Last Updated on January 23, 2021 by rob
Two strangers who’ve met on the internet, a young computer expert nicknamed ‘Gun’ (Kazuma Suzuki) and an ageing locksmith known as ‘Key’ (Kenichi Hagiwara), plan to rob the office safe of a businessman with gangster connections. The robbery goes fine but on the way out the lift carrying our heroes gets stuck between floors. As the hours pass and the threat of discovery grows Gun and Key’s attempts to escape become increasingly desperate.
Also known by the title of Doubles this is an entertaining crime-comedy about two hapless robbers stuck in a lift while their women (Airi Tair as a schoolgirl and the stunning Ayako Kawahara as the older woman) spend the night in a nearby bar musing about the unreliability of their respective partners. Director Isaka gets round the inherent limitations of the setting through a variety of escape scenarios all of which turn out to be fantasies conjured up by our two heroes who really are stuck. He also keeps us engaged regarding the unfolding connection between two women in an all night bar who befriend each other and the drama unfolding in an office block just across the river from them.
Slight though this is what I most liked about Gun and Key is that it’s as much about these guys wanting to do right by their long-suffering women, even if they fail trying, as it is the heist thrills in which the pair end up in serious peril at the hands of a bunch of Yakuza mobsters. The performances are very assured from all four actors. Paired off for the duration, each has good chemistry with the other. Hagiwara’s world weary crook is a most amusing foil for Suzuki’s flash nerd and they’re matched by Tair and Kawahara as the strangers who bond over drinks and discover that despite their differences of age and status they have more in common than they think. Wisely, there’s no solution to the ‘can’t live with ’em, can’t live without ’em’ conundrum raised here and events conclude pretty much as they begun. Like I say, slight but charming.
