School Days with a Pig

School Days with a Pig
Film poster
Directed byTetsu Maeda
Written byHirotoshi Kobayashi, Yasushi Kuroda (novel)
Produced byToshihiro Isomi
StarringSatoshi Tsumabuki, Mieko Harada, Ren Osugi
CinematographyYasuhito Kasai
Edited byKoichi Takahashi
Production
company
Distributed byNikkatsu
Release date
  • 1 November 2008 (2008-11-01) (Japan)
Running time
109 minutes
CountryJapan
LanguageJapanese
Box officeUS$92,400[1]

School Days with a Pig (ブタがいた教室, Buta ga ita Kyōshitsu) is a 2008 Japanese drama film that is based on a true event that took place in an elementary school in Osaka Prefecture.[2] The film is directed by Tetsu Maeda, and its story is based on a novel about the event by Yasushi Kuroda. Actor Satoshi Tsumabuki 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,[3] and it was subsequently released in Japanese cinemas on 1 November 2008.[2]

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.[4]

Cast

Students

Year 6 Class 2 Students

Production

Development

School Days with a Pig was first announced on 25 August 2008.[5]

Music

The theme song for the film School Days with a Pig is the song Hana no yō ni hoshi no yō ni (花のように星のように, lit: Like a Flower, like a star) that is sung by singer Tortoise Matsumoto.[5] This was announced together with the announcement of this film on 25 August 2008.[5]

  • 「Prayer」 Lyrics By：Tatsu Maeda (前田哲)　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, where it was one of the films participating in the competition.[3] It was then released in Japan cinemas on 1 November 2008.[6]

Later, this film was released in Singapore on 8 April 2009.[7] It was also released in Taiwan on 10 April 2009[8] and in Hong Kong on 27 August 2009 under the name of (Chinese: 和豬豬一起上課的日子; pinyin: Hé zhū zhū yīqǐ shàngkè de rìzi).[8]

Home Video

The home video was released in DVD (Region 2) format on Amazon Japan on 4 October 2009.[9] A special limited 2-disc edition was also released on the same day.[9]

Reception

Critical response

Rotten Tomatoes reported that 78% of users liked this movie, based on 104 user ratings.[10] The DVD version of this movie was ranked #30,660 on the Amazon Bestsellers Rank (in DVD)[11] The special version was ranked #39,011 on the same list.

According to this movie's Taiwanese release official site, more audiences did not want to eat the pig as compared to those who voted to eat the pig.[12]

Accolades

Award Date of ceremony Category Recipients and nominees Result
28th Tokyo International Film Festival[13] 2008 Audience Award School Days with a Pig Won
Zlín International Film Festival for Children and Youth[14] 2009 Award of the City of Zlín School Days with a Pig Won
Jeonju International Film Festival 2009 JIFF Audience Award School Days with a Pig Won

References

  1. ^ "Box Office Mojo". Box Office Mojo. Retrieved 12 August 2011.
  2. ^ a b "School Days with a Pig on eiga.com". eiga.com (in Japanese). Retrieved 18 July 2011.
  3. ^ a b "Films in the 21st Tokyo International Film Festival". WELVA CORP. (in Japanese). Retrieved 18 July 2011.
  4. ^ "Yahoo! Japan film summary". Yahoo! Japan, Co. (in Japanese). Retrieved 29 November 2010.
  5. ^ a b c 妻夫木聡主演「ブタがいた教室」チケットは初のベルマーク付き！. eiga.com (in Japanese). 25 August 2008. Retrieved 18 July 2011.
  6. ^ "School Days with a Pig on goo Movies". NTT Resonant Inc (in Japanese). Retrieved 18 July 2011.
  7. ^ Yahoo! Singapore Movies Yahoo! Southeast Asia Pte Ltd.
  8. ^ a b "atmovies movies.com.tw" (in Chinese). @movies. Retrieved 16 August 2011.
  9. ^ a b "allcinema" (in Japanese). allcinema. Retrieved 16 August 2011.
  10. ^ Rotten Tomatoes, IGN Entertainment, Inc. Retrieved 2010-12-06.
  11. ^ "Amazon Japan" (in Japanese). Amazon.com, Inc. Retrieved 16 August 2011.
  12. ^ "Taiwan Official Movie Page" (in Chinese). Retrieved 16 August 2011.
  13. ^ "Tokyo International Film Festival History" (in Japanese). Tokyo International Film Festival. Retrieved 16 August 2011.
  14. ^ "Results of ZLÍN 2009 – 49th International Film Festival for Children and Youth". ZLÍN International Film Festival. Retrieved 10 January 2011.

External links