Yesterday I attended Japan Society NorCal's "Happy Flight" free screening, sponsored by All Nippon Airways (ANA). The film is about various teams in airline industry working together to solve the problem, directed by Sinobu Yaguchi.
I LOVED Yaguchi's past films, "Water Boys" and "Swing Girls", both feel-good comedy about teams of high-school students get together and accomplish something. This time, it is real-life working people. In the opening briefing, Mr. Mori, president of ANA SF office, told us that the production team researched the real life ANA working environment very closely.
The main characters are assumed to be a pilot, played by Seiichi Tanabe, and a cabin attendant by Haruka Ayase, but in reality, all the teams are the main characters collectivelly - operation cotrol staff, mechanics, air traffic controllers and ground crews all included.
It made me think that my recent favorite Japanese movies and dramas often fall into this same category. It is not that a single super hero saves the world, but a bunch of interesting characters interact each other and pitch in their strength, to solve the problem. Such expression of various "by players" and how their acts get inter-twined make the story's good tempo, and it looks like such "by-player" focus films are plenty these days. Koki Mitani's "Magic Hour" is one such example, and "Odoru" series as well.
And to make it happen, a lot of solid "by-player" actors/actresses are doing their job, just as in the real life work place. Many of my favorites, Ittoku Kishibe, Takashi Sasano, Shinobu Terajima, Tomoko Tabata, Tetsuji Tanaka, and many others appear in this film. Even Naoto Takenaka - the staple in Yaguchi's high-school comedies as a "teacher" - is credited (can you point him out?).
According to Wikipedia, Yaguchi first planned it as an "airplane panic movie", but during the research found out that a plane crash rarely happens, and changed his plot. The end product is "safe and fun" enough to be featured in ANA flight.
So in a way, it IS a big ANA advertisement movie, but heck, it is fun. I liked it. I hope you enjoy your flight too.
Michi
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