Climber's high

Climber's High

クライマーズ・ハイ

(c)"Climber's High" Film Partners

Release Date: July, 5th, 2008

Running Time: 145 min

Genre: Drama , Other

Color: Color

Screening Format: 35mm

Screen Size: -

Sound Processing: -

[ Directed by ]

HARADA Masato

[ Produced by ]

KUBO Rikei

[ Cast ]

TSUTSUMI Shinichi ── YUUKI Kazuo
SAKAI Masato ── SAYAMA Tatsuya
ONO Machiko ── TAMAKI Chizuko
YAMAZAKI Tsutomu ── SHIRAKAWA Raizo

[ Staff ]

YOKOYAMA Hideo ── Original Story
KATO Masato ── Screenplay
NARUSHIMA Izuru ── Screenplay
HARADA Masato ── Screenplay
KOBAYASHI Gen ── Director of Photography
SUNAGA Hiroshi ── Editor
HARADA Eugene ── Editor
MURAMATSU Takatsugu ── Music
FUKUZAWA Katsuhiro ── Production Design

[ Production Company ]

Climber's High Film Partners

[ Distributor (Japan) ]

TOEI, GAGA Communications

[ Production Studio ]

Be-Wild

[ Story ]

Based on a novel of the same title by Yokoyama Hideo, who based the book on his own experience of being involved as a reporter for a regional newspaper when a Japan Airline's plane crashed in 1985. Its TV dramatization for NHK also attracted public attention. Directed by Harada Masato who has created a number of works in a wide variety of genres from social to entertainment. This film has 2,541 cuts, the largest of all his films. The title, "climber's high" refers to the situation when a climber's sense of fear is completely numbed due to the extreme adrenalin rush.
On August 25th, 1985, news comes in suggesting that the Japan Airlines flight No. 123 may have crashed with 524 passengers on board when Yuuki Kazuo (Tsutsumi Shinichi), a reporter for a regional newspaper in Gunma prefecture, is just about to leave the office hurriedly for a climbing trip with his good friend the following morning. Of all the staff, Yuuki is appointed as the deskman with full powers to cover this incident which is the largest in the world as a single airplane crash. As a reporter Yuuki is very excited to take charge in covering an incident of such an unprecedented scale but the situation is calamitous. The importance of human life, morale, truth and the role of newspapers are explored.