is a 2003

comedy film A comedy film is a category of film which emphasizes humor. These films are designed to make the audience laugh through amusement. Films in this style traditionally have a happy ending (black comedy being an exception). Comedy is one of the ol ...

written and directed by

Kazuyuki Izutsu is a Japanese film director, screenwriter and film critic. Career Born in Nara Prefecture, Izutsu started making 8mm films in high school, and directed his first 35mm film, a pink film, in 1975. He earned a citation from the Directors Guild ...

, starring

Toshiyuki Nishida is a Japanese actor. He has won two Japanese Academy Awards for best actor, for '' The Silk Road'' (1988) and ''Tsuribaka Nisshi 6'' (1993). He has also won the Blue Ribbon Award for Best Actor for '' Get Up!'' and '' Tsuribaka Nisshi 14'' (200 ...

. It is about a James Brown-obsessed gangster's last day of freedom before he starts a 5-year prison term.

Plot

Hanemura is the head of a yakuza clan enjoying his last taste of freedom before starting a prison sentence. He tells the members of his 'family' to disband the clan and go straight. However, his clan 'brother' believes the clan can be saved if they arrange for James Brown to give Hanemura a private performance before he enters prison. The gang mistakenly kidnaps an American James Brown impersonator, who is himself being hunted by aides of the Japanese Prime Minister, who want to recover incriminating materials that he unwittingly brought into the country. Meanwhile, Hanemura is using his last day of freedom to track down the daughter he hasn't seen for 25 years. These plots get entangled when it emerges that his daughter runs the talent agency that had brought the James Brown impersonator to Japan in the first place. After many complications, father and daughter are reunited, Hanemura saves his daughter's company by performing a James Brown routine and his prison sentence is quashed.

Cast

as Hanemura, the Yakuza boss *

Takako Tokiwa is a Japanese actress. Career Tokiwa was nominated for the "Best Actress" award at the Japanese Academy Awards in 2005 for her performance in '' Akai Tsuki''. She co-starred with Hidetoshi Nishijima in Amir Naderi's 2011 film '' Cut''. Fil ...

as Kaori *

Tarō Yamamoto is a Japanese politician and former actor, who is the founder and current leader of the anti-establishment political party Reiwa Shinsengumi. Yamamoto served as a member of the House of Councillors from 2013 to 2019 and was a candidate in the 2 ...

as Taro *

Ittoku Kishibe , born , is a Japanese actor and musician. Career He originally entered show business as the bassist for the Japanese rock bands, The Tigers and Pyg, but later switched to acting. The veteran of over 115 films, he won the Best Actor Japanese Ac ...

as Kaneyama *

Kenta Kiritani is a Japanese actor and singer. He was born in Kita-ku, Osaka. Filmography Films TV series Internet series Dubbing *'' The Legend of Tarzan'', Tarzan (Alexander Skarsgård Alexander Johan Hjalmar Skarsgård (; born August 25, 1976) is ...

as Haruhiko * Kohei Yoshida as Kenji * Keiji Nagatsuka as Okabe * Willie Raynor as James Brown impersonator *

Adeyto Adeyto (also known as Adeyto Rex Angeli and Laura Windrath; born 3 December 1976) is a French artist, singer-songwriter, actress, director, photographer, university professor and fashion designer based in Japan. Biography Adeyto was born in S ...

as Marilyn Monroe impersonator

Production

The Japanese title "Geroppa!" is the Japanese transliteration of the lyric "Get up!" from the James Brown song "

Get Up (I Feel Like Being A) Sex Machine "Get Up (I Feel Like Being a) Sex Machine" is a song recorded by James Brown with Bobby Byrd on backing vocals. Released as a two-part single in 1970, it was a no. 2 R&B hit and reached no. 15 on the ''Billboard'' Hot 100. In 2004, "Sex Machi ...

". Mixing slapstick,

soul music Soul music is a popular music genre that originated in the African American community throughout the United States in the late 1950s and early 1960s. It has its roots in African-American gospel music and rhythm and blues. Soul music became ...

and tearjerking elements, the plot involves a kidnapped James Brown impersonator, a plot to discredit the

Japanese Prime Minister The prime minister of Japan ( Japanese: 内閣総理大臣, Hepburn: ''Naikaku Sōri-Daijin'') is the head of government of Japan. The prime minister chairs the Cabinet of Japan and has the ability to select and dismiss its Ministers of Stat ...

, an adulterous hotel manager, and a daughter who hasn't seen her father for 25 years.

Release

The film screened at the

Busan International Film Festival The Busan International Film Festival (BIFF, previously Pusan International Film Festival, PIFF), held annually in Haeundae-gu, Busan (''also'' Pusan), South Korea, is one of the most significant film festivals in Asia. The first festiv ...

on October 5, 2003.

Reception

was nominated for the Best Actor award at the 2004

Japanese Academy Awards The , often called the Japan Academy Prize, the Japan Academy Awards, and the Japanese Academy Awards, is a series of awards given annually since 1978 by the Japan Academy Film Prize Association (日本アカデミー賞協会, ''Nippon Akademii- ...

for his performance as the head of a

yakuza , also known as , are members of transnational organized crime syndicates originating in Japan. The Japanese police and media, by request of the police, call them , while the ''yakuza'' call themselves . The English equivalent for the ter ...

clan.

References

External links

* 2003 films 2000s musical comedy-drama films Yakuza films Japanese musical comedy-drama films Films directed by Kazuyuki Izutsu 2003 comedy films 2003 drama films 2000s Japanese films {{2000s-Japan-film-stub