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Audio Format: PCM 5.1, Dolby Ture HD 5.1 Video Format: Widescreen 1.85:1 (Anamorphic) + 1080p HD Master Languages: Japanese Subtitles: English, Japanese Region Code: A Year Made: 2004 Running Time: 105
 Shinobu Yaguchi, whose runaway hit, WATERBOYS (2001), cemented his reputation as a youthful star among Japanese film directors, is back with a new film, SWING GIRLS. The delightful story of a group of hapless high school girls who accidentally stumble upon the allure of Big Band Jazz, brims with rousing music and plenty of comic mayhem, to say nothing of giving a few solid tugs to the heartstrings.
Yaguchi ran across an account of a dwindling high school brass band that reinvented itself as a youthful Big Band. He decided to track the band down to the boondocks where he found an ensemble composed almost entirely of girls with bobbed hair breezing through the cool jazz numbers. The startling contrast between the band's look and its sound inspired Yaguchi to create a film packed with charm and humor, set against the abundant seasonal beauty of northeastern Japan. Altamira Pictures, the acclaimed producers of Shall We Dance? and Waterboys produced Swing Girls with Fuji TV.
Swing Girls features a fabulous group of newcomers, all selected from an open call, as members of the Yamakawa High School Big Band. In his dedicated search for a highly original array of performers, Yaguchi completely overlooked the need to cast performers with musical skills. Five of his leading actresses had never even played an instrument before. But several months of intensive practice and rehearsal yielded triumph. The girls themselves recorded every one of the fabulous musical numbers in the film. Get ready for some spirited performances.
SWING GIRLS puts the swing back into Big Band Jazz with the unlikeliest group of musicians, but they pour their souls into every standard. From "Take the A Train" to "Moonlight Serenade" and "In the Mood," you've never seen the great jazz classics played with so much exuberance. The movie is guaranteed to tickle the funny bones and warm the hearts of audiences of all ages, and they may well swing their way out of theaters humming as they go.
It's a sweltering day during summer vacation in a remote town in northeast Japan
The Yamakawa High School brass band clambers aboard a bus, off to provide moral support for their team at a local baseball championship. 13 girls, all of them losers, watch from classroom window. They're stuck in remedial math with Mr. Ozawa (Naoto Takenaka), but their minds are miles away and their ability to focus, . . . .huh? One girl, Tomoko Suzuki (Juri Ueno), stares enviously out the window at the musicians as their bus pulls away. Suddenly, she notices that a caterer's van has pulled up. The driver is beside himself when he realizes that he's missed the bus. As Tomoko watches, an idea takes shape in her otherwise vacant mind
"Teacher, I'm sure those guys are super hungry. I think we should take them their lunches."
Within minutes, the girls have ditched summer school math and boarded a local train, ostensibly off to deliver the lunches. Heady with their newfound freedom, they sample and then gobble down, one of the lunches, doze off and miss their stop. Before long, they're walking back to the stadium in the sweltering heat, complaining every step of the way. By the time they finally deliver the food, it has spoiled in the heat and the whole band, along with its director Itan (Miho Shiraishi), are rushed to the emergency room with stomach cramps. Only Takuya Nakamura (Yuta Hiraoka) escapes this fate, thanks to the girls who devoured his lunch on the train.
Before long the baseball team is practicing for another game, but the band that normally cheers the team to victory is still out of commission. Takuya Nakamura tries to throw together a new brass band, but his efforts only draw the 13 loser-girls plus 3 other misfits. A brass band needs a lot more than 17 players. Takuya's thoroughly discouraged until he realizes that 17 is the perfect number for a jazz Big Band.
Intense training sessions on school band instruments follow. The girls, who have trouble at first even making a sound, gradually start to play entire melodies and manage to limp their way through "Take the A Train." Gradually, what started as a scheme for cutting class gives way to actual enthusiasm for music.
Everything is hunky-dory, until. . . .
Special Features:
- Teaser
- Trailer
- TV Spot
- Deleted scene(s)
- Cast & staff bios
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