Director: Lee Sang-il, Scriptwriter: Daisuke Habara
Main Casts: Yu-Aoi, Yasuko Matsuyuki, Etsushi Toyokawa, Eri Tokunaga
Watched: 22 August 2007
Cinema: Cineleisure Picture House, The Curve (4:C7).
I was nothing short of surprised when I saw, that the grass skirted, Polynesian butt shake was to be staged and told tales of, from this little land of the Chinese cousin twice removed – Japan. Cineleisure’s Picture House hosted this show just before the Japanese Film Festival in the Golden Screen Cinema. With Cineleisure showing only this Japanese show for the season, I’m not sure whether to call it pure, or seeming coincidence.
Anyway, I will call it a movie, in the splendor of its richness and island-ic festivity, well selected to make my return to Kuala Lumpur and the reactivation of this blog, a matter of a private fanfare.
See It Coming
Why would anybody in the world think of spending money at, say, an Italian restaurant, to eat a certain noodle made of wheat flour, when we could have our own local noodles?
Reviews after reviews, couldn’t stress enough that the Hula story goes as predictable as the royal marriage that comes with every Cinderella recitation. No doubt about it! Anybody with a healthy movie diet can quote us stories that involved learning a skill in a limited time for a very special occasion, and turn out glorious and breathe taking at the show down finale. Yet I guess, we will miss important details and nuances if we come out of this show, pointing cynically to a list of past movies, as if it was made merely with streams of ragged scenes taken from those.
After all, noodles are not called spaghetti, yee mien, udong, ramen,
phô huá… for nothing.
image credits: spaghetti, pho hoa, yee mien
• • •
From the promotional poster, the ending stands up, peel open his tuxedo to reveal no bombs under his clothes; no surprise. We should know where we are going with the characters from scene one: Sanae, a teenage girl living in a coal mining village called Iwaki, stirs her mind with tickling hopes of becoming a professional dancer…
And invited a friend to go with her.
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Aloha!
Saying hello doesn’t always entail an open arm on the receiving end, not especially when this tropical greeting was forcefully wished upon 2000 coal miners’ lay off. The company initiated a solution for unemployment: to build inside the village, a place, equipped and enabled to transport the full imagination of its visitors to a faraway island – the Joban Hawaiian Centre. Jim Carrey’s jaw drop could not find itself on the coal blacken, stoic faces of the miners, capable of disguising their aghast hearts, when announced that only about 500 employees will be needed at the centre. Flushes of angry questions, and runaway fists in protest turned upon themselves immediately after bouncing off the ironclad decision.
• • •
All Journeys lead to the End
Why would a story tell his end before even starting it? I’ve come to see, that with the end in our minds, we are then freed to pay attention to every little transformation as the characters “experience” it, and how may it be different from the notions we always have about people.
• • •
Emancipation of the Dancing Girls
She twists her hips and brings the grass around it to billow, turns her body with her hands raised, above her head, to punctuate the rhythm of the song with her lush pom-poms. Her wide-open lips charm the hearts of an invisible audience. Facing her, an old projector boldly plays back a hula dance video record, not knowing the amount of naked skin the faint hearted new recruits could bear watching. The little crowd burst out of the room; escaped in their shameful revelation, leaving the hopeful Sanae, dubious Kimiko & enthusiastic Hatsuko behind, and came later, shy Sayuri, whose plump, wide framed and coarse voice immediately suggest her comical role.
The foursome did not begin their tutorship before their teacher, Madoka, satisfied herself with lamenting over her fate of being sent into a village she calls ‘backwards’, then a good round of sneering at the clumsy and comical attempts of the four to demonstrate any movements they may dare call “dancing”, and reluctantly receiving a reminder from Kimiko’s gentle supporter & brother, about the gender traditions of the village and the passionate trust the dance crew might have on her.
Kimiko, though feeling obliged also felt skeptical towards the Hawaiian idea, it wasn’t until being punished by her mother and tearfully chased out of her house that she realizes how much she was willing to pay for learning dancing, and for being able to command the course of her life; even if it meant disgracing her late father’s legacy in his mining career.
“Ich – Ni – Sa – Shi… (1-2-3-4)”, The students’ intense commitment met with the teacher’s renewed sense of responsibility, and they began stepping into the beginner’s drill; where their bones were seen through rods to rolls. Those who escaped the introduction returned, as the hula stigma wears off; and eventually, their daily routines earned them more and more capacity to speak with dazzling gestures, steps, signs, and swirls.
The Village, Friendships, & Sorrows
The miners, making up the majority of the village, had to come before their company’s judgment – Released or stay? Those released, heaved heavy sighs to no effect, at their certificate of appreciation, which comforts not to an inch their expectations of ‘lifetime employment”. Some, however, did give the new Hawaiian project a try, and began an unfamiliar occupation for the first time.
Following the lay-off, Sanae’s father decided for the family to move into another mining village. At the eve of her departure, tender loyalty compels Kimiko to voluntarily strip off her chance to dance on stage as circumstances have deprived Sanae of.
“If you’re quitting, I’m quitting, too,”
To this, Sanae replies, “No, you’re going to be a star, and I’m going to brag to everyone that I knew you since we were babies.”
“This is my hope now.”
From this moment, it seemed as if the filmmaker is making a drastic camera pan, to shift the audience’s perspective at the story. I urge you to remember that the story opened with Sanae wanting to become a dancer, and ‘she’ carried our attention with her naïve faith, enthusiasm in practicing and bravery in leaving the traditional occupation that girls were supposed to do. She persuaded Kimiko, and us, to follow through trying this new thing out despite the idea being an unthinkable far-fetched dream.
And then comes the shift: Sanae leaves the village, and Kimiko takes over the show. It’s like the filmmakers using the 2 characters to say, “Enough with playing around, lets move on to the real thing.”
The Team
Coming through weeks of publicity stagings around Japan, the dancers thick headedly hatched out of dancing, and eventually learnt to dance as a team; supporting and looking after each other’s back.
"Sayuri, look out.."
If the miners’ lay-off wasn’t discouraging enough, the villagers were grieved once again. Parts of the mine lost its hold, rocks sliding off their grip, uncontrollably thrown onto and rolled over dozens of workers inside. Some injured, one, rejoined the ashes…
At such time, the news of Sayuri’s father’s death came to the dance teacher, whose ideal for excellence under every circumstance dilutes under her saturating sympathy. During this intense labour pain, the team pushes itself against the contractions of reality’s womb; at Sayuri’s quivering but steadfast request, they burst into the arms of the stage, their faces professionally hold a cheerful appeal, which on the same, not long after, shall be covered sorrowful dew that tells very little about the bitter sting it was wrung out of.
“Please let me dance…”
• • •
The Great Appeal (1)Tscuk-te-Tscuk-Ge-te-te-te-te-Tschuk…! Walking towards the inner hall, she hears the offensive sounding beat, in her heart still feeling unsure if she did right, to chase Kimiko out of the house; and wonders if she should talk to her when she gets to pass her a parcel addressed to her. There was no apparent resolve in her clutch at the sliding door. Yet, the stun of her eyes petrified to escape into all ends of her limbs, as Kimiko paused from her solo practise to see who might come though the door. Her eyes, as thoughtful, as hers.
The decision was made at the spring of her hips, thrashing across the dance floor as a neat row of falling bamboos. Resolution enwraps her countenance in between her arms, spreading as floating light. Unspoken reasons parade itself all over the room. The sunlight through the windows from outside is her witness. Her statement gathers pace and slaps itself at her heels in concluding her unhesitant swirl. Slaps, in her unhesitant swirl. Slaps.
The message is spoken to her audience.
• • •
The Great Appeal (2)
Naturally, no amount of strippers would do a party any good if there were no guests to play host to.
The hot water pipes supposedly installed to keep the Hawaiian Centre warm, have been delayed. Palm trees transported from Honolulu could never wished more to return home while being propped in the shivering Japanese weather. In order to save these highly symbolic vegetation, Mitsuo, the person in charge, kneels in desperate begging, borrowing stoves from the villagers for warming the trees. Wanting to help her own daughter, Kimiko’s mother joined in soliciting, and as the president of the Women’s Society in the village, reprimanded the villagers for hindering the development of new ideas by their grips on tradition.
“Work doesn’t necessarily mean coal-mining only, dancing for entertainment is also good work!”
Stoves began flocking in at her call.
Total Celebration
" (In a Rojak) You have your pineapple, your cucumber, your 'this' and 'this' and 'this'... but you Must have a good sauce to hold it together!"
Pioneer of Malaysian contemporary dances, Marion De Cruz
said to Off The Edge magazine.
said to Off The Edge magazine.
Hula Girls ends with the hula dance number at the grand opening of the Joban Hawaiian Centre. It is not hard to imagine a vast open, filled with adults, children, elderly people dazzled and amazed at the flower laden girls, on stage, giving out all that they have learned over the past 3 months, with much pride and joy.
I believe, what makes the ending great and moving, is the many emotional journeys that we’ve been taken through many characters in preparation for this grand display. It felt really marvelous because we understand what is sacrificed behind the show, and what it meant to the many characters, because we’ve ‘seen’ their painful struggles of negotiation & compromise, courageous decisions and tried & tested friendships. At just this single event, we’re able to feel many emotions, layered upon layers of their feelings and meanings; appreciating the success from different character motives and empathizing with how important it is to all who were present. That’s why, now, it’s no longer a dance performance, it’s a Celebration… !
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Sharon Chong, published 15 September '07
Cineleisure Picture House, The Curve
:o)
Sharon Chong, published 15 September '07
Cineleisure Picture House, The Curve
:o)
1 comment:
oops! your review is advanced.
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