Jazz and Go-Go

Whilst meandering in the .jp world, Filmbrain came across a website for a Japanese film called Take The A Train Someday. The story (from what Filmbrain could gather, with his rapidly diminishing Japanese) is about a bunch of characters that convene in this jazz bar, and reflect on life, love and choices made or not made. It's pretty clear that jazz seems to play a major role in the film. It stars veteran character actor Masahiko Tsugawa (best known in the states for his roles in A Taxing Woman and A Taxing Woman's Return) and co-stars Chiaki Kuriyama, who was last seen playing badass schoolgirl Go-Go Yubari in Kill Bill. Here she plays a cocktail waitress, and it looks as though she might get through this one without killing anybody. Judging by the trailer, the film looks like something Filmbrain would really love -- a cool, mature, little mood-piece that is completely character driven, with lots of incredibly well-dressed people sitting around the club, smoking, drinking bottle upon bottle of Ballentine's and digging the music, all while sorting out life's little complexities. This is probably a guarantee that it will never be shown in the states. Sigh. The music sounds great, and the group featured in the film is made up of several famous Japanese jazz musicians from the past and present. (Filmbrain doesn't know who the female vocalist is.) There is an interesting web page about the music in the film that can be found here (Japanese only). The film opened a few months ago, and the soundtrack CD is about to be released. If anybody has any more information about the film, please leave a comment here. (Filmbrain hasn't read any reviews of the film, and is wondering if it's any good.) Link: Trailer (8 Meg Quicktime file.)