The 2014 film “Wood Job!” is a ligh-hearted comedy about finding your direction in life. The main character, Yuki (Shôta Sometani), is a high school graduate living in the city with no real ambition or direction. His friends are all going off to University leaving him literally scratching his head on what to do next. He stumbles upon a flyer with a pretty girl on the cover promoting jobs in Forestry.
The next thing he knows he’s on a train, leaving the city behind for the wide open beauty of the great outdoors. And of course, in search of the girl on the cover of the flyer.
As soon as Yuki arrives at a lonely little train station in the woods, he realizes he has made a big mistake. No cell service. No people. Snakes.
A man from the Forestry program meets him at the station and they drive to the Forestry school where he must complete a Forestry course, along with a class full of new recruits, before being sent to intern with a Forestry team for a year.
Will Yuki pass the Forestry exam? Will Yuki get the girl? Will Yuki learn something about himself? This is very much the “fish out of water” storyline with plenty of familiar tropes to visit along the way and I enjoyed the hell of it.
It’s an easy to like film full of sweet moments, simple life lessons, broad comedy, beautiful green forest scenery, and a charming likeable cast including Shôta Sometani, Masami Nagasawa, and Hideaki Itô.
“Wood Job!” is comfort food filmmaking that leaves you feeling good. Give it a watch if you run across it.
On a side note, after writing this review I happened upon what appears to be the book this film was based on called “The Easy Life In Kamusari” by Shion Miura. Looks to be two books in the series. Think I will check them out.
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