【Saturday Cinema】"A Bolt from the Blue", "Best Friends", "Dance All Night"... Life Is Beautiful

Masao Harada (played by Masato Sakai), a magician in his late thirties who has yet to find major success, watches as younger magicians rise to fame while he remains broke, homeless, and loveless—so downhearted that he contemplates ending his life. Then, out of the blue, he gets a call from the police informing him of his father’s death. He discovers that his long-lost father was also a struggling magician who died poor and alone. This makes Masao even more despondent, feeling as though this will be his own fate. Suddenly, a bolt of lightning strikes, and Masao is mysteriously transported back in time to before he was born. There, he meets his young, passionate parents and even teams up with his dad as a magician duo. Surrounded by love, dreams, and ambition, Masao rediscovers the warmth of family. But what he doesn’t expect is that this journey will also uncover the secret of his own birth.

"A Bolt from the Blue" is adapted from a novel written by Japanese comedian and actor Hitori Gekidan, who also directed, starred in, and wrote the screenplay. The film stars Masato Sakai and Kou Shibasaki and is being hailed as a touching, laugh-and-cry Japanese masterpiece of the year. In its first week in Japan, "A Bolt from the Blue" earned nearly 200 million yen at the box office, with over 90% of audiences giving it rave reviews. The film’s theme song, composed by iconic Japanese rock band Mr. Children, topped all five major music charts on its release day and is expected to become a hit song of the year.

"A Bolt from the Blue" is produced by popular Japanese producer and bestselling author Genki Kawamura, who has previously worked on films such as "Train Man", "Confessions", "The Bad Guys", "Beck", and "Wolf Children". These films were all commercially successful and widely discussed. Kawamura won the 30th Fujimoto Prize for "Confessions" and "The Bad Guys". In 2012, he made his debut as a novelist with "If Cats Disappeared from the World", which was nominated for the Japan Booksellers’ Award and sold 300,000 copies, establishing him as a bestselling author.

"A Bolt from the Blue" is the first Japanese film to realistically depict the world of magic. Masato Sakai trained rigorously to perform magic, taking on challenges akin to those of legendary magician Tony Leung. The film also enlisted the help of Japanese magic master Maha Isei, who agreed to serve as the film’s magic advisor for the first time, personally teaching Sakai over 20 of his original magic tricks. Isei even loaned his valuable collection of rare magic props to be used as decor in the protagonist’s room.

Making his directorial debut, Hitori Gekidan strove for absolute authenticity, going beyond computer-generated effects by bringing real large-scale magic shows to the big screen. The pigeon magic scenes involved everything from raising and training the birds to building their coop from scratch. Sakai joked that “the pigeon magic audition scene was tough on everyone,” adding, “Luckily, we managed to finish shooting safely—with both the humans and the pigeons—on schedule.”

A Bolt from the Blue<
A Bolt from the Blue
Release Date: 2014-08-01
Genre: Romance, Family/Heartwarming, Drama
Duration: 1 hour 36 minutes
Director: Hitori Gekidan
Cast: Masato Sakai ("The Kiyosu Conference"), Kou Shibasaki ("47 Ronin"), Hitori Gekidan ("The Eighth Day")