Koma Wing's time

Runtime: 100 min
Country: Japan
Language: Japanese
Color: Color
Certification: Malaysia:U / Singapore:

As a labrador puppy, Quill is sent to live with a couple, Isamu (Teruyuki Kagawa) and Mitsuko Nii (Shinobu Terajima), who work as volunteers, training guide dogs (seeing eye dogs). When he grows to an adult dog, he is taken to a guide dog school, by a friendly, yet firm trainer Satoru Tawada. Although Quill is a little slower than the other dogs at the school, he seems to have an unusual 'empathy' and remarkable patience with his trainers. Tawade decides that Quill would be the ideal guide dog for Mitsuru Watanabe (Kaoru Kobayashi), but Wanatabe, a lonely and ill-tempered middle aged man, isn't as enthusiastic - he would "would rather sleep than be dragged around by a dog.". From here, the story is narrated by Wanatabe's daughter, Mitsuko (Yukika Sakuratani), and slowly, Wantanbe is rehabilitated, venturing into the outside world, and learning, not only to trust other humans, but the animal at his side who guides him.

It seems dog films are all the rage in Japan lately, with no less than four cinematic canine offerings coming out between 2002 and 2004. In 2002 Dogstar delivered a fantastical fable about a guide dog granted a wish to live as a human. A year later Sayonara Kuro told a true story about the bonds between master and pet, but 2004 saw two entries into this sub genre: Quill and Walking the Dog. The latter was a good-natured comedy about a loveable rogue discovering new opportunities in life with the help of a stray dog. Quill on the other hand goes back to the subject of guide dogs, merging fact with sentimentality to deliver a somewhat unique film experience that proved to be a resounding success at both the Japanese and HK Box Office.

When Miss Hito’s pet Labrador gave birth to five pups she decided to submit them for guide-dog training. However, the local centre would only agree to accept one pup because the mother was considered to be too unexceptional, nevertheless Ito made her choice: a quiet, patient pup with a rare black stain in his coat. Before starting his training, the pup was sent to what is known as the “Puppy Walkers”, a regular family who care for young dogs until their first birthday when it’s ready to start guide dog training at the centre. They named the pup Quill – after the black mark in his coat, and provided a loving, leisurely life for him until that inevitable first birthday. Life at the training centre was busy: a rigid regime of exercise and training, but Quill was a natural and soon learnt the skills needed to guide the blind. Then he was assigned an owner who unfortunately wasn’t much of a dog lover. Mr. Watanabe was a mule-headed loudmouth with a natural distrust of animals – so it seems it will be a bumpy road before man and beast will be working in full unison and Quill can finally start his life as a guide dog.

Quill is a strange beast. It’s more a 100min educational program about quide dogs than a film. There’s not much plot to speak of, instead the narrative simply follows Quill from his birth into his training then subsequent life as a guide dog, taking lots of time to preach to the audience about the importance these dogs play in our society. The film’s success or failure hinges desperately on how interested in the subject matter you are, and while Quill may not provide a terrible amount of insight into living with blindness or about the basic function of a guide dog that you probably couldn’t have guessed already, it does provide plenty of new insight into what it is exactly that makes dogs such suitable companions for the blind. It also provides a glimpse at the laborious process through which people train the dogs to maximise and realise their potential to be guide dogs. The director: Yoichi Sai, clearly respects the animals and never once looks down on each function a guide dog has, which is an important attribute for a film of this kind. In fact it’s the one aspect of the film where there is no romanticising whatsoever.

Labrador puppies could probably turn even the most avid dog haters into lovers, yet perhaps it’s the mileage, not just the cuteness factor that might see you taking the titular hound to heart. Adopting CGI and Animatronics for just brief insertion shots one or two times throughout the film, a lot of screentime is disposed letting the dog do his own thing, with some exaggerated sound effects added to gently accentuate Quill’s actions. Of course, the dog may be the clear star of the film, but it still needs good human support. Kippei Shiina and Kaoru Kobayashi provide this as Quill’s trainer: Mr. Kawada, and owner: Mr. Watanabe respectively. They’re roles that could’ve been deceptively difficult to pull off given that the tone of the film flits between documentary realism and rather heavy melodrama, but both actors are more than up to the task, delivering performances that are subtle enough to get the naturalism just right.

If Quill has a flaw, it’s the way the story loses focus after Quill’s graduation from the training academy and descends into maudlin melodrama in the second half. It’s not that the film isn’t touching, some scenes are quite sad, but there’s nothing original here and certainly if you’ve seen as many recent Japanese dramas as I have, you’ll recognise all the standard contrivances which permeate the genre within the mainstream market. Whether you will be reaching for the tissues or a sickbag depends solely upon your tolerance for this. The Kuricorder Quartet have created a delightful little score that sets the right tone for every scene and this is a huge factor in imbuing pathos into proceedings, also Sai’s direction is equally effective at times, demonstrating a healthy level of restraint when dealing with the sadder parts of the story. Yet the fact remains that the sentimental second half simply isn’t as original or interesting as when the attention was focused on the guide-dog training.

It may not be to everyone’s tastes, but Quill delivers an adequate dose of popcorn dramatics and teaches us a thing or two about Man’s Best Friend in the process. You can’t say fairer than that for a bit of disposable entertainment.