Linda Linda Linda review

The Blue Hearts were a punk band that stayed together from the late-80s to the mid-90s. In that time they released a myriad of catchy, melodic rock anthems that still appeal to all age groups today. Everyone knows the lyrics to at least two or three of their biggest hits for karaoke purposes and it’s a safe bet that a whole lot of young guitar players mastered their first few chords by playing those songs over and over again.

In Nobuhiro Yamashita’s Linda Linda Linda, equal parts fate and teen angst bring 4 high school girls together with a plan to cover a few Blue Hearts songs at the upcoming Shibazaki High Rock Festival. With only three days to practice, a keyboardist named Kei (Yu Kashii) on guitar, and a Korean exchange student named Son (Doona Bae) on vocals, the girls have to work day and night to learn the songs well enough to avoid making total fools of themselves.

So how exactly did they get into this rather odd pickle? Well, as it turns out, three of the girls were already in a band with classmates Moe (Shione Yukawa) and Rinko (Takayo Mimura), but when a finger injury sidelined Moe, Kei had a falling out with Rinko. The ever-polite drummer Kyoko (Aki Maeda) asks Rinko if she wants to sing, but the ever-passive-aggressive Kei uses a moment of indecision as an excuse to invite the next person she sees: Son. Son eagerly agrees, but it turns out she didn’t really understand the question. However, once Son hears the first song she’d be singing: “Linda Linda”, she’s too moved to say no.

In the three days leading up to the festival, the girls practice… a lot. They practice so much that they spend half their time fending off random giggle fits and bouts with narcolepsy. In one of the most realistically weird dream sequences in recent memory, Kei imagines her ex-boyfriend gives her a fake rubber hand to wear when playing difficult guitar chords and then she’s suddenly on stage at Budokan playing a special gig for the Ramones and Pierre Taki. But since she’s never been to Budokan before, it looks suspiciously like a high school auditorium.

There’s never any explanation of exactly why things are tense between Kei and Rinko aside from some idle speculation by the people around them, nor does there really need to be. One of the most charming aspects of this film is that it doesn’t get into the nitty gritty of every single emotional issue between the characters or try to make their motivations fit together in a neat little puzzle. Instead, there’s a heightened level of realism and the audience’s perspective is shaped to that of that of a casual observer. We don’t need to know much about the girls’ pasts or futures; all we’re really privy to are the three days when a couple of songs by The Blue Hearts were the most important part of their lives.

“Linda Linda Linda” is refreshingly low-key for a Japanese teen movie and manages to get some really good performances out of a few inexperienced actors. The obvious stand-out is Doona Bae, who gets the bulk of the funny lines and is incredibly adept at injecting humor with understated facial expressions and her natural ability to be blunt without seeming overbearing. But also particularly impressive is Aki Maeda’s performance as Kyoko. I don’t think anyone would accuse her of being a master thespian even though she was probably the most experienced young actress on the set, and yet in this film she totally comes off as an average teen and manages to convey a lot about her character outside of the dialogue with uncomfortable smiles and mannerisms. In fact, all the girls manage to inhabit their characters in a way that makes you feel like you know them—or at least someone like them. Maybe that’s the secret to making a relatively uneventful film turn out this good. Or maybe it just takes a really catchy song.

Watch trailer

Availability:

US distributor Viz Pictures released “Linda Linda Linda” on region 1 DVD with English subtitles on May 8, 2007. It’s fairly basic features-wise, but the anamorphic transfer is pretty clean, save a few brief glimpses of interlacing when either the camera or people are moving quickly. For full specs, see this link.

OST Info:

The "Linda Linda Linda" soundtrack was released by Universal Japan on July 20, 2005. You can find it at CDJapan.

Tracks:

1. Opening Guitar - James Iha
2. Linda Linda - Paran Maum
3. Houkago (After School) - James Iha
4. 4-nin no Fukei (Scenery of Four People) - James Iha
5. Boku no Migite (My Right Hand) - Paran Maum
6. Aru Hi no Hirusagari" (Early Afternoon One Day) - James Iha
7. April Mirage - Base Ball Bear
8. Hiiragi Matsuri (Holly Festival) - James Iha
9. Sayonara-Nostalgia - Base Ball Bear
10. Kaze ni Fukarete (Blown by the Wind) - James Iha
11. Cat Walk - James Iha
12. Taisetsu na Jikan (Important Time) - James Iha
13. Son no Yume (Son's Dream) - James Iha
14. Kei to Kyoko to Nozomi (Kei, Kyoko, and Nozomi) - James Iha
15. Yugure no Kaerimichi (The Evening Road Home) - James Iha
16. Mabayui Gogo (Dazzling Afternoon) - James Iha
17. The Water Is Wide - Yukawa Shione
18. Yasashii Jikan (Gentle Time) - James Iha
19. Furaibou (Vagabond) - Yukawa Shione
20. 3:30 p.m. - James Iha
21. Owaranai Uta (Unending Song) - Paran Maum

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