Kimi mo shusse ga dekiru

By 1964, director Sugawa Eizo had worked in several different genres. The next thing he was to tackle was an American-styled musical, not the most typical thing for a Japanese filmmaker. "Kimi mo shusse ga dekiru" (You Can Succeed, Too, 1964) resembles musicals, that Hollywood produced about ten years prior to this. It is flashy, sunshiny, unrealistic, and very loud. It is a weird watch.

The film follows or attempts to follow two men working for a travel agency. The Olympic Games are coming to Tokyo, and they want their company to rise as the number one tourism company in Japan. There is also romances, but all in all, all parts of the narrative have to make way for the songs.

The songs of this film, or most musicals actually, will either make or break the movie for you. For myself, I did not care for them. In style, they resemble American popular music of the 1950's. They sport a big orchestration, which is then accompanied by dance choreography. I did not think the melodies were catchy in right ways, and many of the songs tried to cover this by just being louder. Usually the songs do not advance the narrative, but put it on hold. The film is also a little too cheerful, and the acting is way too broad.

It is interesting that the Japanese studio system was willing to go all out with an experiment like this, but it feels a little forced. I don't doubt that this film took a lot of effort from many people, but the concept should have been thought once over. The reality this film creates feels surreal, but not surreal enough to be captivating. Like many mediocre musicals, it feels like a pastry with way too much sugar.