Get Up!

Plot

Hanemura, the head of a yakuza clan, is 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 goes to prison.

The gang mistakenly kidnaps an American James Brown impersonator, who is also being hunted by aides of the Japanese Prime Minister, seeking to recover incriminating materials that he unwittingly brought into the country.

Meanwhile, Hanemura spends his last day of freedom searching for the daughter he hasn't seen in 25 years.

These storylines intertwine 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 overturned.

Cast

Toshiyuki Nishida as Hanemura, the yakuza boss

Takako Tokiwa as Kaori

Tarō Yamamoto as Taro

Ittoku Kishibe as Kaneyama

Kenta Kiritani as Haruhiko

Kohei Yoshida as Kenji

Keiji Nagatsuka as Okabe

Willie Raynor as James Brown impersonator

Adeyto 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". Mixing slapstick, soul music and tearjerking elements, the plot involves a kidnapped James Brown impersonator, a plot to discredit the Japanese Prime Minister, 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 on October 5, 2003.

Reception

Toshiyuki Nishida was nominated for the Best Actor award at the 2004 Japanese Academy Awards for his performance as the head of a yakuza clan.