The Shonen Merikensakku (The Brass Knuckle Boys)

Written and directed by Kankurô Kudô. Starring Aoi Miyazaki (Kanna Kurita), Yûichi Kimura (Haruo), Ryô Katsuji (Masaru), Tomorowo Taguchi (Jimmy), and Hiroki Miyake (Young).

Bottom line: I really wanted to like it and it had the potential to be solid but The Shonen Merikensakku ultimately became a series of stupid jokes and with a disappointing punchline.

Kanna Kurita (Miyazaki) is a young talent scout for a record label in Japan. She stumbles upon a video of a punk band called The Shonen Merikensakku (The Brass Knuckle Boys). By “punk” I mean Sex Pistols not Sum 41. They are singing a song that sounds like “Surfin' to pass the time.” She shows it to her boss, fully expecting to be fired. Her less than successful contract will soon be ending anyway so she plans on helping run her father's sushi shop. To her dismay, before starting the record label, her boss was actually in a punk rock band. She is ordered to manage a comeback tour. She reluctantly accepts but soon realizes that the video clip is twenty five years old. The rockers are old and tired (compared to the youths in the video, that is). The Shonen Merikensakku is the adventure of Kanna and the band coming together to discover (or rediscover) themselves and punk rock.

Throughout the movie Kanna documents their travels with a Sony HD camera (more on the product placement later). Elements of her videos, like interviews, give the film a This is Spinal Tap-vibe but this isn't a documentary or a mockumentary (a documentary parody).

The best part, and frankly, one of the few positive things about this movie is the catchy music. “Surfin' to pass the time” is a really cool song and it is played throughout the movie. We learn that the guitarist, Haruo (Kimura), and vocalist, Jimmy (Taguchi), first started in the music industry as teen idols (a category of boy bands). Accompanying this information, we watch a segment of one of their music videos. In the words of Shonen Merikensakku's original manager: “There wasn't a word for 'dorky' at the time but it was dorky.” It is short and silly and illustrates why these guys wanted to break away and do punk. My major qualm with the musical genre is that the songs are often too long. In Shonen Merikensakku, I actually wished they were longer. If only the rest of the movie was as good as the music.

As I write this, I am trying to decide on what to comment on first: the silliness, the toilet humor or the miserable ending. The movie is full of toilet humor and fart jokes which are irrelevant and distracting. At one point, for example, Kanna establishes a rule that if someone farts that person is fined 500 yen. That's comedy gold, folks... The acting overall is way too silly for my tastes. By throwing the sophomoric humor all over, it's like the movie is compensating for something. Compensating for what I don't know, but whatever it is, it isn't worth it.

The art style is fine but it feels a little forced. It's like a lot of elements are put together to fit the definition of punk:

“Alright, we need spiked hair.”

“Check.”

“Studded coat.”

“Check.”

“Noisy music.”

“Check.”

The most offensive thing about Shonen Merikensakku is the ending, mind yourself of spoilers for this part. I usually try not talk about endings but this one made me so mad, I just have to. It reminded me of that Gordon Levitt movie Premium Rush (the one where he is a bicycle courier in New York). The final lines were something like, “Someday I'll have a suit and tie job but not today! Today, I'm riding my bike.” The idealistic, romantic attitude of the movie is dashed with this single line. Why couldn't he say, “I will always ride my bike because that's what I love to do.” Disney's Brave pulled similar shenanigans. The strong-willed, independent princess concluded with the sentiment, “Someday I'll get married...but not until I'm ready!” Why does she have to say that? She could've easily said, “I'm not getting married today and I might not ever want but that's OK because I am being me.” It's like the movies are saying, being young and hopeful and energetic is all fine and dandy until you grow up. When you grow up, you have to put away your little toys and dreams to toil away until you die.

The whole reason Kanna accepts the job to manage the band is because she is making a living doing what she really likes. She doesn't want to run her father's sushi shop; she wants to tour with a band. In the final moments of the movie, we see Kanna working in her father's sushi shop. She runs out the door saying that she has a gig. We cut to the band starting their set with Kanna eagerly watching in the audience. By working part-time in the sushi shop and part-time as the band's manager, her passion is being relegated to the position of hobby. It gets better. The band is playing and they begin fighting each other (fighting each other is their shtick). The bass player swings his guitar at the guitarist but accidentally hits Jimmy, knocking him out. On Jimmy's butt is a patch that says “END.” Some pop music fades in and the movie ends. Twenty Five years ago, during their final performance, a similar blow to the head paralyzed Jimmy and, in effect, disbanding the group. With this, the movie is saying Kanna couldn't even manage the punk group as a passion! It is time for her to grow up and work in her father's sushi shop. After this entire two hour movie, that's what you're giving me, The Shonen Merikensakku? I'm not buying it.

Speaking of buying, there is an odd amount of product placement in this movie. Sony was obviously a major sponsor because we have clear shots of several Sony HD Digital Cameras and Kanna's Sony VAIO laptop. I understand that product placement is everywhere, but I prefer it if it was subtle.

Overall, I wouldn't recommend The Shonen Merikensakku. The music is solid but it couldn't possibly salvage the movie as a whole and just thinking about the ending and the stupid humor makes me mad. Pass on this and check out Burst City or This is Spinal Tap.