Not as good as Fish Story

I recently sat down to watch Fish Story on Netflix and I simply fell in love with it. The non-linear chronology and interconnected narrative were brought together perfectly with a cast of fascinating characters and quirky events. I was smitten with it and after importing the Japanese dvd I quickly hit the net to read more about Yoshihiro Nakamura and his films. A movie blog I often visit listed Golden Slumber as one of their favorite foreign films of 2010. I was eager to watch it.

I did, but unfortunately it failed to meet my expectations. I liked the protagonist, ancillary characters and was intrigued by the Hitchcock-esque man-on-the-run story but ultimately I thought all of it failed to make a real impact at the end. I thought the ending was especially weak (though it could leave things open for a sequel). I didn't feel it was enough for Aoyagi to survive. Too many things were still left in a bad state. His name is still sullied, his friends and family are probably still being monitored if the conspirators somehow set-up the discovery of the corpse of faux-Aoyagi (the imposter). It isn't enough for him to just survive. It didn't feel conclusive.

Also, I thought it ran for too long. 2 hours and 20 minutes is just too long for what was covered in the film. Granted it allows more time for character development and to expand on themes, but after the first hour it started to drag for me.

On a positive note, I still like the narrative technique of jumping in and out chronologically (using the Dreamcast game 'Seaman' to establish the time frame was incredibly subtle) and the performances were really heart-felt. I also like that Nakamura seems to feature great pop/rock songs in his films.

A couple things that I'm pondering over:

1. What was Kill-O's motivation for helping Aoyagi? I didn't really understand the character.
2. In this modern age, it would've been easy for Aoyagi to spread the truth around virally on the internet. I thought this was an oversight.