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2 items from 2008

2 December 2008 5:31 AM, PST | Twitch | See recent Twitch news »

Shinobu Yaguchi’s breakout movie, Waterboys, was a commercial and critical smash, elevating its writer/director from low-budget indie flicks to the big league. But the zany tale of a group of schoolboy losers who form a synchronized swimming team didn’t do his creative muse much good. When it came time to make a proper follow-up (after the little-seen anthology Parco Fiction), he did the obvious thing: he made the same film again. 2004’s Swing Girls was a much more polished piece of work, but there was no escaping the fact that its zany tale of a group of schoolgirl losers who form a swing band was kind of… familiar.

Based on the name alone, you could be forgiven for expecting Happy Flight, Yaguchi’s latest feature, to be the zany tale of a group of university drop-outs who form a budget airline company. It isn’t, thankfully. Breaking »

- James Hadfield

16 September 2008 8:52 AM, PDT | Twitch | See recent Twitch news »

Yes, Kevin over at Nippon Cinema - always worth a read - has been covering this one for a while but in the lead up to the madness that is the Toronto International Film Festival I just didn’t have the chance to check out the latest from the director of Swing Girls and Waterboys until now.  As with those two films the latest from Shinobu Yaguchi looks to be a clever, sophisticated comedy though this time his protagonists have aged a little:  Yaguchi has graduated from high school and this time focuses on the world of airline attendants which certainly seems like fertile ground for a mind like Yaguchi’s. 

The first teaser was little more than an announcement that the film existed but the latest spot is much more substantive and looks to be a very good time.  Check it out in the Twitch Player below the break. »

- Todd Brown

2 items from 2008