Hula Girls

Customer Reviews:

• An Inspirational Story Of The Hula Girls Of Japan.: This film is based on a true story about a group of young Japanese women who looking for a way to help out their families, so they saw an ad for a Japanese Hawai'ian dance troupe and decided to become hula dancers. The special features includes the actual story of the Japanese Hula Girls, a step-by-step course on hula dance, and an interview(subtitled in Japanese)with famous Hawai'ian ukelele performer Jake Shimabukuro. Hula Girls is a must for anyone who believes in the little guys(or girls in this case)who can make a difference for everybody.
• Utterly Delightful Tale of Dreams Realized: I had no idea what to expect when I popped Hula Girls into my DVD player, but WOW! did it turn out to be a total cinematic treat. Filled with humor, heartbreak, and redemption, this tiny tale of a Japanese mining town's bid to become a tourist attraction in the 1960's by building a little Hawaii resort is an absolute gem. Peppered with brilliant performances, and fueled by a sweetly moving script "Hula Girls" is dangerously close to being a perfect little film. It reminded me very much of the Peter Yates classic indie film "Breaking Away". See it!
• Sure, it's a tearjerker...: and it doesn't get any more formulaic than this, either. You know exactly what happens next -- every twist and turn of it. There are hardly any surprises in this movie, but believe me, that's not a bad thing.
  
  This movie, the official entry from Japan for the 2007 Academy Awards' Best Foreign Film category (it didn't make the final cut), is a beautiful tearjerker. It is unapologetic about it, and it does not pretend to be anything else. You will shed tears alright, but they're of the cathartic kind. The stuff that truly and thoroughly makes you feel good. You know exactly what happens in the end, too, but the finale will NOT disappoint you, either.
  
  Tearjerkers don't get any better than this one. After a year of such dark, depressing movies as No Country for Old Men, There Will Be Blood, and Atonement, to mention a few, it is wonderfully refreshing to laugh and cry and feel good about all that at the end. I think my mind needed a "reset," and I sure got it with this movie.
• Sweet, Feel-Good Film: "Hula Girls" takes place in 1965 in a small mining town in northeastern Japan. Coal is becoming outdated, and the mine is gradually closing down. To try to keep the town alive, a "Hawaiian Center" is being built and staffed, a place where it is "always summertime." The center is recruiting hula dancers, which is the focus of the film. To help feed their families and change along with the changing times, several coal miners' daughters join up under the tutelage of a disillusioned pro dancer from Tokyo, who was trained in Hawaii.
  
  The film was very sweet, uplifting and enjoyable, and I can see watching it again (but perhaps not again and again). It was, however, a little cliched, as it was very reminiscent of other films of this type, and at several points I was reminded of, in turn, Dirty Dancing, A League of Their Own (there was even a point where the teacher says that there is no crying allowed) or Billy Elliot.
  
  The plot is also a little jumpy, and certain plot points are never played out. There is, for instance, the Tokyo teacher who almost instantaneously transforms from disillusioned drunk (even though we only see one episode of drunkenness) to tough-but-caring mentor. There is also a relationship between the teacher and one of the original dancers that ends up being very close and heart-rending, but we don't see how it got there - all of a sudden, the two are weeping and embracing, but we don't know why they are so attached. In contrast, the relationship between the teacher and Kimiko, one of the other original dancers and one of the stars of the film, is fully developed and logical.
  
  Overall, however, these things can be overlooked if the viewer just expects this to be a feel-good, uplifting movie and nothing more. The acting is generally good (some actors are more subtle than others) and the dancing and costumes are a lot of fun!
• "Every Hula Move Has A Meaning Behind It": Note: Japanese with English subtitles.
  
  The '06 release `Hula Girls' which is based on an actual event is an absolutely exhilarating film that will immediately draw you into the storyline and have you rooting for the irresistible band of would-be hula girls from beginning to end. No wonder it won just about every major award in the '07 Japanese Academy Awards. I honestly cannot think of one negative thing to say about this production. It's dramatic, poignant, bittersweet and downright funny. The storyline is well conceived, the dialogue believable and the retro-Hawaiian soundtrack is in the perfect contrast to the drab landscape of the Japanese coal mining town where the new Hawaiian Center is being built.
  
  This is a film I could watch over and over again and for me that's the bottom line in judging any film. By the way, did I forget to mention the charming and beautiful Aoi Yu in the role of Kimiko. I couldn't take my eyes off her, what an incredible smile!
  
  There is also a second disc containing:
  - The Making of Hula Girls
  - How to be a Hula Girl
  - Hula Girls: The Real Story
  - An Interview with Jake Shimabukuro
  - Original Japanese Trailers
  
  My Highest Recommendation!!