Get Up!

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Get Up!
Directed by	Kazuyuki Izutsu
Written by	Kazuyuki Izutsu
Starring	Toshiyuki Nishida, Takako Tokiwa, Taro Yamamoto, Ittoku Kishibe
Release date(s)	2003
Running time	112 mins
Language	Japanese
IMDb profile

Get Up! (ゲロッパ!; Geroppa!) is a 2003 comedy film written and directed by the Japanese filmmaker and critic Kazuyuki Izutsu. It is about a James Brown-obsessed gangster's last day of freedom before he starts a 5 year prison term.

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.

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. 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".

The cast includes Toshiyuki Nishida (Hanemura, the Yakuza boss), Takako Tokiwa (Kaori), Taro Yamamoto (Taro), Ittoku Kishibe (Kaneyama), Kenta Kiritani (Haruhiko), Kohei Yoshida (Kenji), Keiji Nagatsuka (Okabe), Willie Raynor (James Brown impersonator) and Adeyto (Marilyn Monroe impersonator).

[edit] 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.