"Cinecon e Ikou!" drama: Episode three of thirteen(?) recap

 

 Air Dates: July 4th until September 26 on BS Matsutake Tokyo TV, Mondays at 10:30 pm

Also known as 'Let's go the Cinema Complex', subs are being done by GEO0975 at DA

Main Cast: Is there a location a drama hasn't been set in?! This one takes place at a Cinema Complex in the fictional city of Mirai. Looks to be a small complex but there are twelve theaters with the largest holding 510 movie fans. The cinema is part of the Tochiku Corporation which own many theaters in Japan. However the fans haven't flocking to this cinema which has some less than stellar employees, will some new blood shake up things? Will update the bios as we go along and an episode is 25 minutes in length.

Kii(e) Kitano as Kaori Nakatsuka... The 'new blood' at this cinema which is located in a remote region. Kaori has been transferred from the home office in Tokyo and though she knows so much about the business end of theaters she doesn't know what it takes to operate one. She's a very strict young woman who was sent to bring in more customers and straighten out this bunch of daffy employees.

Dai Watanabe as Kenta Mizusawa.... The manger of the cinema complex and he may be the only employee I wouldn't call daffy. Mizusawa has been the manager for some years and is a huge film buff but he's not running a tight enough ship at the complex and was shocked when Kaori was sent to help him.

Tateto Serizawa as Kanji Shibui.... The assistant manager and also the oldest by far at the cinema. His main duty is to run the projections for the films and have things changed over the years. Shibui is quite scared of woman and can't even look Kaori in the eyes.

Nana Akuzawa as Tomomi Marukawa.... Runs the ticket and info booth, like every other part time employee she's a bit lazy and really has no interest in movies.

Shingo Nakayama as Kohei Matsumaru.... Male employee who is the usher but helps out doing many other assorted jobs.... when he has time from not talking to the other employees!

Risako Miki as Shiina Takemura.... Head of the concession stand but like everyone else doesn't have to work hard due to the lack of customers.

Sara Saito as Akane Umemoto.... Cleaner at the cinema who is a horrible worker, she spends most of her day on the phone!

Previous recaps

Episode one .... Episode two

Mini preview of this third episode: Video

 

 There was a must watch film back in 2006 titled "Uchoten Hotel" aka Suite Dreams. That's one of my top films from the past 25 years and bet I've viewed it twenty times. As the film opens a hand held camera is going through the front doors of the hotel as if it were a new guest arriving. In the lobby greeting this guest were the managers, bellhops, receptionists, etc. Bring that up for that's how this drama's opening credits are too with a hand held camera acting as someone about to view a film and they're greeted by the usher, ticket taker, concession woman and the two managers so wonder if that film had anything to do with this show's opening?

 So while that film to me is a must watch wouldn't say this drama is though it's been very enjoyable so far. Seems every show will have a stand alone story but there is one main theme which is of the newbie Kaori trying to whip this cinema complex back into shape! After four episodes can't say she's been a success but there's still nine more shows to go.... but for all Kie fans that's not enough!

 At the end of the last episode the Cinema Inn Complex was paid a visit by an older man named Shinozaki. He wasn't just any man but the CEO(!) of the Tochiku company which owns the cinema and many others in Japan. Shinozaki was paying a visit to all of them to see how they were running, this cinema in Mirai was no doubt the worst one! A huge part of the problem is the staff's morale which is so low and much of that is because of how few movie goers there are. That was according to the part time employee Matsumura who is right above, he's the main usher/ticket taker plus helps out doing various other duties. He does know what he's doing but like many others has no motivation to do better and there's not much the new co-manager Kaori could say to that and she's right above.

 She had been going through the financial books and things were worse than she thought, is there any chance of saving this cineplex from closing? Would think so as there are ten more episodes to go and we know how so many Japanese dramas work out with the underdog coming out on top at the end. The city of Mirai is a fictional one and don't think it's too large. This cinema has twelve theaters with the largest holding 510 people, is that too many screens for such a small city? It would seem so and perhaps an eight screen cinema would have worked better but it's too late now plus are there twelve current popular films that can be shown? Don't think so and in the last show Kaori suggested to the main manager Mizusawa they show some special films during the week when it's the slowest, for instance some old movies which may draw in the older generation who are free during the day.

 During that scene Mizusawa had told Kaori he too had come up with an idea like that but doing special showings has to be approved by the main office. And that's difficult to do as their parent company Tochiku has to have a certain number of films at each location from their distributors. But as the top screenshots above show Mizusawa has had a change of heart and agrees with Kaori that something needs to be done to attract more movie goers, he's now going to plead his case with their parent company and hope that works out. It's a large cineplex and very few employees seem to work there, so few that Kaori is having problems filling out the schedule for the following week. This cinema gets so few applications plus according to Mizusawa it's the college break period so that's a big reason for the lack of applicants.

 This could be a chance though for Kaori to learn more about how a cinema is run, the hardest part of the schedule is finding someone to take care of the concession stand. It's run by a woman named Kanna and she is by far the most efficient employee. Mizusawa suggested to Kaori to learn the ropes from Kanna who reluctantly agreed to train her. Manning the concession stand is more difficult than you think though Kanna makes it look so easy. She can do about five things at once and it was a learning experience for Kaori who could hardly do one thing correct at a time. For instance she must have burnt five hot dogs and couldn't put popcorn into a container without spilling so much onto the floor, think the cineplex needs Kanna to work a hundred hours a week then!

 Least Kaori made it through the shift in one piece but she still didn't learn all that much. You can see one of her burnt hot dogs above, there were four others in the same shape which were eaten by Shibui. Didn't see much of him in this show but he's the assistant manager and is in charge of running the films, Shibui's so scared of women he still can't look Kaori in the eyes. Bet many cinemas have a problem with people bringing their own food in and who can blame them with the prices they charge! There's one chronic abuser bringing food in who is Suzuki, sometimes he gets caught and other times not. But two days in a row Matsumura had caught him sneaking food and drinks in, the second time he called Kaori for help. Her approach in a way to Suzuki was correct for she asked would restaurants or coffee shops allow you to bring your own food and drinks in? 

 Of course not but that's when Mizusawa arrived on the scene, he's not the best of managers but he's very skilled at solving problems with customers. He told Suzuki that he had probably never tried any of the cinema's food so to show him how good their food is Mizusawa offered to buy him something which turned out to be a yummy cheese dog. The price wasn't mentioned but bet it was at least 1000 yen! So Suzuki walked away content and Mizusawa's plan paid off which he explained to Kaori above. True, much money is made from concessions but on the other hand do you tell a person like Suzuki who comes a few times a week they're not welcome if they bring their own food? That makes sense to me as with the cineplex struggling why lose a customer who comes 3-4 times a week with that logic Kaori did learn a valuable lesson. So that ends this recap, the fourth show is the next post but haven't viewed that yet and as always do recommend viewing these screenshots which explain the story a bit better.