Quill: The Life of a Guide Dog (2004)

As a Labrador puppy, Quill is sent to live with a couple, Isamu and Mitsuko Nii, who work as volunteers, training guide dogs (seeing eye dogs). When he grows to an adult dog, he is taken to... See full summary »

Director:

Yôichi Sai

Writers:

Ryohei Akimoto (novel), Kengo Ishiguro (novel)

Stars:

Kaoru Kobayashi, Kippei Shîna, Teruyuki Kagawa

2 wins & 1 nomination.

Cast

Cast overview, first billed only:
Kaoru Kobayashi	...	Watanabe Mitsuru
Kippei Shîna	...	Tawada Satoru
Teruyuki Kagawa	...	Isamu Nii
Keiko Toda	...	Yoshiko Watanabe
Tomoka Kurotani	...	Masumi Kubo
Yukika Sakuratani	...	Mitsuko Watanabe
Yawara Matsuda	...	Etsuo Watanabe
Tarô Ishida	...	Hiroshi Totsuka
Kenji Mizuhashi	...	Yuichi Sakai
Chie Sakagami	...	Yoko Kamata
Mantarô Koichi	...	Kawamoto
Kuidaore Uchuutei	...	Yoshinaga
Kiyomi Tanikawa	...	Kyoko Yaguchi
Kouzou Satou	...	Ishibashi
Mariko Miyamoto	...	Housewife

Storyline

As a Labrador puppy, Quill is sent to live with a couple, Isamu and Mitsuko Nii, who work as volunteers, training guide dogs (seeing eye dogs). When he grows to an adult dog, he is taken to a guide dog school, by a friendly, yet firm trainer Satoru Tawada. Although Quill is a little slower than the other dogs at the school, he seems to have an unusual 'empathy' and remarkable patience with his trainers. Tawade decides that Quill would be the ideal guide dog for Mitsuru Watanabe, but Wanatabe, a lonely and ill-tempered middle aged man, isn't as enthusiastic - he would "would rather sleep than be dragged around by a dog.". From here, the story is narrated by Wanatabe's daughter, Mitsuko, and slowly, Wantanbe is rehabilitated, venturing into the outside world, and learning, not only to trust other humans, but the animal at his side who guides him.

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Plot Keywords:

nobility | dignity | kindness | guide dog | dog | 

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Genres:

Drama

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Certificate:

Not Rated

Details

Official Sites:

Quill website [Germany]

Country:

Japan

Language:

Japanese

Release Date:

18 May 2012 (USA)

Also Known As:

Quill: The Life of a Guide Dog

Box Office

Opening Weekend:

$699,117 (Japan), 12 March 2004, Limited Release

Opening Weekend USA:

$1,602, 29 June 2012, Limited Release

Gross USA:

$14,075, 15 July 2012

Company Credits

Production Co:

Eisei Gekijo, Nippon Shuppan Hanbai (Nippan) K.K., Shochiku

Technical Specs

Runtime:

100 min

Color:

Color

Did You Know?

Connections

Featured in Densha otoko (2005)

User Reviews

instructive, pleasant, mainly for kids.

Quill could be billed as a quasi-documentary about how golden lab guide dogs for the blind are trained in Japan. It is all quite informative, but not very dramatically interesting. For the most part, it is child suitable. There is sadness as the dog Quill is taken from his puppy home to be trained, then taken from there to serve, then taken from there when the owner dies. Quill himself eventually dies of old age in an overblown sequence that goes on and on and on like some sadistic Disney flick determined to make every child cry. I was saying out loud, "for pity sake, tell the vet to put him down". The pathos dissipated for me when one character gave instructions to Quill on what to do when he got to heaven. That was just too silly.