by
Akira
Ogata
Akira
Ogata's ambitious debut feature Dokuritsu Shonen Gasshoudan
(Boy's Choir) revolves around two poles of Japanese youth
culture in the early 1970s: on the one hand, the seeming
imminence of world revolution, which produced a generation
of fanatical activists; on the other, the vast popularity
of the Vienna Boys' Choir, which produced a generation
of fans and imitators.
Shy
and stuttering Michio (Atsushi Ito) is sent to an orphanage
after the death of his father.
There
he befriends Yasuo (Sora Toma), a boy soprano who draws
him into the school choir.
These
volatile young men (whose friendship verges on love) are
pulled into activism by a fateful encounter with the ex-girlfriend
of their choirmaster. Gradually, music and politics merge
as they envisage performing revolutionary songs in a choral
competition. But Yasuo's voice suddenly breaks...
Ogata
came into films as a 'disciple' of Sogo Ishii and has
previously made
docudramas
for TV. Long in development, Boy's Choir was made
for Takenori Sento, who has introduced more new directors
and done more to help Japan's many independent film-makers
than any other producer.
Tony
Rayns
