Between the White Key and the Black Key
Original Title
白鍵と黒鍵の間に
Hakken to kokken no aida ni
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Release : October 2023 Duration : 94min. Genre : Drama Ⓒ2023 Hiroshi Minami / Shogakukan / Between the White Key and the Black Key Film Production Committee
STAFF
Directer : Masanori Tominaga Original Work : Hiroshi Minami Screenplay : Masanori Tominaga Screenplay : Tomoyuki Takahashi Music : Ami Ogaeri
INTRODUCTION
Ginza - an upscale entertainment district in a prime location in Tokyo.
The night, too, was supposed to be the usual Ginza. If only he hadn't played "Love Theme from The Godfather..."
The film is an adaptation of jazz pianist Hiroshi Minami's autobiographical essay set in 1980s Ginza, with Sosuke Ikematsu playing the same character from two different periods, and depicts an ominous "one night" in which the person he was three years ago pursues the person he is three years from then.
STORY
December 28, 1988. Tokyo is in the midst of an economic bubble.
Hiroshi (25), a young pianist who aspires to become a professional jazz pianist, is encouraged by his mentor to train at a "cabaret" and takes a part-time job playing piano at a cabaret called Mizu-Umi, located on the edge of Ginza. One night, a mysterious thug, "That Guy," requests Hiroshi to play "Love Theme from The Godfather," and he plays despite the bandleader's warning not to do so. Realizing that he would never become a jazz pianist as long as he played piano at Mizu-Umi, to get a chance to play piano at a “hostess club” in the center of Ginza, Hiroshi goes to a coffee shop called Boston, a hangout for band members of the club. Hiroshi meets Miki (50), who runs the band, and learns the "code" that only Kumano (60), a yakuza who rules Ginza, is allowed to request "Love Theme from The Godfather." And that only Minami (28), one of the best pianists in Ginza, is permitted to perform for Kumano.
Pianist Minami (28) has been working as a pianist at a hostess club in Ginza for the past three years and is now holding sway over the Ginza club scene. In Ginza hostess clubs, music is just like decoration, and the band members are merely accessories, like vases and carpets, to create a sense of luxury. Customers who listen to the music do not exist. Minami seems to accept his status as a vase, but he has been secretly planning to leave Ginza after the night and go to the United States to study music to become a jazz pianist. Rumors of the code-breaking that night on the edge of Ginza quickly spread throughout the district, and a search begins for the culprit who played "Love Theme from The Godfather." Eventually, Minami, unfortunately, becomes the target of the aggression.
