HULA GIRLS (Japan, 2006)
Directed by: Lee Sang-Il
Starring: Yu Aoi, Yasuko Matsuyuki, Etsushi Toyokawa
“Hula Girls follows the basic "small band of underdogs unite to overcome all odds, while learning valuable life lessons" plot arc to a "T", and yet it's done with such verve, flair, and warmth that it's simply a joy to watch.” – Twitchfilm.net

Iwaki is a remote mining town in northern Japan that would be right at home in America’s rust belt, and with its coal mine closing, its future looks grim. In a desperate attempt to save the local economy the town elders decide to cash in on the Polynesian craze that’s sweeping the world (the movie is set in 1965) and so they announce they’re building a Hawaiian theme park, complete with a hula dancing troupe. The only problem: no one in Iwaki knows how to dance the hula. Also: no one in Iwaki has ever been to Hawaii. Actually, no one in Iwaki has ever really left the city limits. And once they import an alcoholic hula teacher from Tokyo who’s on the run from bad debts, things get worse as the respectable local women refuse to participate in “indecent” hula dancing and the only people who sign up for the classes are a handful of misfits.

Do these kids get it together and become a crack hula team? You bet! But it’s not the destination that’s important here, it’s the journey and Korean-Japanese director Lee Sang-Il (Scrap Heaven) embraces every cliché in the book while managing to bring them down to earth and reminding us of why they worked in the first place. The movie’s secret weapon is Yu Aoi in the lead role as a teenager whose parents disapprove of her dancing. She’s a veteran of Shunji Iwai’s All About Lily Chou Chou and Hana & Alice, and she lights up the screen like a 1000 watt bulb every time she appears. Although this story sounds like something you’ve seen before, Director Lee and Yu Aoi make it feel all brand new and it’s no wonder that this flick rocked the Japanese box office and swept the Japanese Academy Awards: it’s managed the neat trick of telling an old story in a new way and reminding its audience that there’s nothing to be ashamed of if you come out of a movie feeling good about life and wanting to put on a lei and a tapa and swing your hips to a hula mele.