Writer: Ezekiel Lee Zhiang Yang

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Watch this if you liked: "The Full Monty", "Sister Act", "Billy Elliot"

Kudos to Cathay-Keris for bringing in another winner to the Picturehouse and shame on the people who designed the cover art for this! That's because it was that easy to dismiss this as another instantly forgettable, run-of-the-mill, American-friendly teenage comedy from the colour-propelled visuals, the English titling and font selection. What truly lies behind is a heart-rending Japanese comedy-drama, styled in a way that fuses "Sister Act" and "The Full Monty" with enough heart to choke the tears out of you faster than you can say "aloha".

The skinny: Set in 1965, one-time dancing great Madoka (Yatsuko Matsuyuki) arrives at an obsolete mining settlement as part of efforts to make an outlandish Hawaiian theme park to create new jobs. Kimiko (Yu Aoi) and Sanae (Eri Tokunaga) are two teenage girls who trade the coal dust for the lei (Hawaiian word for flower garlands), in hopes of making something for themselves in a village destined for the doldrums. Two becomes three as awkward Sayuri (Shizuyo Yamazaki) is brought in by her dad and three becomes a troupe as the girls brave challenges from all fronts - their parents, teachers and even the cold Iwaki weather which threatens to kill the imported palm trees.

Tightly edited, many scenes brought out the best in the actors without turning into tedious character study. The sentiments and the expressions conveyed in "Hula Girls" are so nakedly basic, they create immense universal empathy. Sunset industries are central themes in "Billy Elliot" and "The Full Monty" - how changing times force emotional surges in people rendered obsolete by the changes. Here, instead of becoming ballerinas or strippers, the hula girls taught themselves the trade by going through the harsh realities of gender bias and societal taboos, and coming out strong to smile for the world.

Nit-picking, complaints for this include the cut scene with the dance instructor attacking a student's father in the public bath. You could also say some of the sentiments on screen could have been subtler or that the economic realism could be painted better over the character slapstick. All this matters little however, when you consider that if the whole movie were to be screened with no audio, one would still be able to catch a good part of the emotions resonating from the screen. It has also managed to preserve the flavour of the story with its sound subtitling.

Somewhere from behind the swishing grass-skirts and pom-poms, an unambiguous message of humanism shot out sweetly to give a light-hearted take on a 40-year-old story. "Hula Girls" is Lee Sang-il's crowd-pleasing movie gem for anybody who ever knew anything about the triumph and the greatness of the human spirit.

Cinema Online, 23 September 2008