Oshidori utagassen

I wasn't sure what to expect with this film. It is certainly different. A Japanese musical. However, the cultural differences, whilst interesting, couldn't ultimately draw me in and engage me. The story was a little boring, the location is static - it doesn't have many scenery changes - and all the women look the same. Add to this the lunatic songs and the overall result isn't very positive. It is occasionally funny to watch - the singing when an uptempo song about a teacup kicks in, or the choreographed fight set in time to music in which no-one makes contact with anyone but plenty of people go down. It just gets a little tiresome. There is a lot of singing.

The things that I remember are singing stupid songs, a teacup and a shop that sells umbrellas. Interesting to note that whilst we use umbrellas to keep off the rain, the Japanese use them as a status symbol to shelter from the sun. A spot of rain and all the umbrellas get gathered inside the shop from the display outside. After all, who on earth heard of an umbrella giving shelter from the rain?! Totally different and fascinating cultural differences. Unfortunately, I'm just not familiar with the psyche or Japanese history which, I assume, would be helpful in contextualizing this film. I did do a year-long module on Japanese economic development for my degree course but this film pre-dates anything I am familiar with. Perhaps this could be a new topic to educate myself with.