YOU CAN SUCCEED, TOO kicks off new film series at Japan Society

Japan Society NY

Presents

You Can Succeed, Too © 1964 Toho Co., Ltd.
(Note: although this publicity shot is b&w, the film is in color)

You Can Succeed, Too / Kimi mo Shusse ga Dekiru

Directed by Eizo Sugawa

With Frankie Sakai, Mie Hama, Jerry Ito,

Yoshitomi Masuda, and Mie Nakao

Japan, 1964, 100 minutes, 35mm, color

In Japanese with live English subtitles

When: Friday, April 8th, 2016 at 7:00 pm

Where: Japan Society

333 East 47th Street, NYC

Map

Japan Society NY's new film series Japan Sings! The Japanese Musical Film begins tonight with a screening of the 1964 musical comedy You Can Succeed, Too. The film will be introduced by Michael Raine, series curator, and will be followed by a post-screening party that will be emceed by Brian Waltersfeature food, drinks and karaoke

Synopsis (courtesy Japan Society):
The closest Japanese cinema ever came to the full-blown Broadway style musical, with singing and dancing on the streets of Tokyo, music by avant-garde composer and jazzman Toshiro Mayuzumi, lyrics by renowned poet Shuntaro Tanikawa, and direction by one of Toho's most prominent "new wave" directors, Eizo Sugawa. Popular jazz drummer and actor Frankie Sakai stars in this comic version of the "industrial competition" genre: two tourism companies compete for foreign clients in the run up to the 1964 Tokyo Olympics. Highlighting the coming internationalization of Japan, the film dramatizes the felt tensions between tradition and modernity, the pressures of the "economic animal" lifestyle, and the energy of high economic growth.

AsianCineFest mini-review:
This delightfully amusing film addresses the age old question of whether one can both find love and also succeed in business. (From the screener I watched, the film apparently is also known as You Too Can Get Ahead.) It's a charming movie, really enjoyable and fun to watch.

AsianCineFest Rating:
3 out of 4 stars; solidly recommended

Print courtesy of National Film Center, The National Museum of Modern Art, Tokyo.

Tonight's screening of You Can Succeed, Too is part of the 2016 Globus Film Series Japan Sings! The Japanese Musical Film