Linda Linda Linda

please ignore the other comment . this movie is simple and effective. i saw it during the festival du nouveau cinema in montreal. i just randomly picked it even if the synopsis didn't seem that interesting...

set in japan, its about 4 teenage girls who form a rock band so that they can play a song at their school festival. the characters are well developed. the images are reallllly nice.(a la jim jarmusch) its like a teen movie made for people who don't usually like teen movies. the pace is a bit slower than usual teen movies but its much more mature and still ends up being funny.

plus, the soundtrack, by james iha (ex-smashingpumpkins), is quite good

go see it. or rent it or whatever.

Those few people who commented this movie is 'boring' are missing the point entirely. Perhaps it is a matter of taste, what you are looking for in a movie. If you are looking for those quick pick-me-up rock'n roll flicks, with heroes/heroines get the girl/boy and fat recording contracts after performing jaw-dropping numbers, overcoming incredible odds, then perhaps this movie is not for you.

But pick you up in a bigger and more satisfying way this movie does. This movie is realistic in that it does not need artificial plot devices and major suspension of belief on the part of the audience. It just shows what ordinary teenage high school girls trying to put together a rock band in a few days for a festival would do in those precious few days of their lives. This is perhaps the last significant thing they will do before they head out to the real world (and maybe college).

Kudos to the director who sets the right pace for the scenes. In my opinion, Japanese movies in general have slower pace than necessary, but for this movie it was the right one and gives the audience the feeling that they really spent those few days with them. It is time well invested and gives the viewer a big payoff.

Of course Bae Doona absolutely steals all the scenes she is in. Not only she is an amazing talent, but these roles come naturally to her since she cut her tooth in a highly-acclaimed high school TV drama before taking on motion pictures. Look for her in the forthcoming 'The Host (2006)'(Korean title 'Gwoemul').

All in all, a very satisfying movie. And I just had to buy the Blue Hearts CDs. The songs just would not leave my head!

Although not quite on the same level as another coming of age Japanese teen musical Swing Girls (2004), Linda Linda Linda still has that kooky charm and punk rock vibe that makes it worthwhile checking it out.

Nothing major happens, no big love drama or major fall outs in this film or bullies trying to stop them, and that's refreshing to say the least. For me this probably has the beautiful Bae Doona;s best performance to date (I might slightly give the nod to A Girl At My Door but this film runs it close). She steals the film, as the kooky exchange Korean student turn front woman, to think she was 26 at the time of this film and a bit older then the other three female leads but she makes you believe she's a teenage girl.

The other three members of the band are very good, especially Aki Maeda (Battle Royale) as the drummer. But none come close to topping Bae Doona. The ending has a bittersweet feel to it, as some else mentioned in their review that it's the last significant thing that they probably do. With shots of empty corridors and grounds of the school, it's kind of eerie in a strange way. Also big up the music of the Blue Hearts, you end up humming Linda, Linda for weeks after hearing it.

I did have some problems with it. I did have some trouble with the pacing and I felt a few scenes could have been trimmed to make a tighter film. But overall it's nit picking as this film has it's heart in the right place, plus Bae Doona stealing the show. Well worth checking out.

I'm happy to report that the Japanese film Linda Linda Linda, which screened tonight at NYAFF (and was the first film of the festival that I was able to go see at the ImaginAsian theater) is hands-down the best movie I've seen at the festival so far. An upbeat and joyous film about a high school girls' rock and roll band, it's practically guaranteed to go straight to the heart of anyone who believes in music, and its power to save one's soul.

The plot is as straightforward as they come. Shiba High School is holding their annual Holly Festival complete with a musical talent show, and three friends - drummer Kyoko (Aki Madea, Battle Royale), keyboardist-turned-guitarist Kei (Yu Kasii, Lorelei) and bassist Nozomi (Shiori Sekine, of the real band Base Ball Bear) are struggling to get a band together. After their previous guitarist injures her finger and has to bow out, they recruit shy Korean exchange student Song (Bae Doo-Na, Sympathy for Mr. Vengeance) as their vocalist, and decide to cover three songs by the Clash-esquire 80's J-punk group The Blue Hearts. After weeks of staying up all night practicing, jamming until the wee hours (not to mention the fact that Song has to learn her lyrics phonetically), they are finally ready to play their music before their teachers and friends.

Admittedly, the description above probably makes this movie sound like every other movie about a band, or a sports team, or some kind of sentimental, rah-rah "Eye of the Tiger" pap. Trust me - nothing could be farther from the truth. What this movie is about is the people - the four schoolgirls that are its main characters are as quirky, and as button-cute, but also as three dimensional, as anyone you'd meet in life, and the movie's long, uninterrupted takes and improv-style acting give us a fly-on-the-wall feeling of being there. Opening with a MiniDV shot of one girl giving an on-camera interview about the Holly Festival, the movie starts out depicting its characters with shy restraint, gradually revealing more and more about their personalities, foibles, their joys and sorrows, until eventually, they literally start to feel like our friends. By the end, when the group performs their songs, we've honestly forgotten that they are characters in a film. We want to stand up and applaud.

I would honestly say that Linda Linda Linda is one of the greatest rock and roll films I've ever seen. Being a recent film, it doesn't have the legendary status of This Is Spinal Tap or A Hard Day's Night, but honestly, it's up there. This is rock and roll stripped down to its very core. No pretension, no decadence, no sex, drugs, limos, and all of that bullshit - just the three-chord structure of a song and its power to save lives. It's a truly beautiful thing to see and hear.

I just saw this film at the Toronto Film Fest and this is what Josie and The Pussycats should have been. This charming little Japanese film will have you singing the Blue Hearts title song over and over. A group of aspiring teenage girls form a band to perform for the high school rock festival, can they get it together? Kudos to Nobuhiro Yamashita for putting together such a cute and impressive cast of young women who make up the band who are all skilled actresses. This is a sweet film that will win over any teenage girl who ever thought that they could start an indie band (but also wins over an adult crowd with it's modest charm and it's humor). Fans of Japanese female bands like Shonen Knife and the 5678s will also dig this film I think.

BAE Du-Na (Sympathy For Mr. Vengeance, Take Care of My Cat) as Song wins my vote as the most endearing oddball in this film who wins you over with her big eyes and teenage awkwardness (not to mention a lot of funny misunderstandings because she is a Korean exchange student who speaks little Japanese). Generally this is a movie that will be talked about a lot I think when it gets a full release. Hands down one of the best at the Toronto fest this year (2005).