Golden Kamuy

I have not read the manga or seen the anime series so this was my first experience. The pace of the movie was good and does not feel slow. It has the difficult task of introducing so many characters but by the end you end up understanding pretty much everyone's motivation for finding the gold. The acting was matured and spot-on and does not feel very cartoonish. I would have liked the action to be a bit more innovative, but for now it will do. Anna Yamada does a good job in portraying her character, who is still a bit naive to the outside world. Kento Yamazaki plays the ruffian protagonist to perfection, but also does a great job in where he has to some emotional depth. Yuma Yamoto's portrayal of the slightly crazy Shiraishi is great, and I would love to see some more depth in his character development in the later parts. But I think Hiroshi Tamaki steals the show as the deranged officer Tokushiro Tsurumi. You can see the menace in his eyes and expressions.

I watched the movie with prior knowledge of the story as I had once read the beginning of the original work. This film marks the first one I watched in a theater in 2024. I saw comments in some reviews mentioning that Anna Yamada, who portrayed Asiripa, seemed too mature. Although I can understand that perspective, I actually quite liked Yamada's portrayal of Asiripa; her performance was adorable. Hiroshi Tamaki's acting was also perfectly unsettling, in a good way. Overall, it was fantastic. I sincerely hope that more adaptations of manga originals can be meticulously and successfully brought to life in movies, just like this one.

The Golden Kamui manga should make for an amazing quasi-western. It's got the frontier setting, with war vets seeking their fortunes, native peoples in the mix and swords and guns determining survival and justice. In other words, it has everything a great western needs.

Unfortunately the great story is wasted by terrible direction and an average style. Instead of a cool, stylized western, we get a run-of-the-mill, fit-for-tv drama. This isn't surprising considering the directors less-than-impressive library (a bunch of high-low movies). What's worse, the costumes look like bad cosplay. And the actors look straight out of the make-up room, too clean and pretty for their situations. The final product looks and feels so corny. Where's the grit? Where's the style?

Oh well. I'm going to go rewatch the old Abashiri prison movies to get this bad taste out of my mouth.

So, when a "movie" (notice the quotes) is introducing brand new characters with 30, 20, even 5 minutes left in the run-time, you know they never had any intention of telling a story. This was one big extended trailer for a future series of movies. Nothing ever gets accomplished. No injustice is rectified. No secret is revealed. Nothing.

It is simply a series of scenes where the two leads gather more and more acquaintances along the way.

This "movie" is like the team selection phase of a middle school gym class dodgeball game. All the hype and monologuing, with none of the actual gameplay.

Total false advertising calling this a "movie".

2024film-002(1/30/2024) Having read only the early parts of the original manga series, I watched this adaptation already familiar with the storyline. It became the first movie I saw in theater in 2024. I've come across comments suggesting that Anna Yamada, who portrayed Asirpa, looks too mature, compared to the original manga, and while I understand the sentiment, I actually liked her portrayal. Anna Yamada's performance was charming, and Hiroshi Tamaki's acting was disturbingly (in a good way) spot-on. Fantastic! I earnestly hope for more careful and successful live-action adaptations of manga-based works like this movie.