Wood Job!

Among the hero based action movies "Wood Job" is a fresh, exciting and enjoyable movie. Wood Job! is a Japanese drama written and directed by Shinobu Yaguchi and based on the novel Kamusari naa naa Nichijō by Shion Miura. The film was filmed on location in the mountains of Mie Prefecture. With great nature scenes this movie takes you away from the rush of your crowded cities and shows how a simple life can give you happiness.

Yuki Hirano (Sometani), is a student most teachers are happy to see the back of. After he fails his college entrance exams and is dumped by his girlfriend, this boy decides to make a fresh start and join a one-year trainee program for forestry workers, aka lumberjacks after he saw a girl on the brochure of this program.

When Hirano arrives at his destination a village in the forest he quickly tries to go back, but circumstances prevents him,and he soon finds himself in dasai work clothes and a hard hat, being schooled in the basics of lumber jacking.

During the movie we watch Hirano improving slowly, becoming a hero from zero incidentally, gaining the community's respect and sympathy. You feel the naturalness of the life if you give up your provisional desires, passion for more.

Take your time and enjoy this movie. You won't regret.

An education on Japanese rural culture with a touch of comedy. There are a few silly, dull moments, but overall the film is quite enjoyable.

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.

It was bright, upbeat and I think the director Shinobu Yaguchi has mastered his style with this film. His films take closer look at certain jobs we take for granted and succeeds in creating a joyful comedy drama out of its everyday life. Wood Job! is about a high-school graduate giving forestry work a go to pass his time and finding joy in hard work and country life. Basically a fish out of water story with all the lessons and moral ticks. However, don't let the rather predictable plot put you off.

This film is fast paced, lots of things happen quickly, and hilarious from the beginning to end. Much of the work is done by Shôta Sometani whose comedic timing is impeccable and has the right face for the character. Even when he's smug, you just gotta love the guy. One moment he seemingly pulls his weight in his work but the next he's shrieking at something unexpected. The rest of the cast are excellent as well. Most memorable is Ito Hideaki who's manliest man (and very handsome) of them all and initially give our protagonist a hard time but eventually... you know it already.

It is a pleasant ride throughout. Comedy is not relied on dirty jokes but clear visual gags and quirky characters. This is one of the funniest films I've seen this year.

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.