Hula Girls (2006)

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

Director:

Sang-il Lee

Writers:

Sang-il Lee, Daisuke Habara

Stars:

Yasuko Matsuyuki, Etsushi Toyokawa, Yû Aoi

23 wins & 7 nominations.

Cast

Credited cast:
Yasuko Matsuyuki	...	Madoka Hirayama
Etsushi Toyokawa	...	Yojiro Tanikawa
Yû Aoi	...	Kimiko Tanikawa
Shizuyo Yamasaki	...	Sayuri Kumano
Shoko Ikezu
Eri Tokunaga	...	Sanae Kimura
Kojo Miyake
Susumu Terajima
Masaru Shiga
Hiroshi Ohkôchi
Daikichi Sugawara
Katsumi Takahashi
Ittoku Kishibe	...	Norio Yoshimoto
Sumiko Fuji	...	Chiyo Tanikawa (as Junko Fuji)
Rest of cast listed alphabetically:
Tomori Abe	...	Yoneko Tsutaya

Storyline

In 1965 the planned closing of a coal mine in Iwaki (northeastern Japan) will put 2,000 people out of work with devastating effects on the community. The mining company plans to build the Hawaiian Center to promote tourism, but the idea meets with resistance by the community's union families who boycott the effort. However, a few of the young women in Joban see the call for dancers to possibly provide a more promising future. Norio Yoshimoto is put in charge of organizing the center, with Madoka Hirayama, a professional dancer fleeing creditors in Tokyo hired to train the dancers. Kimiko, her friend Sanae, and Sayuri are amongst the handful first showing up for lessons but soon others join them. When Kimiko's mother, Chiyo, discovers that she has skipped school classes to learn dancing the two argue and Kimiko leaves home. Her brother Yojiro, one of the newly out of work miners, comes to be supportive of her dancing as he becomes protective of Madoka. The girls start to tour ...

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Genres:

Comedy | Drama

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Details

Official Sites:

Official site [Japan] Official site [Taiwan]

Country:

Japan

Language:

Japanese

Release Date:

23 September 2006 (Japan)

Also Known As:

Hula Girls

Company Credits

Production Co:

Black Diamonds, Cine Quanon, Happinet

Technical Specs

Runtime:

121 min 108 min

Sound Mix:

Dolby Digital

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

1.85 : 1

Did You Know?

Trivia

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

User Reviews

A round of applause and bouquets for the girls

My impression of the hula dance - random wave movement of the hands by tanned girls wearing straw skirts with a big flower on the head. That was before this movie.

The Hula Girls, a heartwarming comedy from Japan, tells about the craft, emotions and passion behind this dance. Being Hawaii has almost nothing to do with a depressed and cold mining town, almost devoid of colours and warmth. However, a group of girls from the conservatives to bespectacled obasan, decided to learn the dance to develop this declining town into a Hawaiian Village.

This is a daunting task to a Tokyo dance teacher (wonderfully played by Yasuko Matsuyuki) and a demoralizing act to the conservative skeptics in the small village.

A story about going against all odds may remind you of another Japanese comedy, The Swing Girls. Both movies boost great energy, lovely music and can put a smile on your face.

As Japan official's entry to the 2007 Academy Awards Best Foreign Film, The Hula Girls is not only entertaining, but motivational. It may be small in ambition, but big in what in can achieve – to inspire people to chance, accept, fall and rise again.

It is funny and touching at the small time, pushing your heartstrings (and tear ducts) with the girls' triumph over people who do not believe in them, which includes themselves.

With its infectious energy and stirring movements, this hula dance deserves a round of applause and bouquets.

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