Swing Girls (2004)

Best movie of this year hands down!

Very good movie overall, highly recommended. Most of the negative reviews don't have any merit and are all pollitically based. Give this movie a chance at least, and it might give you a different perspective.

Through painfully honest and emotional moments, the movie becomes irresistibly relatable

One of the most extraordinary films you will see this year. Take that as you want.

A group of teenage girls in a summer math make up class accidentally cause the food poisoning of the entire brass band. They decide to take the member's places to play in the next ball game, but is's really an excuse to get out of math class. When the members quickly recover and they have to turn over the instruments back over, they discover that they have actually learned to love jazz music.The misadventures the girls go through to earn money for their instruments are hilarious. They flood the supermarket they go to work for, and when they try collecting mushrooms in the forest they run into the biggest most vicious boar you have ever seen. Then they have a problem finding a place to practice because the're new and not very good yet. Eventually they have a chance to preform at an annual concert and the final fifteen minutes is jazz heaven. The girls really play their own instruments. The music is not dubbed.This is a great, funny and very touching film with some well defined characters and fine acting.it's about teenagers who aren't really bad but just lazy who accidentally discover something they love and about their math teacher and his two secret loves - jazz music and the school's music teacher. A person of any age will enjoy this film.Humor usually doesn't travel well from one country or culture to another but that is not the case here as all or almost all of the humor comes through, even the verbal humor. The subtitles are also quite good. This deserves a regular release in this country

Having being raised, musically speaking, with bread & jazz, I couldn't but adore this lovely movie...^_^; But then again, I don't think you'll need to be a jazz-addict in order to appreciate "Swing Girls": really...it's funny, sweet, well written, well directed, well acted...and you come out of it with a big smile on your face. What else could you ask for? ^_^ Oh, last but not least: if I got it right (unfortunately, the "making of" extras I've seen weren't subbed) the actresses, just like their characters, didn't know how to play before filming; they took intensive courses and learnt on the way, and it's really them who play in the movie (not some "musical stunts", so as to say). If you've liked movies like "The Full Monty" or "Calendar Girls" (yep, now that I come to think about it, this movie also has a bit of a brit-comedy flavour to it) be sure not to miss this one! Fully recommended! ^__-

This is the best japanase comedy i ve ever watched! without a doubt u will fall in love with this Japanese school jazz band!prepare to enjoy an extraordinary movie! you will laugh a lot!it is important to highlight that even when you are gonna have fun, you will have the opportunity to learn at the same time about the social problems that the jap. public high school students have to face in modern japan. (family disintegration, school dropouts, the high consumption of brands - cartier, armani,etc- among jap. adolescents, mediocre professors, etc)if we become extremely critical this movie will get 8/10 or 9/10 on the worst scenario. but because i enjoyed it so much and all of my friends loved it too, so we think this movie deserve 10/10!

Set in a remote country high school in the region of Tohoku, SWING GIRLS is the story about the struggle of a group of girls with a passion for jazz that brings laughter and tears. The girls begin practicing music on the pretext of skipping summer make-up lessons. At first, they are not enthusiastic but as they learn little by little to make sounds they become gradually fascinated by jazz. They make up their minds to form a big band by themselves, but they have no instruments, money or places to practice. They then get part-time jobs to finance their band, but nearly all result in failure and they face a crisis of a breakup of band. But with their passion for jazz and their cheerfulness, they manage to stay to together and to take part in a music festival, at which they give a rousing performance in the film last scene. Besides mastering their instruments, the girls also grow mentally and learn to carry out a project to its end.The director of this movie is Shinobu Yaguchi, director of the hit film WATER BOYS. He seems to like to make this kind of story. The basic theme of both movies is the same: poorly motivated students learn to succeed. As WATER BOYS was the first of its kind, the image of WATER BOYS is apt to go ahead of SWING GIRLS. Even if characters turn from boys to girls and the subject turns from sport to music, SWING GIRLS may be regarded as only imitation of WATER BOYS. However, the praiseworthy thing in Yaguchi movies is that actors and actresses themselves actually perform on screen. In SWING GIRLS, the actresses underwent very hard training for to master their instruments in order to create a powerful and appealing performance.While I enjoyed this movie very much, there are some unsatisfactory points. The development of story is too forced and too convenient. The process of mastering instruments is especially too sudden. It is hardly possible to acquire such great skills with such halfhearted and short practice. Mastering instruments is never easy and is accompanied by hardships and frustrations. I wanted to see this process and how joyful they are when they learn to play their instruments. It is disappointing that their efforts are not described.But in the face of the actresses' incredible cheerfulness and energy, arguments about the quality of the story are meaningless. There are many attractions in this movie. Due to their provincial accents and natural ease at portraying students, the actresses make the characters feel familiar and it is easy for us to empathize with them. The rural scenery, such as the railroad running through rice paddies and wide spaces completely covered with snow, creates a rich atmosphere. This movie is a very good entertainment and can serve to encourage us. I like to watch this movie again when I want to be cheered up.