Goshu the Cellist
From the story
"Sero-hiki no Gooshu",
by Kenji Miyazawa
Calligraphy by Seiroku Miyazawa
Adaptation supervised by
Seiroku Miyazawa
Seishi Horio
Taijirou Amasawa
Producer:
Kouichi Murata
Planning:
Kazuo Komatsubara, Kouma Yonekawa
Music:
Yoshio Mamiya
Concert:
Ludwig van Beethoven,
Symphony No. 6 in F major,
Op. 68 "Pastorale"
Yoshio Mamiya conducting the
Tokyo Chamber Music Ensemble
Hiroyuki Iwaki conducting the
NHK Symphony Orchestra
Music by Yoshio Mamiya:
"The Indian Tiger-Hunt,"
"The Merry Coachman," others
Cello soloist: Mitsuo Yashima
"Melody on the circling of the stars"
Lyrics and music by Kenji Miyazawa
Sung by The "Tomato" Children's Choir
Character Design and Layout:
Shunji Saita
Artistic Director:
Takamura Mukuo
Director of Photography:
Toshiaki Okaseri
Recording Supervisor:
Yasuo Urakami
Written and directed by
Isao Takahata
The cello was behind.
Let's start again from the "pum-para."
Goshu! Get your act together.
It's the strings.
Your strings aren't tuned right.
Oh... what a pain.
I don't have time to go through
the simple scale with you.
I'm sorry.
Okay, again from the second forte!
Oboe! Your rhythm is sluggish.
Put more into it.
That's not a piccolo stuck between your lips.
All right, let's try it
from the "pum-para" again.
It's no use. We're not even close.
This is the heart of the piece.
And we're making a complete mess of it.
My friends.
There are only ten days
left until the recital.
How can we look anyone in the eye
if we professional musicians lose...
to some amateur congregation of
apprentice chefs and blacksmiths?
And you, Goshu.
You're quite a problem.
You seem to have no sense of expression.
No anger, no joy --
nothing at all seems to come out.
No, perhaps it's more fundamental than that.
You simply won't stay quite
in tune with the others.
It's as though you were always
trailing behind everyone else,
dragging along an untied shoelace.
Please get your act together.
I'd feel sorry for everyone in
our illustrious Venus Orchestra...
if we got a bad reputation
just because of you.
That's all for today.
Be in the orchestra box at the
cinema at six o'clock sharp.
The picture is Matsunosuke's "Jiraiya";
the music is "Nature the Beautiful."
Well, then...
Boy, today was the wringer.
The rain has stopped.
Oh, how nice.
Shall we go eat?
Come on.
Who is it? Hoshu?
Whew! I'm worn out.
Carrying things is tough.
What was that?
Here's a gift for you.
Please eat them.
Who in blazes asked you to go
and bring me tomatoes?
First of all, what makes you think that
I'd want to eat anything brought by a cat?
And besides, those tomatoes
are from my garden.
Look at that.
Picking them before they're even ripe.
It's you who's been nibbling and
scattering my tomato st*lks, isn't it?
Get out, you damned cat!
Now, now, now, now, sensei.
Don't get so angry;
it's bad for your health.
Ludwig van Beethoven!
Don't your shoulders get stiff
playing nothing but Beethoven
all the time, sensei?
Once in a while you should
play something easier.
I know.
Play Schumann's "Träumerei";
I'll be your audience.
You're certainly impertinent for a cat.
No, don't be modest, sensei.
Go right ahead.
I can't get to sleep without
hearing your unique style of music.
Enough of your nerve!
Enough! Enough!
Very well.
I'll play it.
What did you say to play?
"Träumerei,"
composed by Schumann the Romantic.
"The Indian Tiger-Hunt"
I see.
So does this "Träumerei" go like this?
So? How's my "Träumerei"?
Sensei, that... is not... "Träumerei".
"Träumerei," you see, sensei, is a--
Shut up!
Sensei!
That's enough. Please stop!
Please!
I'll never try to be your conductor again.
Shut up! We're almost to the part
where they catch the tiger.
There.
I'll let you go with that.
Now get out of here.
Sensei, there's something about
your performance today.
It's all disjointed.
Oh, is that so?
So... are you okay?
You didn't hurt yourself?
Oh, no.
It was really good exercise.
Let me see your tongue for a second.
Hmm.
It's a little rough, ...isn't it?
I'll let you go now.
Don't come back, stupid!
"Jiraiya" / "Chuukichi's Great Adventure"
Hi-no-de Theater
Eek!
A mouse! A mouse!
A mouse!
Haven't you had enough, cat?
Of all the... now a bird?
What do you want?
I would like a music lesson.
"Music?"
All you ever sing
is "cuckoo, cuckoo."
Yes, that's true.
But, you see...
it's really quite difficult.
What's difficult about it?
Maybe singing it over and over
is hard, but the song
has nothing to it.
On the contrary...
it is hard.
For example, if I...
...like this, and if I...
...like this, they even sound
quite different, don't they?
No, they don't.
Then you cannot understand.
When we birds sing "cuckoo"
ten thousand times, each and
every one is different.
Suit yourself.
If you know so much,
why did you bother coming to me?
But, you see...
I want to learn to sing the scale correctly.
What would you know about the scale?
I need to hear it once
before I travel to a foreign country.
What would you know
about a foreign country?
Sensei!
Please, teach me the scale.
I'll sing along with you.
Please, sensei.
What a pest.
All right,
but three times and that's it.
And after that,
you'd better leave.
No! No! No!
That's not what I mean at all.
If you're so picky,
then why don't you show me?
This is what I mean.
Oh, that's the scale?
To you guys the scale and the
Sixth Symphony must sound the same.
By no means.
How so?
It's more difficult when
"cuckoo" is repeated many times.
In short,
something like this, no?
Yes.
That's it.
Would you cut that out?
All right, bird.
If that's all you wanted then go away.
Please play it just once more.
Your playing seems promising,
but it's not quite right.
What did you say?
I'm not the one receiving the lesson here.
Get out!
Please, just once more.
I beg you.
Please,
I beg you.
All right,
but this is the last time.
Then please play it for as long as possible.
I give up.
Hold on a second.
Hmm?
What's the matter?
Could you do it?
Argh!
Any more of this nonsense and
I'll turn into a bird myself.
Why did you stop?
Even the most timid among us
would cry out until blood
came from his throat.
Mr. Goshu!
Why did you stop?
Why, of all the cheeky--!
Do you expect me to continue
this ridiculous mockery forever?
For the last time, get out!
Look!
The sun's coming up.
Then just once more,
until the sun rises.
It won't be long.
Shut up! Don't push your luck,
you damn fool bird! Get out!
Or I'll eat you for breakfast.
You dummy, there's glass there.
I'm opening it,
so just wait a second.
Thank you very much.
Sorry about that.
Cello!
Flow with the rhythm.
Not again.
I can't help you any more today!
Hey, raccoon.
Do you know what raccoon stew is?
I've never heard of raccoon stew.
Then, I'll tell you.
This is what raccoon stew is.
I take a raccoon like you,
boil him with cabbage and
salt and eat him for supper.
But, my dad said you were a good person
and that there's nothing to fear,
so I should come learn from you.
Learn what from me?
I have things to do.
Besides, I'm going to bed.
What's that?
Hmm? Oh, this?
It's raccoon stew.
No, it's my supper.
After I eat it,
I'm going to bed.
I play the drum, you see,
and my dad told me to come
play along with your cello.
I don't see a drum anywhere.
See these?
Oh, I get it.
You play them on your belly.
Then what do you do?
Please play this.
"The Merry Coachman"...?
What a strange tune.
All right, here goes.
Then, if you would...
Right, right.
Mr. Goshu, you're always later
than I expect on that second string.
It made me feel
as though I was stumbling.
Yes, maybe you're right.
It's this bad cello.
I wonder where the problem is?
Well...
Could you play it once more?
Of course.
Here goes.
Oh, it's morning.
Thank you very much.
Sensei!
Please, sensei.
This child is very sick.
He's at death's door.
Please take pity and cure him.
This isn't a hospital.
If you want a doctor,
try across the river.
No, sensei!
I beg you.
How am I supposed to be a doctor?
Sensei, you don't mean that.
Every day you so skillfully
cure our illnesses.
I don't know what
you're talking about.
But, sensei, thanks to you not
only did Madam Rabbit get well,
but Papa Raccoon got well, too.
And even that nasty old
Mrs. Owl got better.
And then to refuse
to cure this child --
it's just too cruel.
Now hold it.
This is some kind of mistake.
I've never cured any owl of anything.
Though last night a little raccoon
did come over and act like he was in a band.
Oh, if this child was going to get
sick no matter what, why couldn't
it have happened sooner?
To think that until just
a short time ago you were
thundering away so marvelously...
but the instant he gets sick
the sound stops...
and now you won't play for us
no matter how many times I ask.
What an unfortunate child!
What? You mean when I play my
cello it cures the owls and
rabbits, and you all?
How can that be?
Whenever creatures from around here fall
ill, they enter under the floorboards
of your house to recuperate.
And they get better?
Yes.
Their circulation improves greatly...
and they feel so contented that
some of them get better immediately...
while others get well after returning home.
I see. Oh, I get it!
The sound of my cello
is like a massage to you...
...and as a result
it heals your illnesses.
Yes. Yes.
All right, I understand.
I'll play for you.
I'll come along with him.
Any hospital lets you do that.
Hmm?
So you're going in too, then, are you?
Yes.
Are you okay down there, dear?
Did you fall the way
I taught you to,
with your legs together?
Yes, I fell right.
Look, he's okay.
So stop crying out like that.
That's...
That's plenty.
Please let him out now.
What, that's enough?
Are you all right, dear?
How was it?
Are you feeling any better?
He's better.
Thank you.
Thank you.
Hey, do you guys eat bread?
Eh?
Yes!
Yes! Yes!
If by bread you mean that stuff
made by kneading dough and
letting it rise, it sounds delicious...
but we've certainly never gone near your
cupboard, and I hope you wouldn't think we
would do so now after all you've done for us.
No, I wasn't talking about that.
I was just asking if you want any.
Yes.
Then you'll have some?
Yes, of course...
Go ahead.
Eat up.
Thank you!
Thank you!
How can I ever express
my gratitude for all you've done.
Come, come.
Let's eat it when we get home.
Talking to mice is pretty tiring.
Maestro!
Umm.. Maestro?
I wonder if you could play
a short piece for the encore.
No. That won't do. Anything we
perform after a great piece like that...
wouldn't even begin to satisfy me.
Then, Maestro,
please go out and say a few words.
No!
Absolutely not.
But sir,
listen to the applause.
Goshu!
Where's Goshu?
Yes?
Hey, Goshu,
go out there and play something.
What? You-- You want me to--?
You're the one.
Go on, now.
Get out there.
Give it your best, Goshu.
I can't do this.
How dare they make a
fool of me like this.
You just watch!
I'll play "The Indian Tiger-Hunt."
Goshu!
That was great, Goshu.
You had everyone listening intently,
even to a piece like that.
You've come far
in a week and a half.
If you were a baby ten days ago,
you're a soldier now.
I knew you could do it if you tried.
Good for you, Goshu.
It was splendid.
I was impressed.
It's because of your youthful strength
that you can even do something like that.
It'd be the death
of anybody else if they tried.
Absolutely.
Maestro!
Did I really...
Did I really...?
It's the cat.
It's the bird.
It's the raccoon.
It's the mouse.
Yes, I see.
I see now.
Thank you.
I'll be going then.
Hold on, Goshu!
There will be a meeting held today
to review today's performance.
All members are to attend.
It will be at...
...the Wildcat House,
second floor!
All right.
Let's all drink to our success.
Come on, let's go, Goshu.
We'll celebrate with a few beers.
To our successful concert and
the health of our Maestro.
Cheers!
Cheers!
Thank you,
thank you.
Oh, what a pretty sunset.
Oh, Cuckoo...
I'm sorry for what happened earlier.
I wasn't really angry with you.
Voices
Goshu: Hideki Sasaki
Maestro: Masashi Amemori
Girl with viola: Keiko Yokozawa
Orchestra members:
Youichi Mitsubashi, Saburou Yoko'o, Atsuko Mine
First cello: Junji Chiba
Concertmaster: Ryuuji Enji
Master of ceremonies: Kouji Yata
The cat: Fuyumi Shiraishi
The cuckoo: Kenta Kimotsuki
The raccoon: Kazue Takahashi
The mother mouse: Ayako Takamura
Gauche the Cellist (Goshu the Cellist / Sero hiki no Gôshu / セロ弾きのゴーシュ) (1982)
Moderator: Maskath3