Wood Job!

Okay, so I was ready to watch a comedy by master Shinobu Yaguchi, famous for his amazing Swing Girls movie but instead I got a sort of coming-of-age feel-good movie about finding one's own roots.

Don't get me wrong, there are fun and silly moments throughout the movie with fun characters- as is usual in a Shinobu Yaguchi movie but this time the tone is a bit more realistic that gives way for emotional and affecting moments to take the center stage in this movie.

The plot is quite simple, a scoundrel city boy decides to work and train in forestry on a whim (decided by his attraction to a girl on a poster, very silly!) and the movie is set around this whole training year where he learns a lot of life lessons including Japanese folklore and the beauty of working for nature.

The movie is shot beautifully, the nature shots stand out the most obviously- I wish this movie would've been made around the beginning of the 00s for that gorgeous scrappy feeling that his older movies have but otherwise it's great!

The actors are fun and play both seriously and comedically with the standout being ruggedly handsome Hideaki Ito as Yoki- however the characters aren't very well-developed that's one of the negatives, a few sub-plots involving the villagers don't get resolved and the movie has a bit of a fakeout during the beginning where we get introduced to Yukis (the main character) classmates only for them to appear at the tail-end of the movie.

A bit of a negative is that it's perhaps a bit too long? It could've used for more efficient storytelling as in his past movies but otherwise it's good- the 1hr 56 mins of runtime still passed by without a hitch!

More than the surrounding plot I find the depictions of Japanese myth and traditions to be really emotional in this movie- it definitely ties it together in a wonderful kind of way.

I'd say this is not his best movie but it's definitely worth a watch- even if the elements of his older movies aren't quite present you can still find something great about his newer films! Check it out!

The Japanese do some great romantic comedies, and this is definitely one of the better ones. It's the only I have watched a number of times.

The theme of the city folk visiting a small town and coming to grips with the quirky locals is common in Japanese film, but this is one that does it particuarly well. A city guy, goes to the country to meet a girl he saw in a brochure. Along the way, he begins to get respect for the quirky locals, and their odd habits, who he begins to realise while working with the forest, are also one with it.

There is lots of quirkiness, cultural conflict, funny moments and romance. A really great film, and of my favorite Japanese Rom coms. I watch a lot of Japanese cinema, and I would probably put this on my top 20.

My godd i dont know where to start Let me just tell you one thing its the best you will ever see It bring you close to nature and the people of the village the liveliness and happiness you get from just watching them live their life so wonderfully Theres a bit of romance but tbh u wont be needing all that its just already sooo perfect on how our main characters pov changes as he lives and sees the way all the village people live trust me its worth it by big shot u should definitely watch it although i normally dont cry much but thus made me sooo hapy it alredy brought me down to tears of happiness for our mc and the villagers i would love to see a continuation of this but i know we wont get its just that too good to be true huge love to this movieeeee.

This is simply a great film! Fine acting, especially the children. It is educational and funny with drama, danger, romance, mysticism, and Shintoism. The film seems to capture what life in a remote mountain community might be like (and why you might want to try to live there for awhile - sign me up!). Fine photography. Score and titles are OK. Viewed at JICC J-Film event. WILLIAM FLANIGAN

The between city and country life is one that is recognisable and popular not just in Japanese cinema but probably the world over, and it's always good material for a comedy. In Shinobu Yaguchi's Wood Job! a soft city boy finds himself out in the sticks with a lot of country hicks and is forced to endure much embarrassment and raise much hilarity as he learns to toughen up and get in touch with the real world. You can't go wrong with that for comedy, and Wood Job! certainly makes the most of this situation.

Having failed his university entrance exams and subsequently been dumped by his girlfriend, Yuki Hirano settles for enrolling at "Green Camp", lured by the image of an attractive girl on the cover of a brochure. Little does he realise that not only does being a Trainee Forester involve a lot of hard work in places infected with snakes, bugs and leeches, but you can't even get a mobile phone signal way out there in the middle of nowhere. The people out here talk kind of funny too.

Wood Job! doesn't miss a trick as far as fish-out-of-water comedy goes, but it's slickly made and often laugh out loud funny, and yes, 'wood' has similar connotations in Japan it seems. The romantic situations however are a little limp, no matter how big the tree used at the village festival, but the real love encounter here is the one Hirano and the audience enjoy with the beautiful heartland of Japan itself.