England / Japan,
2000, 106 min
Shown in 2001
CREDITS
- dir
-
Kim Longinotto, Jano Williams
- prod
-
Kim Longinotto
- cam
-
Kim Longinotto
- editor
-
Brian Tagg
- mus
-
Gaea Japan
- source
-
Women Make Movies, 462 Broadway, New York, NY 10013. FAX: 212-925-2052. EMAIL: info@wmm.com
-
COMMENTS
Kim Longinotto, Jano Williams in person.
OTHER
The high powered and ruthless world of professional Japanese women’s wrestling is profiled in this highly entertaining and ultimately inspiring documentary from the makers of Dream Girls and Shinjuku Boys. “I don’t stand out. I want to be someone,” claims wrestling hopeful Takeuchi Saika, anxious to trade a life of pushing pens for a career in smashing heads. Apt to stumble before they’re ready to rumble, Takeuchi and the other recruits are placed in the domineering hands of wrestling superstar coach Nagayo Chigusa, who’s never met a boot camp humiliation technique or soul-killing insult she wouldn’t use. Arrogant, tough and built to win, Nagayo drills her pupils constantly, weeding out the less rigorous until only a few remain to compete for the biggest prize: the chance to go pro and bask in a sellout crowd’s adoration and respect. Told in a straightforward style, Gaea Girls moves as quickly as fiction, replete with knockout fights, underdog struggles and behind-the-scenes intrigues. A simultaneously tender and violent homage to these young women, it also raises serious issues involving ambition, power and courage, displaying with astonishment and respect the enormous sacrifices they make just for a chance at success.
FACTOID #361
John Huston, director of classics The Maltese Falcon and The Misfits, was honored with a Festival tribute in 1968. His daughter Anjelica received the Peter J. Owens Award in 1991; The Dead, one of the father-daughter duo’s collaborations, screened at her onstage interview.
