Swing Girls

Swing Girls is a 2004 coming-of-age film about a group of Japanese teenagers discovering the delights of playing big band swing music. It's also one of the most joyful, heartwarming movies I know – kind of like the good jazz movie twin to Whiplash's evil twin. I think it is pretty much impossible to have a bad time while watching Swing Girls, and that is why I recommend it.

Some people dream of playing the saxophone from an early age. Others have the saxophone forced upon them. Our heroine Tomoko (Juri Ueno) is the latter. Tomoko and her friends are stuck in summer school, bored and desperate for any sort of distraction. One day, they offer to deliver some lunches to the school's brass band. Unfortunately, the girls get a little too distracted, and soon the entire band is down with a serious case of food poisoning. Only cymbal player Takuo (Yuta Hiraoka) remains unscathed, but he can't play alone – so he forces Tomoko and several others to pick up the instruments of his fallen bandmates and form a band of their own.

Swing Girls is a movie about the joy of discovery: discovering something that makes you happy, discovering that you're capable of more than you thought you were, and discovering you're even happier when you can share the whole experience with friends. It's about how learning a new skill and embracing art and human connection can give your aimless life new meaning.

Tomoko sitting on the ground outside, playing a saxophone

One thing I love about this film is that it doesn't really have an antagonist. There's no enemy jazz band, or parents who want their kids to spend more time studying and less time playing the saxophone. Nobody needs to win a "best jazz band" prize to feed their starving family. JK Simmons isn't throwing stuff. But you know that if the Swing Girls (And A Boy) don't keep playing music, they'll be missing out on something special.

The music is also great. The actors all learned to play their instruments during filming, so you genuinely see them getting better and better, and then after the film's release they actually performed in concert. Which is neat!

Still from the film showing a hand-drawn poster advertising the Swing Girls, with drawings of their faces and instruments

The film isn't completely flawless – the pacing is a little slow at the start, and there are a few fat jokes that I could do without – but Swing Girls more than makes up for it with a tremendous amount of heart. This is the definition of a feel-good movie. If you aren't smiling ear to ear by the time the ending rolls around, I don't know what to tell you.

The official distribution situation seems elusive, but the good news is that the film readily available on YouTube (although admittedly in terrible quality). But stick with it! If Yoshie can learn to hit the high note on her trumpet, you can persist with this potato-quality streaming!

If you're feeling down and need a pick-me-up, or if you just enjoy the smooth sounds of the saxophone, then you should watch Swing Girls.