New York Asian Film Festival 2024 (July 12-22 FLC) REVIEWS

[Chris Knipp]

JUN SAITO, GO AYANO IN LET'S GO KARAOKE!

NOBUHIRO YAMASHITA: LET'S GO KARAOKE! (2023)

Choir kid mentors Yakuza mensch

This is a coming of age charmer matching unlikely types: a meek, bespectacled boy soprano from a choir and a Yakuza boss who comes to him for voice coaching. (It's complicated.) Sparks fly and then they bond. The kid, as the boss puts it, "goes ballistic" when he's angry. His speeches when aroused are illustrations of the fire that can hide behind a seemingly quiet Japanese exterior.

The boy is Satomi Oka (Jun Saito), and he's the star boy soprano of his mixed choir, but as the story begins he's worried about the final competition. The secret is that his voice is changing and he may not manage the solo any more. That is pushed aside when he is suddenly approached by a sleek, suited man, Kyoji Narita ("Crazy Kid," Go Ayano), who grabs him and says "Let's go Karaoke!" The leader stages Karaoke contests among the gang. Kyoji is afraid of losing, and the loser gets an ugly, mocking tattoo crudely and painfully etched on him by the boss himself. He knows of Satomi's musical accomplishment and wants help. For all Satomi's musical experience, this unexpected new job will take him far afield. He never expected to have one-on-one sessions with a gangster.

What follows is quite hilarious and unexpected, revealing the human and vulnerable side of Japan's most menacing gangsters and the courageous and macho side of apparently meek types like the boy soprano. At one point Satomi is called on to assess the singing abilities of each member of the whole gang, and with his brutal and specific comments, he astonishes. Frequenting Kyoji and oddly bonding with him leads Satomi to Tokyo's colorful Minami Ginza district. The boy and the gangster start exchanging text messages, and however often Satomi tells Kyoji to go away and stay away, the communication continues and the bond keeps growing.

Kyoji's hidden paternal instincts obviously are aroused and so is Satomi's need to expand his horizons, and show he can not only use that changing voice to sing sweetly, but to yell authoritatively. Our own desire to root for the underdog is aroused along with our need to see the good in bad guys. Perhaps director Yamashita wants to avoid the obvious, but I would have liked the Yakuza to be played by an actor a little more conventionally tough looking than Go Ayano. But in the heat of the moment that can be overlooked and the film, though slight, goes down easy.

Let's Go Karaoke!, 108 mins., debuted Taipei Nov. 2023; released Jan. and Feb. Japan and Taipei. It was screened for this review as part of the 2024 NYAFF (Jul. 12-28).

SCHEDULE:
Wednesday July 24, 6:00pm
SVA Theatre
Intro and Q&A with director Nobuhiro Yamashita