Golden Slumber

Golden Slumber (ゴールデンスランバー, 2010) is a Japanese action thriller you can watch online on iFILM — directed by Yoshihiro Nakamura and adapted from Kotaro Isaka's novel, one of the best-selling crime novels Japan produced that decade.

Aoyagi is a delivery driver. No enemies, no history, no reason for anyone to pick him. An old acquaintance drugs him, and he wakes beside the body of the assassinated Prime Minister — with evidence planted, cameras already rolling, and the police on their way. He runs. What he has going for him is a handful of old friends who answer the phone: a pop star who disguises him, a rockabilly courier who drives without asking questions, an elderly gangster who can barely stand, and a serial killer who finds the whole situation cheerful.

Nakamura runs the chase for 139 minutes and keeps it from tipping into exhaustion by grounding the action in what Isaka wrote it about — the specific texture of old friendships, and what people do when one of them needs help. Stream Golden Slumber online on iFILM.