Linda Linda Linda リンダ リンダ リンダ by Yamashita Nobuhiro (2005)
21 January 2008Another addition to the cute high schools girls making a band genre which has been pretty big over the last few years, and include such greats as Swing Girls, but this one has a much more realistic edge than the others, as the girls are only trying to learn 2 songs to do at their school festival, and not become an all around great band. The characters are good, and the story of friendship, even across languages and cultures holds up very well. This is a simple and slow film, with static camera angles, that focuses mainly on the characters of these girls, though showing more of a slice of life than an in depth character piece. Certainly enjoyable, but I do think it may have been a bit overhyped.
3 Friends in high school in Japan have decided to start a band for the school festival, these are the headstrong Kei Tachibana (Yuu Kashii), the cute drummer Kyoko Yamada (Aki Maeda) and the very shy bass player Nozomi Shiroko (Shiori Sekine). Kei has gotten in a fight with the singer though and the guitar player player has broken her finger, so she has borrowed her guitar and is learning it. When Kei sees the singer she is fighting with she decides to pick the next person they see to be the singer of the band, and the next girl they see is the Korean exchange student Son (Bae Doona). Son doesn’t have many friends, and she instantly agrees, though her English is not too good, but she will work hard.
REVIEW CONTAINS SPOILER…
The girls have only 3 days, and they decide to learn the song Linda Linda Linda and My Right Hand by the band The Blue Hearts, but they don’t have enough time to practice at school.Kei then brings the girls to the studio where her ex boyfriend works, so the girls can practice there. The girls start really all bonding as well.
Son gets a visit from a boy who has learned some Korean and believes he loves her, but she has no feelings for him, so she returns to her new friends. Kyoko actually does like a guy at the school, and wants to tell him.
The girls practice and practice, and in fact they practice so much that they fall asleep and are later for their own gig. They rush to the school in a rain storm, getting soaking wet, and Kyoko runs into the guy she likes, but doesn’t end up telling him. And finally the 4 girls make it to the school, and they sing, and in the rain storm all the kids have come into the gym, and the girls rock out.
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Enjoyable, and fun, though a little slow. The girls are all great through.