Sunlight is a rare commodity in this film, its protagonists preferring to fly mostly by night, and the effect is an almost palatable atmosphere of imminent danger, of mutable events that might never bear up to scrutiny during the day. In line with the noir elements of the story, the outstanding cinematography of Arthur Wong has an almost perpetually dark, greasy feel to it, cut up with splashes of contrasting reflected neon. Yamamoto shines like a light as Natsumi both vulnerable and effervescent, the perfect lethal dame of the detective thrillers of old, a pretty bit of trouble in high heels and a little black dress that the hero just can’t leave alone. The narrative, adapted from a novel by crime fiction author Hase Seishu, whose name was recently associated with Takeshi Miike and the Playstation 2 game Yakuza, deftly measures each step in the act without much slacking off of tension, and Kaneshiro does a reasonable job of authenticating the brooding, cocky character of Keniichi. Is Keniichi digging himself deeper by trying to play off rival syndicates in order to get out of this pickle without getting killed, or is he really more in control of the situation than he looks?Īnd that’s one of the biggest drawcards in Sleepless Town that morbid fascination with watching a man balance on a highwire between opposing forces, and no net below, wondering if he’s going to fall. Keniichi wasn’t born yesterday, and pretty soon it becomes apparent that the only time Natsumi can be trusted to tell the absolute truth is when her mouth is shut. Since Keniichi is known to buy just about anything (with few exceptions) Natsumi has a proposition for him, of the two birds with one stone variety, and it seems like fortuitous timing possibly too fortuitous. The dame in question is Natsumi Sato (Mirai Yamamoto), who is running from the one person Keniichi needs to find if he wants to save his skin. And, as with any decent noir genre story, that’s right about when in walks the dame. Mob boss Yuan is still out for blood over an unanswered murder of some unnamed subordinate for which Keniichi’s pal (played wonderfully and with some momentary poignancy by Kippei Shiina) is responsible, and expects Kenichi to turn his friend over or take the fall in his place. As the film opens, life looks to be veering towards the guard rails with the return of Kenichi’s old partner to Tokyo. Kenichi slides smoothly through this political/social quagmire with the ease of a born and bred player whose survival has come to rely on the very thing that ostracises him – his mixed blood. The Chinatown backstreets of Kabuki-cho are a hot pot of cultural groups, all vying for their share of economic territory, none of it legal. The culturally diverse cast and crew – Takeshi Kaneshiro as Keniichi Ryuu, a half blood Japanese Taiwanese, Eric Tsang as Cantonese crime lord Yuan and Lung Si-Hung as Kenichi’s adopted father and Taiwanese mob boss just to name a few – almost literally reflect the film’s premise. A modern film noir, with all the squalor and seediness that the pleasure district of Tokyo – the infamous Kabuki-cho – can bring to bear, Sleepless Town is a dark, moody thriller of ambitious proportions.
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