Darkroom streaming platform premieres award-winning comedy HULA GIRLS

Darkroom, the streaming platform built for independent, foreign, arthouse, and cult classic genre-benders, is expanding its live-action catalog with the addition of the 2006 comedy Hula Girls, directed by Sang-il Lee and co-written by Lee and Daisuke Habara.

Watch the Hula Girls trailer here.

What is Hula Girls about?

Hula Girls is loosely based on the life of Kaleinani Hayakawa, the first hula girl at “Hawaiian Center” spa resorts, who also founded Japan’s first hula school. Set in the 1960s, in a struggling coal-mining town out of options, the film follows a group of girls — and their hula dance instructor — who take on learning hula after the local mining company pitches a Hawaiian-themed tourist attraction in the town’s nearby hot springs. While the local miners aren't initially sold on the idea, the mining company presses ahead and recruits a down-on-her-luck dance instructor, Madoka Hirayama (Yasuko Matsuyuki), to teach the local girls how to hula.

Among the girls who show up is Sanae (Eri Tokunaga), whose widowed coal-miner father is at risk of losing his job and his ability to support four kids, and her lifelong best friend Kimiko (Yu Aoi), who Sanae drags along for support. They're joined by Hatsuko (Shoko Ikezu), the organizer's secretary, and Sayuri (Shizuyo Yamazaki), a clumsy girl written off by everyone but herself.

Read the official description below:

Desperate to reverse the economic fortunes, the elders of a small Japanese coal-mining town in the 1960s decide to create a tourist attraction based on Hawaiian culture. The plan is initially greeted with hostility by the miners, but the company recruits Madoka Hirayama (Yasuko Matsuyuki), a down-on-her-luck dance instructor from Tokyo, to train local girls in the hula. At first, only a small group of girls take up the challenge.

Sanae (Eri Tokunaga) is worried that her widowed father will lose his job, and the ability to support the four kids. She convinces her lifelong best friend Kimiko (Yu Aoi) to join her at the disastrous first meeting. The two girls are joined by Hatsuko (Shoko Ikezu), the organizer's secretary, and Sayuri (Shizuyo Yamazaki), a large, clumsy girl.

Things go poorly as training begins, and a frustrated Hirayama nearly gives up, until the girls' enthusiasm persuades her to give the plan another try. As things progress a tour is planned to promote the dance troupe. After a disastrous first performance in the tour, the girls come together as a team and the tour is a great success leading to a climactic hometown performance and establishing the Joban Hawaiian Center (now Spa Resort Hawaiians) as a tourist destination. The resort continues to operate and attracts thousands each year. 

Hula Girls swept Japan's award circuit on release. At the 2007 Japan Academy Awards, it earned 12 nominations and took home 5, including Best Film, Best Director, Best Screenplay, Best Supporting Actress (Aoi), and Most Popular Film. It also picked up two top honors at the 80th Kinema Junpo Awards, including Best Film and Best Supporting Actress (Aoi).

Hula Girls is now streaming on Darkroom. 

Darkroom is available via app on Google Play and the Apple App Store, or on the web at www.darkroom.film. Monthly memberships run $2.99.