Swing Girls (2004)

Original title: Swing Girls

Country: Japan

Year: 2004

Genre: Drama, Comedy, Music

IMDB Rating: 7.7 ^{1239 votes}

Plot: Swing Girls falls in line with those 'other' Japanese films that build a storyline around obscure hobbies and activities (recent years has seen, to name just a few, ping pong, lacrosse, synchro-swimming and power-pop music). The basics: Some youngsters take an interest (sometimes forced) in an obscure activity and learn to perform said activity rather well by the end of the film, culminating in a performance/showdown of epic proportions (ie. the payoff). The differences lie in how you get to the payoff...and Swing Girls provides the viewer with an entertaining path to follow.

bbc.co.uk says: The plot centres on Tomoko (Juri Ueno), a high school student stuck in an a summer maths class in the Japanese countryside. When the famous school brass band comes down with food poisoning, Tomoko and her friends see a chance to get out of maths class by taking their places. Realising they don't have enough members for a full brass band, they organise into a swing group, though few can play a single instrument. When the old band recover from their illness, competition heats up between the original musicians and the Swing Girls.

Language: Japanese

Colormode: Color

Running time: 105