Good Luck

Cast:

Shinkai Hajime (新海元) played by Kimura Takuya (木村拓哉)
Ogawa Ayumi played by Shibasaki Kou
Koda Kazuki (香田一樹) played by Tsutsumi Shinichi

If one would pass by the Daiso 88 shop in some malls, watch the accumulating anime shows and dwell in the cheesy Sanrio world, you’ll most likely underestimate the Japanese knack for filmmaking and screenplay writing.

If the opposite, if you admire the massive success of the Japanese, after colonization of many countries, seeing that they are now global leaders in automobile and technology, you will forthwith judge their movies to be like those Matrix, Speed-chasing, breath-taking, CGI-animated sequence or the heart-throwing massacre and scary sh*t horror films.

But I forgot the most important thing. Didn’t Matsuo Basho, the ideals of Zen Buddhism and of other art sages and pioneers imposed and taught gradualism, minimalism and even poetics and poignancy?



Watching the 10 episodes of Good Luck made me think of all of it. Prejudging its plain title that reminds of those mediocre and senseless “I Love You” titles of clichéd romantic films and assuming it is a poorly translated title because of language inadequacy and incompatibility, I was dead wrong. Watching it, for 5 hours in 2 days straight, feels like telling myself the same old expression, unstoppably.

Despite awful translation in the subtitles, which half of it I didn’t understand (assuming I’ve squeezed and racked out all my grammatical capability), the story and the actors made it all work almost like a silent film just by looking and taking note of their gesture, long pauses, facial expression and the vivid music.

The art of minimalism is reflected in the 10-hour cut of the series. Compared to Korean drama (which I am adept at and more familiar with), this particular series didn’t have repetitive flashbacks and excessive, and at times, exaggerated melodrama. There are no flowery scenes and schmaltzy romantic lines. Well, you’ll get fed up though, by the numerous shots of the sky, the plane, the hanger, the airport, the engine and everything associated with flying. But just like the story line, I only appreciated these illustrative scenes when the climax was reached.

The story highlights on holding onto your dreams. Everyone dreams and aims high. Some people do achieve their dreams and some don’t. For the latter, this is the same lesson most movies and novels are lecturing us: never to give up dreaming. The best part of dreaming is the former— those people who think that they have fulfilled their hopes and aspirations. The bigger challenge is on them, how to consistently and persistently hold onto that dream— to take care of it, to love it, to be proud of it and gracefully live it. There was a line directed to Shinkai Hajime when he was having his training as a pilot student: “The sky may be beautiful and interesting now, but after awhile you’ll get bored with it.”

I like the complementary aim for the love story of Ogawa and Shinkai. The girl works as part of the maintenance team for the aircraft. The guy is a determined and spirited pilot. The girl lost her parents because of a plane crash, so she worked to ensure that that thing will never happen again. The guy aimed to fly high than to stay and sail the humble boat of his father. The girl works on the ground while the guy flies high. The girl prepares the plane for the guy. The guy drives the first plane ride of the girl. Two people who love the sky. The sweetest and the most romantic line I’ve ever heard in the story was when Shinkai, after his accident and standing in crutches, told Ogawa, “I’ll be a pilot again and I’ll fly for you.”

Takuya Kimura is delectable. However, his dramatic skills are yet to be honed, unlike the supporting role of Tsutsumi Shinichi, who played the stiff, strict and stone-cold supervisor. There are great sceneries in the series that you can be acquainted with. It’s funny because countries like Thailand, Taiwan, Singapore, China, Korea, Paris, London and the US were mentioned and pictured but never the Philippines given that they used a handful of comic relief with Durian and even had the girl, cleaning the plane, bump into Takuya and muttered a Tagalog line “Aray, ang sakit, ano ba yan!”

The soundtrack is great. I felt like I was flying with them, soaring high literally, and most importantly, metaphorically. I suddenly felt this gush of “go-ness” that I’m ready for something, for some fight, battle or challenge; that I can soar and be free to be someone, to somebody worthy to be notice; to do something I’m willing and wanting to do but never did. Reminding myself, tapping myself, patting myself, telling myself always, continuously, wonderfully, positively, Good Luck!

To sum it all up, the drama is too cool, savvy and poignant to be missed! So fly high!