Movie Review--Dawn of a New Day

Dawn of a New Day starts out as a slow-moving story about a hardworking Japanese man, Kagaya, who is forced to start working in a new office of the company he works for. As dwindling sales plague the company, Kagaya's supervisors pressure all the branches of their company to downsize, but to continue making their not-so-stellar product which gives its users much trouble, but in turn provides work for the tech guys of the company (the repairmen).

Kagaya dreams of inventing a more efficient product, a home video recording system, that will not only boost sales, but provide consumers exactly what they want--a better, user-friendly product, with more recording time than the their competitor's, Sony's, Betamax. Kagaya, not a manager by training or prior experience, ends up becoming one of the best in the field as he pushes his employees to work harder, and reorganizes the branch he works at, strategically placing workers in different sectors (marketing, sales, production, research/development, etc.).

Pushing all limits Kagaya finds his job taking a toll on him, his family, and also his workers. Things only seem to get worse as an accidental fire destroys one of the company's buildings, but not Kagaya's vision or his morale. Kagaya's dedication and management inspire all those around him to persevere, spending late nights working toward developing the VHS.

The story is pretty predictable, viewers know that the VHS will ultimately be successfully developed and distributed, but even so, the film is not boring (although it does seem to drag on a bit). Perhaps this is due to the Asiatic features the film depicts--a strong theme of filial piety (we see Kagaya's older son go from being a typical self-absorbed teenager to one that becomes the man of the family as his mother's health fails, and as his father devotes more and more time to his work), and loyalty among the workplace. The relationships among employees at their workplace is more like that of family, they all treat each other very respectfully--not atypical in Japanese culture, but definitely a nice departure from what a Western audience may be used to seeing in American films.

Dawn of a New Day may not be one of the most viewed movies, but it definitely qualifies as a well-directed movie with talented actors. Before actually watching it, one may find the story to be mundane and uninteresting, (let's face it, how many people would pick up a movie about the development of the VHS, over something like Rush Hour...?) but it's occasional subtle humor and glimpses of Japanese culture unknown to the Western audience grab the viewer's attention throughout its entirety. On a scale of 1-10, I'd give it a 7.

-Tavleen Kaur