Linda, Linda, Linda (2005)

Director Nobuhiro Yamashita brings us this little tale of four high school girls trying to get their act together for the school festival.

Aki Maeda stars as Kyoko Yamada, the drummer of a high school, female rock band falling apart. After in-fighting between Kei Tachibana (keyboardist, played by Yu Kashii) and ex-singer Rinko (played by Takayo Mimura), and a gym class accident that jams the finger of their guitarist, Moe (played by Shione Yukawa), Aki must rally the troops to put up an act at the school festival. So, she, along with bassist Nozomi Shiroko (played by Shiori Sekine) must convince Kei to perform. After some reshuffling, it's decided that Kei will learn guitar for the festival, but this doesn't solve one major problem: who will sing? Enter into the picture Korean exchange student Son (played by Du-na Bae, also in The Host), who gets swept up into the band, if for nothing more than a laugh for Kei, and the lineup is complete.

The biggest thing I enjoyed about this movie was its simplicity: the story, cinematography, situations, and more. Yamashita captures high school angst and day to day life perfectly. This is truly a comedy that crosses cultural boundaries. Not being able to tell the guy/girl you like that you like them, getting into petty squabbles that almost end friendships, meeting new friends: all the awkwardness is captured so well. One scene in particular, where Kei and Son are at a bus stop after a practice, it's revealed that Kei and Son have ridden the same bus for quite some time, but Kei has never noticed Son. All this interaction overlayed with the hesitancy and pauses of a language barrier; honestly, this scene could have been filmed voyeuristically and no one would have been the wiser.

This film doesn't aim for and grand story telling, not even toying with the notion of going further than it needs to. At its heart, this is a story of finding friends in unexpected places and what that bond of friendship means. This is so eloquently displayed in scenes such as Son running back in the pouring rain to the recording studio to get Nozomi's bass, or Kei calling in a favor to her ex to get studio time for the band to rehearse. It's the little things that bond these ladies together, and gets them to the stage at the festival.

I love the palpable nervousness when the band gets on stage at the festival to do their number, Linda, Linda, Linda by Black Heart. The crowd has only come inside because it's pouring rain outside, has had to sit through an acoustic/a capella set (albeit technically proficient, but a little boring), and is bored to tears, just waiting for some excitement. Son looks out at the crowd, and looks back at the band in sheer terror. But, god bless her, she bites the bullet and they rock out to a voracious crowd that takes everything the band puts out.

I found myself laughing out loud plenty of times with this film, because despite having never been a Japanese high school girl, the situations and how they are dealt with in the film ring true. A very good watch that brings nostalgia like Dazed & Confused, without the drugs and alcohol.