Swing Girls (2004)

There are two different people in this world, one who swings and one who don't."
I may not be the type of person who likes to swing but this movie eventually changed my heart.

The story is simple. Melodrama and over-the-top comedy were thrown out the window. But how it was concocted made this film really refreshing and pleasant to watch. With a pretty setting to boot, these bunch of juvenile girls in uniform took me on a funny, crazy, rollicking ride in their pursuit to becoming a capable and independent youth brass band.

One great fact about this film is that these girls took intensive practice and rehearsal to fill-in their gap as a brass band. So yes, they know how to play those instrument on/off film. Surprisingly, they performed their famous line-up onstage during promotional tours. I guess those months of training and experience eventually formed an amazing chemistry between the band members. It felt so real and genuine which I think is one of the main reason why I came to care and love them more.

One more thing, this movie won't be complete without the jazz and musical scores. Like I said, I wasn't a fan of jazz before. But once I heard them play, I can't stop tapping my foot or dancing to the tune. Even the funny parts were so much fun to imitate. Anyone I know who have seen it came to appreaciate jazz for the first time in their life.

I recommend this film to those who wants to unwind and feel good at the end of the day. Such simple yet sincere film like this are rare to come across. They may be a once in a lifetime brass band but those timeless tune they shared will always stay in my heart. "doo?~dat?~doo?~dat?" That's jazz beat 101 for you.

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A zero to hero story very delightfully packed, the pattern is almost the same as Mr. Shinobu's previous work, "Waterboys", and I thought it would be the same, it turned out that my expectation that this Jazz Band would be a replacement for the food poisoning school brass band until the end turned out to be broken even before the middle of the film, which made me gape and the Swing Girls members were disappointed while pretending to be strong seeing the members of the school brass band recover quickly and take their place again, I also cried when the Swing Girls members left school crying because I knew they had tried so hard and had even done it with heart, but all in vain.

From there I bonded with the characters, especially Suzuki, Takuo, Saito, Sekiguchi and Tanaka; because they can be called the founding members of Swing Girls who try to live their dreams and passions that grew unintentionally.

In the rest of the film, i just enjoying the jazz performance which is very cool while watching the characters of the young people do it with passion, burning enthusiasm and sacrificed a lot of valuable things in their lives to do jazz.

I've read other user review, and must agree that this film better than Whiplash, despite has the same great jazz performance but this film has kawaii girls who sheds blood, sweat & tears.

Absolutely one of the best film I've ever watch and rank up high there.

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Belle découverte

Très belle découverte de ce petit bijou !
Bon certes ce n'est pas le meilleur film de toute la planète. Mais il atteint son objectif. Ce film est un bon moment de détente et de découverte. Si vous aimez la musique en général, vous aimerez découvrir plus sur le style du jazz (et du swing par extension). Si vous n'êtes pas très musique, ce n'est pas grave, vous serez tout de même charmer par ce film.

Swing Girl réussit à allier comédie, enseignement (léger mais tout de même intéressant à savoir) et émotion. Je suis surprise à suivre l'évolution de cette classe d'été de bras cassés, qui essayent le tout pour le tout afin d'éviter de rester à l'école pour des leçons supplémentaires. Ils finissent par se retrouver dans l'équipe de la fanfare. Ce qui n'était qu'une esquive se transformera vite en objectif à atteindre, avec l'aide d'un enseignant un peu particulier, qui lui aussi reprend goût à son ancienne passion. Ces élèves qui ne semblaient avoir rien en commun, à part devoir faire une classe d'été, se retrouvent finalement à partager un but commun et une nouvelle passion commune, un orchestre de jazz.

La leader du groupe, jouée par Ueno Juri, est un personnage ayant un esprit vif et n'a pas la langue dans sa poche. Sa bonne humeur et son énergie est un curieux contraste avec sa famille. Ueno Juri a une énergie folle (selon moi, ce film fut un bon prémisse à Nodame Cantabile).

Donc j'ai beaucoup aimé pour l'histoire, même si ça ne casse pas trois pattes à un canard, la poursuite d'un objectif, les efforts pour y arriver, tous les ingrédients d'un bon "teen movie" asiatique, sans forcément de romance. De belles leçons et des infos pertinentes sur le jazz. Ce film a un côté ludique et didactique en même temps.

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Japan's School of Rock

Japanese films of the 90s and early 2000s are very underrated, at least in my choices, as I keep jumping back and forth between the 50s and... 2010. While the classics are directed by the well-known and acclaimed Kurosawa, Ozu or Kobayashi, whose stories focus on the human condition in countless ways, at the end of the 90s a few names like Iwai, Nakashima or Sono began to appear. These filmmakers created new ‘experimental’ stories, drawing on the many influences imported from the West and others born in Japan itself, such as kawaii culture, animanga and video games. For a certain group of people, these films became cult classics. There was constant feedback of influences and interests between Japan and the West noticeable on the Japanese films from this period.

One of these films, Swing Girls, has become not only my favourite Japanese film, but one of my favourite films ever.

During the summer holidays, while a group of girls are wasting their time in tutored classes, Tomoko, one of these girls, watches through the window as the high school band goes to support the baseball team (perhaps for Koshien?). But just as they leave, the caterer arrives. Tomoko, who wants skip classes, suggests to the teacher that the rest of the class join her in taking lunch to them. After a rather eventful train journey, they deliver the food, which they had previously soiled and exposed to the heat of the Japanese summer. The whole group is food poisoned, and the only member who doesn't get sick because he hadn't eaten, blames them and forces them to take the place of his classmates. Tomoko and the girls take advantage of the situation to continue avoiding lessons, but gradually the music finds its way into their rebellious little hearts.

Swing Girls is literally a live-action adaptation of a school slice-of-life anime, but it's not as cringe-worthy as other films. It is a story of how students with no future, ostracized by their peers and teachers, prove that all it takes to succeed is a goal and enough confidence to achieve it. Moreover, these school stories emphasise living in the moment, because the last years of school life are also the last days of childhood. Entering university means the beginning of adulthood and, as we know, by Japanese standards this means absolute devotion to work and family.

The students stumble upon their passion in unexpected ways, and in almost two hours of footage we follow these girls as they go from teasing their classmates to devoting themselves entirely to music, ending up with a jazz orchestra that Damian Shazeru would have wanted for Wipurasshu. The film is always entertaining and fun, with a cheesy and cheeky humour. I loved this innocence and kindness that subtly surrounds the plot and the characters.

Swing Girls is simple, unassuming, and watching it makes me happy and puts a smile on my face from ear to ear.

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