Hula gâru (2006)

User Rating:

7.0/10   

Director:

Sang-il Lee

Writers:

Sang-il Lee (written by) &
Daisuke Habara (written by)

Release Date:

23 September 2006 (Japan)

Genre:

Comedy | Drama

Plot:

Young women in a small Japanese town look to revive their home's declining fortunes by building a Hawaiian village tourist attraction.

Awards:

21 wins & 7 nominations

Cast

Yasuko Matsuyuki	...	Madoka Hirayama
Etsushi Toyokawa	...	Yojiro Tanikawa
Yû Aoi	...	Kimiko Tanikawa
Shizuyo Yamazaki	...	Sayuri Kumano
Shoko Ikezu
Eri Tokunaga	...	Sanae Kimura
Kojo Miyake
Susumu Terajima
Masaru Shiga
Hiroshi Ôkôchi
Daikichi Sugawara
Katsumi Takahashi
Ittoku Kishibe	...	Norio Yoshimoto
Sumiko Fuji	...	Chiyo Tanikawa (as Junko Fuji)

Also Known As:

Hula Girls (International: English title)

Runtime:

USA:108 min | Canada:108 min (Toronto International Film Festival) | Argentina:108 min

Country:

Japan

Language:

Japanese

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

1.85 : 1

Sound Mix:

Dolby Digital

Certification:

Singapore:PG | South Korea:All | Australia:M | Argentina:Atp | Spain:T | Hong Kong:IIA

Company:

Black Diamonds

Trivia:

None of the actresses had any dance training prior to the film, so they trained for three months.

Movie Connections:

Followed by Hula gâru 2 (2010)

Aloha meets Konnichiwa with Struggle, Understanding, Embrace

I saw 'Hula Girl' at the Toronto International Film Festival with the affable director Lee Sang-Il present.

This movie, based on the true story of how a dying coal mining town attempts the preposterous idea of building a taste of Hawaii in the cold town through dancing girls, a huge palm-tree filled centre and an 'outsider' dance teacher from Tokyo.

Almost immediately, you know that this movie will be about the town's struggle to survive pitting the traditional, town-encrusted family against those supporting a potential new way of life. I had thoughts of the Japanese version of 'Shall We Dance' ringing through my mind, but perhaps the dancing is the furthest you can compare between the movies. The emotional depth of the movie was somewhat unexpected...sadness, some corniness, some laughter. Yet the movie worked where it needed to, and kept moving at the right pace leaving me at the end feeling like I had seen everything that had happened. Except that at the end, I had been so entranced with the characters I was wondering how they, themselves turned out.

The movie pulled me in nicely with a strong story that was well developed and a really good watch.

If you're looking for something a little different, and open to learning a little bit about life in a small Japanese town in the 1960s, I think this gives you a good feel for the people, the attitudes, and a change that took grip in a dramatic and light-hearted way.

Kudos to the director and production team!