Flying Colors (????? Biri Gyaru, Biri Gal) is a 2015 Japanese youth comedy drama film directed by Nobuhiro Doi, based on a true story. The film was released on May 1, 2015 in Japan.
Flying Colors | |
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Film poster advertising this film in Japan | |
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Directed by | Nobuhiro Doi |
Produced by | Jun Nasuda Junichi Shind? |
Screenplay by | Hiroshi Hashimoto |
Starring | Kasumi Arimura Atsushi It? |
Music by | Eishi Segawa |
Cinematography | Yasushi Hanamura |
Edited by | Junnosuke Hogaki Sayaka Yamamoto |
Distributed by | Toho |
Release date |
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Running time | 117 minutes |
Country | Japan |
Language | Japanese |
Box office | ¥2.84 billion (US$23.6 million) (Japan) |
Screenplay
Sayaka Kudo is a gyaru who wears miniskirts and dyes her hair blonde. Although she is a second year senior high school student, she is on par academically with 4th grade elementary school students. She frequently transfers between schools because she is unable to make friends; she was once suspended for being caught with cigarettes. Eventually she attends a private all-girls high school where she plays and enjoys her extra-scholarly activities while skipping study altogether.
To prepare her for her university entrance examination, her mother sends her to Seiho Cram School. However, when the school director, Yoshitaka Tsubota, hears about Sayaka's academic problem, he makes it his personal goal to help her enter the university of her choice — Keio University is considered one of the most difficult to enter in Japan — and to get back at her father.
Her father (whose main goal is to get her brother Ryuta into pro baseball) labels her an "air-head" and says she and her mother are being scammed by the cram school. Sayaka becomes determined to study hard to prove him wrong. Over the course of the summer holidays of her second year through to the exams at the end of her third year in high school, Sayaka studies extremely hard. She goes without sleep to the extent that she nods off in her classes. She even dyes her hair back to black and cuts it to show her resolve. Her results progressively improve on practice tests and her academic deviation value increases tremendously from 30 to 70 in this short span of time.
- Kasumi Arimura as Sayaka Kud?
- Atsushi It? as Yoshitaka Tsubota
- Sh?hei Nomura as Reiji Mori
- Y?hei ?uchida as Ry?ta Kud?
- Kokoro Okuda as Mayumi Kud?
- Morio Agata as Makoto Minegishi
- Ken Yasuda as Takashi Nishimura
- Airi Matsui as Mika Honda
- Tetsushi Tanaka as Sayaka's Father
- Y? Yoshida as Sayaka's Mother
The film Flying Colors was first unveiled to the Japanese media on 13 November 2014. It is based on the bestselling novel Gakunen Biri no Gyaru ga 1 nen de Hensachi o 40 Agete Keio Daigaku ni Geneki Gokaku Shita Hanashi (?????????1??????40???????????????) by Nobutaka Tsubota, the director of a private school. In this novel, Nobutaka writes about his experiences with his real-life pupil Sayaka Kobayashi and how she improved from a high school student who only had the knowledge of 4th year elementary school student to one who qualified for the prestigious Keio University in just 1.5 years. As of May 2015, this novel has sold over 1 million copies.
The film grossed ¥285.1 million on its opening weekend at the Japanese box office. As of May 17, the film had grossed US$12.3 million. It was the eighth highest-grossing Japanese film (together with Love Live! The School Idol Movie) and the third highest-grossing Japanese live-action film at the Japanese box office in 2015, with ¥2.84 billion (US$23.6 million). The film was released in China on April 14, 2016, earning US$3.3 million on its opening weekend.
On Film Business Asia, Derek Elley gave the film a 7 out of 10, calling it "an entertaining time-waster that hides its didactic messages beneath likeable performances by the two leads".
Awards and nominations
Year | Ceremony | Category | Result |
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2015 | 40th Hochi Film Award | Best Supporting Actress (Y? Yoshida) |
Won |
2016 | 58th Blue Ribbon Awards | Best Actress (Kasumi Arimura) |
Won |
Best Supporting Actress (Y? Yoshida) |
Won | ||
39th Japan Academy Prize | Outstanding Performance by an Actress in a Leading Role (Kasumi Arimura) |
Nominated | |
Outstanding Performance by an Actor in a Supporting Role (Atsushi Ito) |
Nominated | ||
Outstanding Performance by an Actress in a Supporting Role (Y? Yoshida) |
Nominated | ||
Newcomer of the Year (Kasumi Arimura) |
Won |