Jamie passion and passionfruit!

This may not be the most monumental film ever made but I had a ball and liked it better than almost anything I have seen for ages.  Would I see it again? Yes, yes, yes!!!

Swing Girls is that rare jewel – a funny comedy that is light as a cloud, full of unexpected moments and doesn’t make fun of people in a hurting way. Shinobu Yaguchi is one of Japan’s top young directors and he has a real flair at transmitting the humour of our lives onto the screen.  This film is about a bunch of Japanese high school girls who get out of summer remedial classes by forming a jazz band and turning into stars.  At the beginning they are terrible, have borrowed instruments and not much idea of what they are doing or if they really want to be in a band (its better than classes!) but then we follow them overcome obstacles to turn into a great high school combo with a superb finale of 15 minutes jazz.  There is a lot of poetic licence but that doesn’t matter when you get the likes of the wild boar scene which is one of the most hilarious I’ve seen in years.  Juri Ueno and Yuuta Hiraoka as the boy member of the band, Nakamura are fine in the lead roles but there are a host of actors who make up this film appearing and disappearing with their great one-liners.  The music is totally enjoyable, the script is most observant about modern life and the whole message of chasing your dream is very nicely conveyed.  This has elements of Strictly Ballroom and other dream come true movies but few can make you laugh so much and be so light, frothy and yet solid as Swing Girls.  5 stars unreservedly for the entertainment.

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