is a 2008 Japanese drama film that is based on a true event that took place in an elementary school in
Osaka Prefecture.
The film is directed by
Tetsu Maeda, and its story is based on a novel about the event by
Yasushi Kuroda. Actor
Satoshi Tsumabuki
is a Japanese actor. His breakthrough film was ''Waterboys'' for which he was nominated for the 'Best Actor' award at the Japanese Academy Awards, and won the 'Newcomer of the Year' prize. He is also the bassist and lead singer of the Japanese ...
plays the lead role of the class teacher in this film. Additionally, this film stars 28 school children chosen by audition.
''School Days with a Pig'' was first screened at the 21st
Tokyo International Film Festival
The is a film festival established in 1985. The event was held biennially from 1985 to 1991 and annually thereafter. Along with the Shanghai International Film Festival, it is one of Asia's competitive film festivals, and is considered to be the ...
,
and it was subsequently released in Japanese cinemas on 1 November 2008.
Plot
The film revolves around the story of an elementary school teacher who proposes that his class raise a piglet at school with the aim of eating it once it has grown up.
Cast
*
Satoshi Tsumabuki
is a Japanese actor. His breakthrough film was ''Waterboys'' for which he was nominated for the 'Best Actor' award at the Japanese Academy Awards, and won the 'Newcomer of the Year' prize. He is also the bassist and lead singer of the Japanese ...
as Mr. Hoshi, the class homeroom teacher
*
Ren Ohsugi
, born was a Japanese actor. For his work in '' Cure'', '' Hana-bi'' and other films, Osugi was given the Best Supporting Actor award at the 1999 Yokohama Film Festival. He often worked alongside Takeshi Kitano and Susumu Terajima. In the DVD c ...
as Mr. Nishina (school Vice Principal)
*
Tomoko Tabata
is a Japanese actress. She won the best supporting actress award from the Mainichi in 2004 for '' The Hidden Blade'' and '' Blood and Bones'', and the best actress award at the Mainichi Film Awards for ''The Cowards Who Looked to the Sky'' in 201 ...
as Ms. Ikezawa
*
Seiji Ikeda as Mr. Kowasi
*
Mieko Harada
is a Japanese actress from Tokyo. She has played various roles in many motion pictures, television shows and television dramas since her debut in 1974.
Career
Harada most notably portrayed Lady Kaede in Akira Kurosawa's 1985 film '' Ran'', an ...
as School Principal Mrs. Takahara
*
Ryohei Kondo
*
Runa Natsui
*
Itsumi Osawa
*
Yumi Shimizu as the music teacher
*
Pierre Taki
, better known by his stage name , is the front man for Japanese synthpop group Denki Groove, which consists of himself and Takkyu Ishino. As of 2001 he was involved in an exhibit called Prince Tongha with Hideyuki Tanaka in New York City. He als ...
*
Naho Toda
is a Japanese actress.
Career
In 1990, she successfully passed an audition called Horipro Talent Scout Caravan( Ja).
Personal life
She had graduated from Tamagawa University.
Her sister was an actress, and her brother Kōhei Toda ( Ja: ...
Students
Year 6 Class 2 Students
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Production
Development
''School Days with a Pig'' was first announced on 25 August 2008.
Music
The theme song for the film ''School Days with a Pig'' is the song that is sung by singer
Tortoise Matsumoto Tortoise Matsumoto (トータス松本 ''Tōtasu Matsumoto'', born December 28, 1966, as 松本敦 Atsushi Matsumoto) is the lead singer of the Japanese guitar group, Ulfuls. He has also had a couple of acting roles in TV dramas, starting with ''N ...
.
This was announced together with the announcement of this film on 25 August 2008.
* 「Prayer」 Lyrics By： Lyrics (English) by ：Lynne Hobdny Songwriter： 吉岡聖治 歌：清水ゆみ
Release
This film was first released at the 21st
Tokyo International Film Festival
The is a film festival established in 1985. The event was held biennially from 1985 to 1991 and annually thereafter. Along with the Shanghai International Film Festival, it is one of Asia's competitive film festivals, and is considered to be the ...
, where it was one of the films participating in the competition.
It was then released in Japan cinemas on 1 November 2008.
Later, this film was released in
Singapore
Singapore (), officially the Republic of Singapore, is a sovereign island country and city-state in maritime Southeast Asia. It lies about one degree of latitude () north of the equator, off the southern tip of the Malay Peninsula, bor ...
on 8 April 2009. It was also released in
Taiwan
Taiwan, officially the Republic of China (ROC), is a country in East Asia, at the junction of the East and South China Seas in the northwestern Pacific Ocean, with the People's Republic of China (PRC) to the northwest, Japan to the nort ...
on 10 April 2009
and in
Hong Kong
Hong Kong ( (US) or (UK); , ), officially the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region of the People's Republic of China (abbr. Hong Kong SAR or HKSAR), is a city and special administrative region of China on the eastern Pearl River Delta i ...
on 27 August 2009 under the name of ().
Home Video
The home video was released in DVD (Region 2) format on Amazon Japan on 4 October 2009.
A special limited 2-disc edition was also released on the same day.
Reception
Critical response
Rotten Tomatoes
Rotten Tomatoes is an American review-aggregation website for film and television. The company was launched in August 1998 by three undergraduate students at the University of California, Berkeley: Senh Duong, Patrick Y. Lee, and Stephen Wang ...
reported that 78% of users liked this movie, based on 104 user ratings.
Rotten Tomatoes
IGN Entertainment, Inc. Retrieved 2010-12-06. The DVD version of this movie was ranked #30,660 on the Amazon Bestsellers Rank (in DVD)
Accolades
References
External links
Yahoo channel
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allcinema
Official website (Taiwan)
Kinejun Cinema
{{Authority control
2008 films
Films about pigs
2000s Japanese-language films
Nikkatsu films