Hiragana Times Archive
This month Selection 3
A Story of Country Girls Trying to Regenerate their Town
Hula Girls (directed by Lee-Sang IL)
This is a heartwarming masterpiece based on a true story. In 1965, when the coal mining industry was in obvious decline, a large number of lay-offs was planned at the Joban Mine in Iwaki City, Fukushima Prefecture. In order to rescue the city a project to build a theme-park called "Joban Hawaiian Center" was begun. As a backdrop to the project, overseas travel was permitted for everyone in the previous year in Japan and people longed to travel overseas. Hawaii was a dream destination for Japanese at that time, but it was beyond their reach.
Hula was planned to be the center's special feature and a woman called Madoka comes to the town from Tokyo to teach the girls in the mine how to dance hula. She used to be a star dancer and is arrogant. She seems to have some problems. The girls are embarrassed to show their bellies and swing their hips, so only a few girls apply to be dancers. One of them is the main character, Kimiko. Her mother, who lives for the mine, strongly opposes her becoming a dancer and the mine residents are against the project, which leads to number of difficulties.
Dance lessons begin and it becomes clear that the girls have no experience of dancing at all. Madoka is disgusted at this; however, she begins to teach with passion because of the girls' enthusiasm. It is also a fresh start for her. As a result, the number of dancers increases and the relationship between Madoka and girls becomes gradually stronger. The story includes Kimiko's being parted from her best friend and Madoka's debt trouble. The Fukushima dialect makes the audience feel at ease with the movie.
Before the opening, the dancers perform at local facilities to practice and bit by bit they begin to gain professional pride. At that time a father of one of the girls dies in a mine accident. They continue with a planned performance at the wishes of the girl. However, when they return to the town, people in the town criticize Madoka for not letting the daughter come back to be with her father when he dies. Madoka takes responsibility and leaves for Tokyo. The girls desperately try to prevent Madoka from returning to Tokyo by train. This is one of the scenes where the audience may cry.
Their ordeal continues until the opening day. But, Kimiko's mother at last forgives her daughter for her passionate efforts and helps with the opening and the residents in the town join her. On the day, the girls give a superb performance to a full house. The audience gives a tremendous round of applause. Kimiko's mother cheers her daughter the most.
Staring: MATSUYUKI Yasuko (as Madoka) and AOI Yu (as Kimiko). Selected as the top Japanese film by Kinema-Junpoh Best Ten. Received many prizes including the Japan Academy Award Best Picture. Produced and distributed by Cinequanon. Many people evaluate the movie as the number one Japanese masterpiece in recent years. DVD with English subtitles is also available.
(From February Issue 2009)
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