(Jmovie Review) Hidarite Ippon no Shuuto

 Other title: One Left Hand Shot 

Screenwriter: Yoshido Noriko 

Genre: drama, sport, based on true story 

Network: TBS 

Casts: 

Taishi Nakagawa as Tanaka Masayuki

Suruga Taro as basketball teacher 

Maeda Oshio as Kenta 

Katsuya as physiotherapist 

I’ve never been very close to basketball myself since I was a bit afraid of ball hitting my face. LOL. But, I don’t deny that I love to see movies with sport as the genre, take some examples: Yell to the Blue Sky (it even has musical genre as well as sport), Waiting for Spring, Tori Girl, etc. All sport movies always tell about dream, motivation, and hard work. Realize it or not, the audience, like me, would feel shivered looking at how the characters struggle to get they dream of. But this one is more than the previous movies I have watched since it is based on a true story.

 Before I write this review, I tried to browse anything about the figure highlighted by the movie. When I clicked the name on search engine, without putting anything about basketball, what I got as Tanaka Masayuki, a singer who is popular as anime and tokusatsu theme singer. When I put the word ‘basketball’, what I got was this movie. So, I’d better leave it that way. Let’s just try to get to know him from the movie. 

Masayuki was very enthusiastic before he joined high school entrance ceremony. He was scouted by the high school basketball teacher to join Hikawa High School. Unfortunately, three days before the entrance, he suddenly collapsed at the venue of the match he was set to join and lost consciousness. From the diagnose, Masayuki suffered from brain haemorrhage due to cerebral arteriovenous malformation. He was saved by an emergency surgery, but his right part of his body was paralyzed. He underwent various rehabilitation to get his right part of the body functional. His physiotherapist suggested him to maximize his left hand to replace his right hand. It was hard for him to accept, especially the possibility to go back to court playing his most favorite sport, basketball. 

If only this movie has two or more sequels, I think it would show the audience how hard he struggled accepting the truth, and how hard he tried to maximize his left hand to shoot the ball. Besides, from the movie, I see that he seemed not to have a good relationship with his father. It might be because his father is a typical father who didn’t talk much but showed his care in his own way. Plus, all aspects were focused only on him. From one scene, I knew that he did have a rival from other schools in basketball match. If only, the movie had the part of this rival’s thought of Masayuki’s condition. 

3 years being a part of the basketball team without him playing on the court seemed unbearable but Masayuki could handle it. His teacher, his friends and most importantly his family support him. For almost 3 years Masayuki became an advisor who looked closer to his basketball team and he surprisingly could point his friends’ strengths and weaknesses. Frankly, watching this movie, I was expecting to see Masayuki trained his left hand to shoot the ball to the basket in the court. Well, it might be because of the duration, the part didn’t take a lot of scenes. However, looking at how motivated and how Masayuki burnt his own spirit by chanting someday, eventually, for sure again and again made my heart warm and my eyes teary. I don’t know how many times I wiped my tears to see Masayuki’s supportive parents, teachers and friends. I can see how proud they were to see Masayuki get what he dreamt about. 

At the end of the movie, you can see the real Tanaka Masayuki who is now 28 years old and still as enthusiastic as he was when he was teen. Comparing between Masayuki and Taishi Nakagawa as the actor who played as Masayuki, of course, there are poles apart. However, I can say that Taishi is a great actor. He can play his character as someone who was paralyzed very well. His facial expression and his gesture support his great acting. I don’t know how long he studied to move, to walk and talk like the real Masayuki. Last but not least, if you love basketball, this movie is for you. But, if you’re just like, know nothing about basketball, Taishi Nakagawa is there for you. Having supportive teammates is everything in sport, but having own motivation is more than anything.  

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