Interstella 5555: The 5tory of the 5ecret 5tar 5ystem

Okay so its just an extended music video, but so what? If you were intrigued by the One More Time video, or even just liked the sound of that track, you'll get something from INTERSTELLA 5555. The retro-nostalgic 70's and 80's japanimation style perfectly fits Daft Punk's "old-school electronica" music. The story is dialogue free but tells a remarkably dense tale, characters are well-defined, and there is some great comedy (Daft Punk's cameo at the awards ceremony).... but at the end of the day, its all about the music baby - before, I only really knew Daft Punk from their 2 major singles, now I want to rush out and buy the album!

Discovery by Daft Punk was proclaimed to be the greatest dance album ever, at least in some circles. I really liked what i had heard previously 'Da Funk' and 'All Around the World' were some of my favourite songs of the 90s. At first listening to Discovery I'd not really got into it except for the singles I didn't feel much about it.

Interstella 5555 came out well after Discovery, by then i was very taken with Anime and Daft Punk had sort of always been in the back of my head as a band I should try out again. Speaking personally the best thing about Interstella 5555 is that I now love Discovery and find myself remembering how great the film was.

Many reviews I'd read claim that the plot is 'paper-thin' and never really amounts too much, I found myself enjoying the action and the comedy and at the same time not being able to work out where it was going obviously the ending was always anticipated. Interstella was overseen by Daft Punk but it's not really their film, the film really belongs to Leiji Matsumoto, the design, story and direction all are in part by Matsumoto, although his role in the film is unclear. Matsumoto is probably best known for his animated TV series 'Star Blazers' and 'Galaxy Express 999'.

In terms of animation quality Interstella is very good, the characters move realistically the locations look great and range from fantastical and blatantly mundane. However, the first four segments were Daft Punk's commercially released music videos for the Discovery the quality is exceptional, but after that the film seems to jump into a lower standard with thicker outlines and repeating of footage from the first four segments, that's not to say it doesn't look good.

The Films best asset is that it isn't constricted by the music in that the viewer is not subjected to literal imagery from the lyrics displayed on the screen. Instead the films pacing runs like a normal movie occasionally sequencing it's pacing with the music and telling everything very visually. Why include exposition, when you can display it in pictures? As in a news report that occurs during the film.

Basically if you like Daft Punk, Anime or Simply want to try something a bit different Interstella is worth checking out.

Despite not really being a Daft Punk fan, i enjoyed this film. Looking at this as a film & not just an extended film clip, i thought it took a little while to move into full swing, the middle sections were very good, while the end tended to drag on a tad. I know it was based on a Daft Punk album, but the end would have been better if it was a couple of minutes shorter.

Well worth checking out if you are a fan of Daft Punk and/or a fan of anime, especially 1970's & 1980's style anime. 7/10

I am a big Daft Punk fan. Actually, a huge one. I play the Discovery album on a loop, all day, quite regularly. So when my friend first informed me about this movie, I was ecstatic. I immediately borrowed it, and the magic began.

It tells a fairly simple and predictable story. But when you watch it, you won't care. The music and art are expressive and captivating. They alone carry the film, as there is no dialog anywhere to be found. You will never miss the dialog, I can promise you. Instead, you will be dancing, then on the edge of your seat. You'll laugh, you may cry. But you will be left stunned.

A tip: watch the 'extras'. Many amusing scenes are merely random bystanders doing silly things.

Though on the surface, this is nothing but a long music video, in truth, it is an epic musical journey.

"One more time", I'm gonna try to spread my love for this movie.

This film is magical, the soundtrack is wonderful, you get the feeling you're lifted up in the air, it's like you're "aerodynamic".

The story might seem quite simple, basically it's a "digital love" story where the hero will have to be "harder, better, faster, stronger" in order to rescue the woman of her dream and her music band (the "Crescendolls") from an evil record producer.

The animation by Leiji Matsumoto is just so beautiful; for instance, the "nightvision" you get of the town on Earth (probably inspired by Tokyo) is breathtaking.

But, the real "superheroes" of this movie are the Daft Punk. These guys understood that a good music could lead to an "high life", they know how to move us, how to reveal "something about us". Let them take you on this space journey, whether it's on the "voyager" shuttle or not, you'll find it "veridis quo". It's a "short circuit" (only 68 min, the length of the "Discovery" album) but in the end, when you find "face to face" with yourself, you can only feel like you would want some more, like it could never have been "too long".