Review of Linda Linda Linda (2005) by Lester Y — 06 Dec 2009

A lighthearted coming of age Comedy that's as charmingly simple and emotionally resonant as a three-chord Punk classic.

It's all about this all-girl band in high school in Japan. They're short one member and they pick the first girl they stumble across, and she's a Korean foreign-exchange student. With the talent show only three days away, they spend sleepless nights practicing for the show. They play the same two songs over and over. All four of them have unique personalities, from assertive to fun-loving to awkwardly shy, and the first 15 minutes or so is all kinds of confusing (I had to watch the first part twice) but you'll get to know these complex characters throughout their journey.

First off, Linda Linda Linda is distinctly Japanese. If you ever grab a hold of the DVD (and you should), take a peep at the Culture Notes on the extras before watching the movie and get familiar with concepts like the Gakuen-sai and kokuhaku. The movie is firmly rooted into Japanese pop culture, and you really get a glimpse of what it's like to live in Japan as a teenager, similar to the accuracy of the equally twee and musical Whisper Of The Heart.

An unfortunate consequence of the vacant, deadpan tone of the movie is the relatively long running time, but the style works really, really well. The director does a great job of jumping over the common trappings of movies like this, creating something that's much more charming and honest in the way it deals with universal teenage issues. It's very matter-of-fact, with no major build-up or a rah-rah climax or a dreadful boy-gets-the-girl moment, but the delightful ending is even more rewarding this way. Most teen Hollywood movies run like a man-made rollercoaster that feels obligatory and fabricated, but Linda Linda Linda is more like a meaningful road trip to somewhere unfamiliar, with absurdly cute girls who can bring the Rock. See it.