2-disc set loaded with special features!
Includes:
* The Making of Hula Girls
* How To Be a Hula Girl
* Hula Girls: The Real Story
* An Interview with Jake Shimabukuro (music)
* Original Japanese Trailers
Winner of 2007 Japanese Academy Awards for Best Film, Best Director, Best Screenplay, and Best Supporting Actress; Winner of 2007 Blue Ribbon Awards for Best Film, Best Actress, Best Supporting Actress; Winner of 2007 Kinema Junpo Awards for Best Film and Best Supporting Actress; Winner of 2006 Hochi Film Awards for Best Film and Best Supporting Actress.
Based on a true story, HULA GIRLS is a heartwarming comedy about coal miners daughters who took a once-in-a-lifetime chance to escape their monotonous lives, only to become unwitting heroes to their depressed mining town as well as the whole of Japan.
Buy “Hula Girls” For Only $18.97
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April 3, 2010
#1
Hula Girls is a heartwarming story about a group of women related
to miners in the north of Japan. A mine will be closing leaving many
out of work. In an effort to keep jobs, the company wants to create a
miniature Hawaii in their city. They want and need Hula girls and bring
in a special teacher from Tokyo. The movie dramatizes this true story into a feel good movie about how these clumsy women turn into a very impressive group of professional dancers. We have seen a variation of this film so often- the, shall we say, transformation film. This one is merely okay- yet it will pull on the heartstrings even through the predictable ending.
April 3, 2010
#2
Having seen very few independent films in my life — and never one that was Japanese — I was looking forward to Hula Girls greatly.
Overall, the movie was entertaining. The premise — young girls in a 1960s Japanese coalmining town take on the (til then) mysterious and vaguely scandalous art of hula dancing in order to save their laid-off families. The town hires Ms. Madoka Hirayama, a sophisticated ex-dancer from a prestigious Tokyo dance troupe, as the girls’ instructor. Of course, it doesn’t take long for the residents to wonder why someone would leave that sort of lifestyle for their plain, poor village…
As the girls begin to tackle the dancing — which will be featured at the town’s new Hawaiian Cultural Center, a desperate attempt to turn the town’s fate — they build and test friendships, struggle to gain approval from their traditional families, and learn what it takes to make it in the adult world.
However, it took a long time for the story to progress. Wanting to detail the girls’ lives and allow viewers to fully appreciate their hardscrabble lives is understandable, but there were quite a few scenes that did absolutely nothing to progress the plot.
On the plus side, this DVD also comes with a myriad of bonus features, including a hula how-to and a bit about the real people on which the story is based.
On the whole, “Hula Girls” makes for an entertaining movie — just don’t set your expectations *too* high.
April 3, 2010
#3
I rented this movie and will now buy it for my collection. It’s listed as a comedy but it is anything but that. It’s more of a tear jecker drama which is why I recommend having tissue handy since it is the true story of a group of poor school girls who face an uncertain economic future and decide to join an Hawaiian dance troupe managed by an out of town (and out of place) ex-dancer. Most of the movie covers a myriad of problems the girls must overcome to even put on the first show. However the ending is spectacular and worth watching. I highly suspect Hollywood will re-make this into an English version as was done with Masayuki Suo’s “Shall We Dance?”. Might as well get a head start and watch the original Japanese version now, plus Yu Aoi is beautiful to see, especially once she dresses up as the Hula troupe lead dancer.
April 3, 2010
#4
This story has everything. This is a true story about a coal mining town that is about to have many of the workers released. About 2000 or so will be unemployed against their will. They are going to be fired in other words. But the company comes up with a plan to help employ some of the folks – why not open Hawaii, a theme park within a greenhouse like dome, with palm trees and hula girls. So many of the daughters of the coal miners get jobs as dancers to try to help the town. Not just get cash for their families but to help the whole plan work and help employ others who may lose their jobs. Girls will love it for the touching story. Guys will like it for the cute, Japanese girls dancing.
Lots of extras and even a feature on the real Hula Girls.
April 3, 2010
#5
I ordered this movie because I’m a fan of Jake’s music (the guy who did the musical score). However I found the movie to be worth while. The story line is roughly based on a true story, and it is more understandable if you know a little of Japanese culture.
In my humble opinion this was not a movie about dancing the “Hula”. Being a guy, I like seeing pretty girls dance the hula, however I think it would have been a boring film if it was just about group of girls learning to dance. The story is more about a town (and in particular) a group of young ladies struggling with the changes that were being forced upon them. Change is not easy, and this movie is about the struggle, not the dance. But never fear, towards the end of the movie you will see some nice Hula dancing. I give it a “thumbs up”.