Linda Linda Linda (2005)

User Rating:

7.8/10   

Director:

Nobuhiro Yamashita

Writers:

Kôsuke Mukai (writer) &
Wakako Miyashita (writer) ...

Release Date:

23 July 2005 (Japan)

Genre:

Comedy | Drama | Music

Plot:

A music group of girls need to learn to play a song before the school festival. |

Plot Keywords:

Repetition In Title

Awards:

1 win & 4 nominations

Cast

Du-na Bae	...	Son - vocalist
Aki Maeda	...	Kyoko Yamada (drummer)
Yu Kashii	...	Kei Tachibana - Guitarist
Shiori Sekine	...	Nozomi Shiroko (bassist)
Takayo Mimura	...	Rinko
Shione Yukawa	...	Moe
Yuko Yamazaki	...	Nakajima
Masahiro Komoto	...	Koyama sensei
Ken'ichi Matsuyama	...	Makihara
Katsuya Kobayashi	...	Kazuya
Keisuke Koide	...	Abe
Masaki Miura	...	Maezono
Lily	...	Kei's mother
Kaori Fujii	...	Nakayama sensei
Koen Kondo

Runtime:

Japan:114 min

Country:

Japan

Language:

Japanese

Color:

Color

Sound Mix:

Dolby Digital

Certification:

South Korea:12 | Japan:U

Filming Locations:

Japan

Company:

Bitters End

Hugely Enjoyable

I saw this film at the 2005 Toronto International Film Festival. Named for a song by legendary Japanese "punks" The Blue Hearts, this film tells the story of four girls who form a band for an end-of-year high school festival. They decide to play covers by The Blue Hearts, and although the film only covers a few frantic days of practice, the pace is sometimes glacial. I'm not sure that this is a bad thing, though it felt like the film wanted to go in two directions. On the one hand, it was a typically sentimental Japanese film about the passing of youth, and the director gives us a few shots of each of the girls smiling wistfully while gazing off in the distance. On the other hand, it's a film about a thrown-together-for-the-hell-of-it cover band, and it could have used a bit more of that kinetic attitude. That being said, it was hugely enjoyable (though probably a good 15 minutes too long), and Bae Doo Na, who plays the gawky Korean exchange student, literally steals the film. Her transformation from gawky outsider to sassy singer, though unrealistically quick, is endearing. And only in a Japanese film would someone get to sing the lyrics, "Like a rat, I want to be beautiful" and make it sound heartfelt.