Takashi Kaneshiro (House Of Flying Daggers) plays Kenichi Ryu, a Yakuza of mixed blood – his mother was Chinese and his father was Japanese. He lives in Taiwan and he used to work with a local gang, making his living by helping them peddle their 'hot' wares on the streets for cash. When he was told that because he was of mixed descent he wouldn't be able to move up the ladder and get himself a higher position within the mob, he decided to quite and do his own thing.

Soon though, Kenichi gets a blast from his past when word gets out that his former friend and criminal cohort, Fu-Chun, has been making waves again and is heading back into town. The reason he fled in the first place was because he made an attempt on the life of a prominent crime boss in the area, and those guys haven't forgotten him – in fact, they know that they can use Kenichi to get even with Fu-Chun because the level of trust that they'll need to get close to him is already there in their relationship. The mob forces Kenishi to turn against his one time friend, and Kenichi finds that Fu-Chun's current squeeze (Mirai Yamamoto of Who Am I?) is not without her price.

As much about loyalty, honor and friendship as it is about the shoot outs, bitch slapping and macho posturing usually associated with Yakuza/Triad/Asian Gangster films, Sleepless Town is full of strong characters and fine performances. Kaneshiro, a popular actor throughout Asia, does a great job in the lead and balances his role with the right combination of sensitivity and tough-guy-stone-cold cool that he's really a perfect fit. Mirai Yamamoto is also quite good in her role, bringing a sense of menace and confusion to her part that makes it work quite well. It doesn't hurt anything at all that she's absolutely gorgeous to look at, either.

The story moves along at a brisk pace and has enough twists, turns and red herrings in it to keep things truly interesting and rather mysterious. As the story develops, it pulls you in with a few false moves meant to throw you off the trail of who is responsible for what without completely derailing the flow of the movie in doing so.

The biggest bonus that the film has though is the stunning cinematography. The movie just looks great from start to finish, with it's gritty atmosphere and careful lighting that makes clever use of the city shadows and dirty settings. The camera moves fast enough to capture the action when it happens but still manages to create a slick, nicely framed movie with some seriously inspired shots and setups that give the film an edge visually – everything flows very nicely, a testament to the camera work used in the film.

While at times the story does get a little complicated, attentive viewers who take a chance on this one should find themselves rewarded with a rich and complex story and some great characters involved in some very human drama. Those looking for an action film will likely be disappointed as, though there are a few stand out scenes in the movie, the bulk of the film covers the more emotional side of the events in the film, rather than the violence that causes them.

Video:

The 1.78.1 anamorphic widescreen transfer looks pretty sharp for the most part but it hasn't been flagged for progressive scan and so there is some motion blurring visible if watching it on specific equipment. This is a minor quibble, however, as overall the transfer is quite sharp. Colors look surprisingly robust for a modern Japanese film (for whatever reason they usually look a little muted and flat) and while there is some mild edge enhancement noticeable in a scene or two mostly along the lines of the buildings in the film, there aren't any problems with mpeg compression artifacts and the black levels stay pretty solid.