Ode To The Romantic Comedies of the Past

Kitagawa Keiko and Kusanagi Tsuyoshi in Dokushin Kizoku

 Oh Man, Doukushin Kizoku is such an awesome drama so far! I love, love, love it!!! I’m up to episode 6 and my initial feeling that this story seemed like a throwback to old fashioned romantic comedies wasn’t off the mark- the show is just FILLED with nods and references to the beloved films of the past!
  With music from such movies West Side Story (I Could Have Danced all Night) and the Wizard of Oz (Somewhere Over the Rainbow), the music transports you to those movies of yesteryear, and they’ve even got the sweet Audrey Hepburn tune “Moon River” (from Breakfast At Tiffany’s) as the show’s recurring interlude song!

Speaking of Audrey Hepburn, even the storyline of the stoic and proper Mamoru (Tsuyoshi Kusanagi) and the suave and dashing younger brother Susumu (Ito Hideaki) both fighting over the affections of humble poor girl Yuki (Kitagawa Keiko) reminds me of the 1954 movie “Sabrina” where Humphrey Bogart and William Holden were fighting over the dainty Audrey!

The characters in the show are so great and colorful- besides the main cast, I’ve already mentioned Renbutsu Misako, here portraying the cute and frustrated Sumika (LOLOL):

...but even Nishihara Aki as Yuki’s hippie roommate Saori and Hiraiwa Kami as Mamoru’s scatterbrained would-be fiancé are glorious to watch! BTW, it took me a couple of episodes to realize Yuki’s bossy and yet insecure immediate supervisor Yuta was played by Fujigaya Taisuke!

Ito Hideaki and Renbutsu Misako

Kitagawa Keiko and Fujigaya Taisuke

While chatting about romantic comedies of the past and present, Mamoru and Yuki's conversation goes from “An Affair To Remember”to“Sleepless In Seattle”, and one doesn’t need to be a major moviegoer to notice the significance of the Empire State Building snuck into the background on a market poster LOL!

And take this scene of Mamoru rescuing Keiko from a would-be attacker- I took one look at it and had to chuckle as it reminded me of the ending scene of “The Graduate” so much! And that’s just one of the many, many winks the show gives to viewer! For a drama about movies and moviemaking, they certainly are giving the audience a lot of food for thought!