Hula Girls (Japan)

A dying coal mining town in one of the colder portions of Japan decides to open a "Hawaiian Center" vacation destination. Of course they'll need hula dancers. Who better than the coal miner's daughters to help out? Then cue the music. ... Nah, just joking. :-). While dancing does play a key part in the plot it's far from a musical. More of a drama crossed with "A League of Their Own.". There's actually a fair amount of overlap, some examples;

• The hard drinking initially unmotivated dance / baseball coach
• The girl brought in who was raised by the father as a boy ("please look after my daughter it's not her fault")
• The dancer/player with the son running around and teasing the other women

I thought I was imagining this until a scene with a bus following the coach that I'm pretty sure was in the Tom Hanks film.

The audience seemed to really enjoy the film. I thought it was pleasant but not engaging enough to truly love. I am curious about the fate of the Hawaii project and the town depicted. (3/5 stars)

Non-film review note: This was probably the worst screening so far - even given the recent one where someone's phone rang 2-3 times. Some woman behind me felt a need to share her emotional state throughout the film with her friends. Also not helping was the audience members screaming when there were some problems with sound. First off, it's not like they don't notice these things at festivals. It's not a megaplex where the projectionist is working the popcorn stand. Second, the movie is subtitled. Unless you're fluent in Japanese a few minutes without sound isn't killing your ability to follow along.