As somebody who had not heard any of this before, it became a curious phenomenon to sit and watch a film and slowly have the realities begin to click into place.

It's funny, it's tense, it features two great performances from two actors and the director expertly creates a web of odd tension where you actually don't know what is happening for the majority of the run time.

Just intense enough to provide a much-needed diversion, just lightweight enough to make you forget about it soon after it’s over. It’s not exactly “good,” per se, but it does what it sets out to do in terms of putting us on edge, which makes it … successful?

Amazing worth wacthing. So good. Biased but well made with many good points.

Two days before the school festival, a music band consisting of Kei (Yu Kashii), Kyoko (Aki Maeda), and Nozomi (Shiori Sekine) are without a guitarist and singer as two previous members had to leave the band. This jeopardizes their chance to add some meaningful memories to their high-school life's, so they are forced to scrap their original songs, get a new vocalist and learn some new songs. Their vocalist comes in the form of Koren exchange student Son (Du-na Bae), who is still learning the Japanese language. With the odds against them, each member learns something new about themselves, as they desperately try to learn the Japanese punk rock band The Blue Hearts song: Linda Linda.The most refreshing aspect of the film is easily the story, which is very simple to follow from beginning to end allowing for greater accessibility. It doesn't follow the usual formula for film involving high-school girls by portraying a life of materialism and sex. Instead it focuses on four girls growing together as friends who wish to make sure that that had some memories of high-school of good times when they enjoyed themselves. While Bae takes a more centre stage role, each girl is as important as the other as each goes through a different experience not shared by the others. If there is a problem with the story, it is through it's execution. The director, Nobuhiro Yamashita, does many still camera shots which serve to slow the pace of fun story. While some scenes do work, enhancing the idea of holding onto your memories of the past, it does come across as being used too often for its own good. This becomes coupled with a general lack of spark: the story drizzles on till its finale, which helpfully ends the film on a bang.For a couple of youngsters, the acting is acceptably good. Each character is easily distinguishable by their own quirky traits and this is a great achievement which is mostly due to the cast. There are the rare occasions where the actors come across as a little lazy and don't appear all to interested in what is happening, but many are probably not bound to notice.Since the story is about music, it is important to note that the music is sadly lacking in energy, and this is a problem for a film which while not slowly paced, does not pace itself quick enough considering the events unfolding in the story. The tunes from The Smashing Pumpkins and James Iha make for a pleasant listen, but the only music which pumps with strength, are the three songs which the main characters play from The Blue Hearts.Devoid of any offensive material until the final song where the lyrics contain two expletives.Linda Linda Linda is a fun film that suffers mostly from pacing issues, and the factors meant to aid this issue, do not. Still there is a bright cast of wonderful personalities and the music they make is a definite delight to the ears.

Story told in a documentary-style, about 4 girls at a Japanese high-school campus who start a rock band. The goal is to perform at a festival of their school.The movie starts out quite flat, with a distant and static camera. While the story progresses, the movie becomes more intimate as we learn a little bit more about the characters. We see the coming together of the band, rehearsing and interaction of band members with teachers, boyfriends and family.There are not so many laughs. Script and acting are pretty straight. Highlight is the actress who plays the Korean exchange student and lead singer Son. She delivers a few very welcome comedic moments.This almost two hour long movie really takes its time to get to its point. The finale delivers, though. There is even some suspense towards the end. 7/10

Saw this yesterday at the London Film Festival, and as a fan of The Blue Hearts, I wasn't disappointed. Four schoolgirls start a covers band so they can play at the school festival, and have to overcome a tight time-limit and personal dramas before they get there.The film is beautifully acted and shot, and totally sweet from start to finish. At two hours it's a tad over-long, but some mesmeric camera-work and subtle humour helps it along nicely. The casting is superb, with every character believable and captivating. And of course the music's fantastic - the title song gets played to death but it's still a cool cover of a great Japanese punk song, and James Iha of Smashing Pumpkins does a brilliant job with the incidental music.I'm so glad this film got an English sub, and considering how quickly the tickets sold out for these two London screenings, a full release would be warmly welcomed. Highly recommended.

I just saw this film at the Toronto Film Fest and this is what Josie and The Pussycats should have been. This charming little Japanese film will have you singing the Blue Hearts title song over and over. A group of aspiring teenage girls form a band to perform for the high school rock festival, can they get it together? Kudos to Nobuhiro Yamashita for putting together such a cute and impressive cast of young women who make up the band who are all skilled actresses. This is a sweet film that will win over any teenage girl who ever thought that they could start an indie band (but also wins over an adult crowd with it's modest charm and it's humor). Fans of Japanese female bands like Shonen Knife and the 5678s will also dig this film I think.BAE Du-Na (Sympathy For Mr. Vengeance, Take Care of My Cat) as Song wins my vote as the most endearing oddball in this film who wins you over with her big eyes and teenage awkwardness (not to mention a lot of funny misunderstandings because she is a Korean exchange student who speaks little Japanese). Generally this is a movie that will be talked about a lot I think when it gets a full release. Hands down one of the best at the Toronto fest this year (2005).