Doraggusutoa Gâru a.k.a. Drugstore Girl in English is a simple, low-budget and light weight feature that has the feel and levity of a summer evening TV movie. One could imagine watching this on one of the broadcast stations of Tokyo one early humid and oppressive August evening in a cramped room with the door and windows wide open.
The story begins with a chuckle in a bizarre situation that by all rights would not be funny. Keiko Obayashi (played by Rena Tanaka who is a new face to me) catches her boyfriend cheating on her in the funniest way possible and reacts as any edokko Tokyo girl would. She jumps on the first train at the station without looking, cries herself to sleep and only wakes up to find herself at the end of the line lost in an unfamiliar area. It turns out that - she and the viewers later find out - she has landed in the fictional Masao town and station a stone's throw away from Saitama. As she wanders the streets lost and forlorn she comes across a pharmacy whose grand opening is the next day and being a pharmacology student applies for a job. Unhappy with the new mega store, Hustle Drug, the incumbent pharmacy owner in the area and his friends plan a boycott and sabotage, which leads them to Keiko. Where the film seems like a tale of David and Goliath at first, somewhere in the middle it transforms into something else. The business aspect is not pursued and instead Keiko is depicted as a butterface with sexy legs and not only university smarts, but also experience and talent for Lacrosse of all things - although one sees several female Lacrosse players also walk by in Tenten. Hoping to gain a date with this smart and sassy girl the men mobilize to earn her affections to decidedly silly effect. Soon the entire town is transformed and the efforts of the men multiply to such an extent that the players are the focus of a TV news feature. Keiko is keen to gain revenge from her ex (who, in turn and as oddly, is being dropped by his two new sexy girlfriends because Keiko wants to pick up her belongings), the men cannot score a goal to get a date with the subject of their infatuation and the new business' obviously rich owner puts cash money towards sponsoring her would-be rivals and foes.
This is a light, funny, shallow and exaggerated film perfect for killing a couple of hours. It somewhat surprisingly features Kimiko Yo (Departures, Café Lumiere, Ramen Girl, Suicide Club, etc.), Akira Emoto (Ichi, Zatoichi, Maborosi, etc.) and is scripted by Ping Pong writer Kankurô Kudô.
The story begins with a chuckle in a bizarre situation that by all rights would not be funny. Keiko Obayashi (played by Rena Tanaka who is a new face to me) catches her boyfriend cheating on her in the funniest way possible and reacts as any edokko Tokyo girl would. She jumps on the first train at the station without looking, cries herself to sleep and only wakes up to find herself at the end of the line lost in an unfamiliar area. It turns out that - she and the viewers later find out - she has landed in the fictional Masao town and station a stone's throw away from Saitama. As she wanders the streets lost and forlorn she comes across a pharmacy whose grand opening is the next day and being a pharmacology student applies for a job. Unhappy with the new mega store, Hustle Drug, the incumbent pharmacy owner in the area and his friends plan a boycott and sabotage, which leads them to Keiko. Where the film seems like a tale of David and Goliath at first, somewhere in the middle it transforms into something else. The business aspect is not pursued and instead Keiko is depicted as a butterface with sexy legs and not only university smarts, but also experience and talent for Lacrosse of all things - although one sees several female Lacrosse players also walk by in Tenten. Hoping to gain a date with this smart and sassy girl the men mobilize to earn her affections to decidedly silly effect. Soon the entire town is transformed and the efforts of the men multiply to such an extent that the players are the focus of a TV news feature. Keiko is keen to gain revenge from her ex (who, in turn and as oddly, is being dropped by his two new sexy girlfriends because Keiko wants to pick up her belongings), the men cannot score a goal to get a date with the subject of their infatuation and the new business' obviously rich owner puts cash money towards sponsoring her would-be rivals and foes.
This is a light, funny, shallow and exaggerated film perfect for killing a couple of hours. It somewhat surprisingly features Kimiko Yo (Departures, Café Lumiere, Ramen Girl, Suicide Club, etc.), Akira Emoto (Ichi, Zatoichi, Maborosi, etc.) and is scripted by Ping Pong writer Kankurô Kudô.
