Revisting "The Magic Hour"

 I initially downloaded the Japan movie “The Magic Hour” back in 2009 when I was high on love for Haruka Ayase and was desperately grabbing everything I could find of hers. including Oppai Volleyball, Happy Flight, Amemasu no Kawa and the excellent Cyborg SHE, enjoying them all!

When it came to Magic Hour, however, I was to find that the subtitles that came with it were either corrupted or incompatible with my files, and though I tried gamely to watch the show without subtitles for about 30 minutes, in the end I had to give up!

I DID notice , however, that Ayase Haruka’s role was only a very small part, perhaps due to her being still new to the scene, and thus I didn’t place a really high priority on seeking out subtitles that would work, and instead just put it on a backburner. It wasn’t until recently when I was going through and re-watching some of my old Ayase Haruka movies for a Drama Otaku ranking list I was making,  that I realized I STILL had not yet fully watched the Magic Hour and still needed to find subtitles for them!

Luckily we live in the wonder age of technology not only was I able to find the Magic Hour subbed, but these were terrific DVD rips, just fantastic HQ files compared to the old avi files I had tried to watch before! I was now set! Well I just finished watching it in its entirety, and as the saying goes, “It’s better late than never” because my GOSH was this movie GOOD! Oh, so much FUN with winsome humor and slapstick shticks, I haven’t  laughed so hard in such a long time!

The MAGIC HOUR telss the tale of a Bingo (Satoshi Tsumabuki) who gets caught with Mari (Eri Fukatsu), the mistress of the town’s underworld boss Tessio (Toshiyuki Nishida), and is all set to sleep with the fishes until he promises that he can hook the gang up with DELLA TOGASHI, a legendary hit-man that Boss Tessio has been dying to meet!

Only problem is, Bingo actually has no IDEA how to contact this assassin and was only lying to get his feet out the door. He tries in vain to find the man, but with time running out, it seems like he's out of luck!  But when he happens to spy a film crew shooting down the street, he has a revelation: NO ONE knows what this guy Della Togashi dude looks like, and figures he can just HIRE someone to PRETEND to be the man! 

They set their sights on a down-and-out stand-in actor named Murata Taiki  (Koichi Sato) to play the role of the assassin Della Togashi. Naturally an actor wouldn’t accept such a dangerous role, and the only way Bingo can get him to cooperate is to trick him into thinking he’s working on an ACTUAL movie! 

By pretending to be a hotshot director, Bingo convinces him that the fantastic new movie will be him playing a hitman for Don Tessio, with no script and completely on the fly ad-libbing! At first Murata balks at such a plan, but eventually comes around as it's the only gig he's got!

Seems sure to fail, and everyone is skeptical that they can pull this off, especially Mari, who is incensed to have to play along with this farce! But so passionate is Murata with his ‘role” that he convinces the Don, the Gang, and even those around him, that he might actually be the real deal!

Even as things are running smoothly things are SURE to come crashing down sooner or later, and when it does, it will take all their talents, savvy, and movie-making skills to get themselves out of it! 

A fun, entertaining show set in that magical wonderland of movie-making, and as they run around movie sets and filming, we see nice little homages to Hollywood featuring fun cameos from such stars as Nakai Kiichi, Amami Yuki, Suzuki Kyoka, Tanihara Shosuke and even Karasawa Toshiaki!

And BTW, I downloaded this movie primarily for my love of Ayase Haruka, but what I wasn't prepared for was how doggone ADORABLE Eri Fukatsu was as the sassy and selfish Mari, my GOSH, she stole very scene she was in!! SUCH a CUTIE!!!

What a wonderful movie to watch over the weekend! So glad that I was finally able to give this fine film the proper attention it deserves!!!!

BT,  looking at the imdb page for The Magic Hour, the poster reminded me so much of the cover art for the fantastic Keigo Higashino story "Miracles of the Namiya General Store"(which I wrote about here), and it occurred to me how smilar in "feel" these two books had. Sweet, Winsome, and full of heart, these both were stories that made you feel good and feel like a kid again!

Come to think of it, Toshiyuki Nishida was in the movie version of Namiya General Store, too!

Believe~Kimi no Kakeru Hashi

 Takuya Kimura stars as Riku Kariyama, an architectural designer with great skills and success. He has confidence in both his designs as well as his relationship with work associates, where he is respected and well-liked!

Maika Yamamoto

Hayate Ichinose

Kinya Kitaoji

As the head designer of a prominent bridge set to be the crowning achievement of a town, it seems he only has highs to look forward to- that is until tragedy strikes. While on location doing routine inspections to the bridge, a serious fault is discovered and, once failing, sets in motion a horrific collapse of the entire structure, causing both injury and even death.

Though there are lots of factors to the incident and much finger pointing, as the head designer of the project, Kariyama takes it upon himself to accept full responsibility for the accident, and after a sensational trail, is sentenced to a prison term.

Though now in prison, Kariyama still holds fast to his dignity and reserve, believing what he has done by taking the burden of the responsibility off the company and fellow workers by placing the fault in his initial architectural designs.

But we will learn that  there have actually been NO faults in his part of the project, and that the blame falls squarely on the supplier of the support cables, of whom which they secretly replaced quality materials with shoddy replacements. No, the real reason Kariyama has taken the blame is due to company president Osoda’s request, who feels that if the truth were to come out, the company themselves would be blamed for associating with the faulty supplier.

Osoda promises  that if Kariyama takes the blame, he will make sure his punishment is light and will surely be returned to the company in due time.But of course, these promises soon fall by the wayside as greedy people in positions of power make their own moves within the company.

For his part, Kariyama intends to endure his sentence silently, believing it is for the sake of all. But when his wife Reiko (Amami Yuki) visits him, she only has two things to report. One, that what he’s doing is not noble protecting people with his silence, but rather lying and deception. And furthermore, she adds that though he never noticed when they were together, she is dying of cancer, and, as it stands, he won’t be out until she has long passed.

It is faced with these hard truths that Kariyama takes stock in what he has done and said and, with the help of his lawyer Akizawa (Saito Takumi),  asks for a retrial so he can finally speak the truth of the tragic accident and clear his name.

But with so much at stake, there are many who can benefit from him remaining imprisoned and  use all their connections to sabotage his attempts at freedom. At the same time, there are those out there who are seeking the truth of the matter, and who will work tirelessly to have Kariyama’s voice heard and the corrupt individuals exposed!

Takaya Kamikawa

Ryoma Takeuchi

Fumiyo Kohinata

Takumi Saito

Chikako Kaku

Yuki Amami

As usual for  Kimura Takuya vehicles, Believe~Kimi no Kakeru Hashi is a real event, with huge stars simply crammed into the cast in all prominent roles and this one looks to be a fast-paced and gripping show!

So far it seems to be a character-driven series rather than a political/business one, and that’s a good sign. Lately lots of dramas have taken the VIVANT route and (IN my opinion) simply been bogged down with technical government/political stuff...I know this is a popular genre right now, but I get a real headache trying to wade through so much technical jargon, political figures, departments, etc.... hope this one doesn’t fall to the same trope!