I remember this movie being heavily plugged during the time it was running in Japan. It seemed different than most of the movies out there during that time so we decided to go see it and let me tell you I wasn't disappointed.
It's primarily a comedy. Things are played for laughs and there are some rather obvious setups from the start of the movie. But it all builds to a great conclusion.
The story is set during a summer class at a Japanese high school. The band is travelling to a performance but they've forgotten their lunches and the girls convince their teacher to let them take the train to deliver them. But as we've learned time and time again shenanigans ensue, the girls fall asleep on the train and miss their stop. By the time they recover and have brought the lunches to the band they've spoiled in the hot summer sun and the entire band comes down with food poisoning.
One of them manages to recover and says that because they allowed the food to get spoiled they must now take over for the band and this is where our movie really starts. They practice and aren't very good but soon come to the attention of one of their teachers who is a huge fan of Glenn Miller and jazz and has them become a swing band. Hilarity ensues, there's training montages and finally they get to play in front of an audience.
The best part of this is that all the girls in the band actually learned to play their own instruments in real life. In the final scene when they're performing, that's actually them performing the music.
The movie was wildly popular in Japan winning several awards and coming in 8th place as the most popular movie of the year.
It's a feel good movie and a bonus if you happen to like the music they play.
It's primarily a comedy. Things are played for laughs and there are some rather obvious setups from the start of the movie. But it all builds to a great conclusion.
The story is set during a summer class at a Japanese high school. The band is travelling to a performance but they've forgotten their lunches and the girls convince their teacher to let them take the train to deliver them. But as we've learned time and time again shenanigans ensue, the girls fall asleep on the train and miss their stop. By the time they recover and have brought the lunches to the band they've spoiled in the hot summer sun and the entire band comes down with food poisoning.
One of them manages to recover and says that because they allowed the food to get spoiled they must now take over for the band and this is where our movie really starts. They practice and aren't very good but soon come to the attention of one of their teachers who is a huge fan of Glenn Miller and jazz and has them become a swing band. Hilarity ensues, there's training montages and finally they get to play in front of an audience.
The best part of this is that all the girls in the band actually learned to play their own instruments in real life. In the final scene when they're performing, that's actually them performing the music.
The movie was wildly popular in Japan winning several awards and coming in 8th place as the most popular movie of the year.
It's a feel good movie and a bonus if you happen to like the music they play.