Hula Girls - Don't Miss It!

I can't recommend more enthusiastically the adorable Japanese comedy, Hula Girls (フラガール Hura Gāru). It is directed by Korean director, Sang-il Lee, and features a wonderful ensemble of Japanese actors. Hula Girls is the story, set in 1965, of the people of the economically depressed mining town of Iwaki, Fukushima Prefecture. When unemployment became rampant in the town -- because coal was being replaced by fuel and mines were progressively shut down -- the mine owners turned to new sources of revenue. In this case, they decide to build, in this cold, northern Japanese prefecture, a Hawaiian theme park and recruit local girls to learn to dance the Hula (and a feisty dance teacher from the big city to teach them) at the park and on tour. I won't reveal much more, but suffice to say that what occurs is the stuff of great, sometimes hillarious, sometimes sentimental humor.

Among the film's greatest virtues is the musical score by the
Japanese-American ukulele virtuoso (!), Jake Shimabukuro. An example of his incredible gifts can be found in the video clip below. Very special.