Hula Girls
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
| Hula Girls | |
|---|---|
 |
|
| Directed by | Sang-il Lee |
| Produced by | Bong-Ou Lee Hiroshi Kawai Yoshiaki Hosono |
| Written by | Sang-il Lee Daisuke Habara |
| Starring | Yasuko Matsuyuki Etsushi Toyokawa Yū Aoi Shizuyo Yamazaki Ittoku Kishibe Junko Fuji |
| Music by | Jake Shimabukuro |
| Cinematography | Hideo Yamamoto |
| Editing by | Tsuyoshi Imai |
| Distributed by |  Cinequanon |
| Release date(s) | September 23, 2006 |
| Running time | 120 min. |
| Country | Japan |
| Language | Japanese |
| Allmovie profile | |
| IMDb profile | |
Hula Girls (フラガール Hura Gāru?) is an award-winning Japanese film, loosely based on actual events. The film was directed by Sang-il Lee and co-written by Lee and Daisuke Habara, and first released across Japanese theaters on September 23, 2006. The actual title shot gives the title as "Hula Girl," but the film is commonly known by the plural.
Starring Yasuko Matsuyuki, Etsushi Toyokawa, Yū Aoi, Shizuyo Yamazaki, Ittoku Kishibe, Eri Tokunaga, Yoko Ikezu and Junko Fuji, it is loosely based on an actual event[1][2] and follows the attempts of a group of enthusiastic girls to take up hula dancing to save their village.[3]
Hula Girls was critically acclaimed upon release in Japan[4] and nominated for a total of 12 awards at the 2007 Japan Academy Awards, going on to win five major awards, including that of best film, best director, best screenplay, best supporting actress (for Yū Aoi), and most popular film.[4][5] It also won two major awards at the prestigious 80th Kinema Junpō (キネマ旬報) awards, including that of best film and best supporting actress (for Yū Aoi).[5] Since its release in Japan, the film has been shown across theaters and film festivals worldwide.[1][6]
Contents |
[edit] Story
In 1965, the cold, northern Japanese coal mining town of Iwaki, Fukushima Prefecture was facing unemployment due to reduced coal use as oil became the predominant energy resource in Japan.
The mining company developed a plan to turn a curse into a blessing, thus to provide employment for several hundred of the workers. Hot springs, which seeped into the mines and had to be pumped out, would be used to instead provide heat and humidity for a Hawaiian Center spa resort. The plan is greeted with skepticism and hostility by the miners, but the company went ahead with the plans, recruiting Madoka Hirayama (Matsuyuki) a down-on-her-luck dance instructor from Tokyo to train local girls in the hula.
At first, only a small core group take the challenge. Sanae (Tokunaga) is worried that her widowed father will lose his job, and the ability to support the four kids. She convinces her lifelong best friend Kimiko (Aoi) to join her at the disastrous first meeting. After the rumor runs through attendees that they will be dancing topless, Sanae and Kimiko seem to be the only two listening to the assurances that the rumor is false, as dozens of their companions flee. The two girls are joined by Hatsuko (Ikezu), the organizer's secretary, and Sayuri (Yamazaki), a big-boned, clumsy tomboy girl who towers over her loving, supporting father.
Things go poorly as training begins, and a frustrated Hirayama nearly gives up, until the girls' enthusiasm persuades her to give the plan another try.
Kimiko and her mother, Chiyo (Fuji), have an argument, which prompts the girl to leave home to stay at the school, but as training continues and local unemployment looms, some of the other girls come back and join the school.
On the day that Sanae's father is fired, he comes home to find her in Hawaiian costume, and responds by beating her, destroying the costume and cutting off her hair. This outrages Hirayama, who storms into the bathhouse to which he has retreated and attacks him. When he leaves to another mining town, Sanae goes with him to take care of her siblings, after getting Kimiko, who has become the leader of the hula girls, to promise that she will keep going.
Crushed by the departure of her friend, Kimiko finds it impossible to maintain the focus needed in dancing, to be told by Hirayama that a professional has to ignore personal feelings. This is a manifestation of the adage "The show must go on," but she does not start to accept this until her brother (Toyokawa) tells her to stick with her decision, believe in her teacher, and see it through. She pulls herself together in time to join the publicity tour.
After a disastrous first performance in the tour, the girls come together as a team and the tour is a great success, until a mine accident in which Sayuri's father is caught. Told of the accident just before the last planned performance, the troupe prepares to leave for home. Knowing that her father wants her to succeed, Sayuri begs for the chance to finish the tour. The bus pulls into town hours after Sayuri's father dies, and as distraught family and friends berate her, Hirayama claims responsibility for not returning immediately, accepting another failure in her career.
Her students, however, refuse to let her leave. They run to the train station and succeed in persuading her to stay.
One last crisis develops, however, as the imported palm trees and other tropical foliage are threatened by cold weather before the hot water pipes are connected. As the gardeners plead to borrow stoves to save the plants, the miners condemn them and the whole idea of bringing Hawaii to Japan. In the midst of this crisis, a package from Sanae arrives for Kimiko. Her mother, Chiyo, brings it to the dance studio, where she sees for the first time the grace and skill which her daughter has gained. Chiyo then begins to collect stoves to save the plants and give her daughter the chance to live her dream. She even attends the opening night of the show, at which Kimiko wears the flower sent by Sanae.
The opening show is a great success, establishing the Joban Hawaiian Center (now Spa Resort Hawaiians) as a tourist destination.
[edit] Locations featured in film
- Fukushima Prefecture
- Iwaki
- Furudono, Ishikawa District
- Spa Resort Hawaiians (actual spa resort located in Iwaki)[4]
- Ibaraki Prefecture
- Kitaibaraki
- Takahagi
- Nakaminato Station (located in Hitachinaka)
[edit] Awards
Hula Girls won several awards upon release, including five major awards at the 2007 Japan Academy Awards, including that of best film, best director, best screenplay, best supporting actress (for Yū Aoi), and most popular film.[4][5] It also won best film and supporting actress award (for Yū Aoi) at the 80th Kinema Junpō awards, held on January 9, 2007. At the 31st Hōchi Film Awards, held on November 28, 2006, it won the awards for best film and supporting actress, while at the 19th Nikkan Sports Awards, held on December 5, 2006, it won the awards for best film, best actress (for Yasuko Matsuyuki), best supporting actress (for Junko Fuji) and best new talent (for Yū Aoi). At the 61st Mainichi Film Awards, held on January 19, 2007, it won the awards for best supporting actress (for Yū Aoi) and best film. At the 49th Blue Ribbon Awards, it won the awards for best film, best actress (for Yū Aoi) and best supporting actress (for Junko Fuji).[4] It was also chosen for Japan's entry for the 79th Academy Award for Best Foreign Language Film.
[edit] Production Notes
The dancers spent 3 months learning and becoming skilled in hula.
The character Madoka Hirayama is loosely based on Kaleinani Hayakawa, the original kumu hula at Joban, who stayed for 32 years, while also becoming the founder of the first hula school in Japan. Her work helped inspire the hula craze in Japan.
[edit] References
- ^ a b Kakiseni.com - Hula Girls. Retrieved on 2007-08-24.
- ^ Hula Girls. Retrieved on 2007-08-24.
- ^ Hula Girls. Research Institute for Digital Media and Content, Keio University. Retrieved on 2007-08-24.
- ^ a b c d e Hula Girls (JAPAN 2006). Retrieved on 2007-08-24.
- ^ a b c Hula gâru (2006) - Awards. Internet Movie Database. Retrieved on 2007-08-24.
- ^ Hula Girls (Hula Garu). 2007 Seattle International Film Festival. Retrieved on 2007-08-24.
|
||||||||
