could go on to details of which plot holes/coincidences are too incredible but I'd rather not spoil the plot. Suffice to say that there're plenty.

Simply put, if you're looking for a decent mystery/thriller movie, this is NOT it.

Aoyagi (Masato Sakai) is mistaken for a murderer and on the run from the cops. At first glance one would think it to be a simple suspense film, but that's not the case. Each character has a deeper motive. Carefree, open-hearted, soft-spoken, each character seems to have some sort of reliance and trust in Aoyagi.A married couple with child get into an elevator, standing alongside a suspicious hooded man. The elevator descends, and a long take follows them as they walk through the department store. Suddenly, the child disappears. In this moment the film has us nervously thinking, "Something bad must have happened."

With this powerful moment I'd recommend the film. Every scene in the film feels like a pure cinematic experience: when the company owner says to Aoyagi, "i know You aren't the criminal;" when we cut to the scenery outside the car in motion; when the child of the wanted criminal dies. Even normal scenes were certainly shot with meaning. The cooperation of Sendai City during the filming has a positive effect on the movie's quality. Extras who appear in the film for just a few seconds stand with consideration for their own significance, in turn blessed by a splendid film.

As soundly escapist entertainment, it's a shame the film hasn't been screened overseas since its debut in 2010.

This kind of amusing film is an example for what Japanese cinema is all about.

Gotta give this one points for originality.

A none-too-bright (at least at the beginning) fellow is set up as the fall guy in a plot to assassinate the Japanese prime minister. He manages to elude capture through chance, and friends who help him, and sheer luck...again, and again, and...againandagainandagain....

Normally I don't watch this kind of flic, although I found myself thinking "but I watched Skyfall just last week...." But there is some great humor here, especially if you have some familiarity with Japanese culture (not all of the gags translate well). The "Death to Gropers!!" line in particular is ROFL funny...given all the sunny slogans that typically are written by Japanese kids in calligraphy class.

I did find myself cringing the third or fourth time a character sang the Beatles' standard "Golden Slumber", typically out of tune. Have the remote ready, and don't be afraid to hammer that fast-forward button.

You might like this if you can ignore the extreme implausibility of eg. your typical James Bond movie, and enjoy intermittent humor, and unexpected twists.