Swing Girls (2004)

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Swing Girls is another fantastic musical comedy Japanese film that stars Ueno Juri as Tomoko, a highschool student who cannot stick into one thing (as said in the movie) which means she immediately loses interest on something after trying it once (like a computer she begged her grandmother to buy for her but ended up not using it because the manual was too complicated). Tomoko was in a Math 13 make-up class along with Yoshie (Shihori Kanjiya) and Naomi (Yukari Toyashima) along with other girls when they met Takuo (Yuta Hiraoka) who was a member of the school’s brass band playing for the school’s baseball team during that time, and Sekiguchi (Yuika Motokariya) who wanted to join the school band. The Math 13 make-up class under Ozawa-sensei (Takenaka Naoto) had to deliver the school band’s lunches when the delivery came late and the band’s bus had already went to the game. Along the way, they ate one lunch and accidentally ruined the rest when they fell into a rice field. The school band ate the lunches without knowing it and ended up all in hospital except for Takuo who was not able to eat one since the girls had ate it. The girls in the make-up class had to fill in for the members and also to escape the Math 13 class. They were taught by Takuo and were already getting interested with the instruments but the members got better and came back. Heartbroken but not wanting to give up, Tomoko bought a secondhand saxophone and started playing in a river bank where she saw Takuo playing his piano. They met with Yoshie, Naomi and Sekiguchi and they raised funds (finding matsutake mushrooms but ended up getting rewarded for killing a boar that’s been raiding the fields) and bought secondhand instruments. They were faced with different challenges but they continued to get better and continued playing (more like practicing) in different places including in front of the supermarket where they did part-time jobs. The other girls from the Math 13 class later joined the group. The film ended in a successful performance from the Swing Girls (and a Boy) in a music festival where they almost wasn’t able to get in. All I can say is that, the film is really fantastic with great comedy and story. Ueno Juri is really a great comedianne and a great actress who can really play her character. it inspires audience by showing that those seemingly hopeless students who only want to have fun in life can also be inspired and once they set their heart on something, they can do it and be good with it. The music was great, too in the end and it was cool to know that the actors themselves learned to play the instruments and played them for real in the movie.