Linda Linda Linda

Infobox Film
name = Linda Linda Linda


caption =
imdb_id = 0468795
amg_id = 1:337151
director = Nobuhiro Yamashita
writer = Kōsuke Mukai
Wakako Miyashita
Nobuhiro Yamashita
starring = Bae Doona
Aki Maeda
Yu Kashii
Shiori Sekine
cinematography = Yoshihiro Ikeuchi
producer = Hiroyuki Negishi
Yuji Sadai
distributor = Covers&Co
released = flagicon|Japan July 23, 2005
flagicon|USA May 8, 2007
runtime = 114 min.
language = Japanese
music = James Iha
The Blue Hearts
Base Ball Bear
Shione Yukawa
budget =

nihongo|"Linda Linda Linda"|リンダ リンダ リンダ is a 2005 Japanese film. Its name comes from Japanese punk band The Blue Hearts' hit song "Linda Linda". The film was directed by Nobuhiro Yamashita and stars Aki Maeda, Yu Kashii, and Shiori Sekine as the band members, and Bae Doona as a South Korean foreign exchange student. The students' band, Paran Maum (Korean for "The Blue Hearts"), released a CD single in Japan and Korea entitled "We Are Paran Maum".

The film is licensed for the US market by VIZ Media. A subtitled DVD was released on May 8, 2007. [cite web|url=http://www.viz.com/products/products.php?product_id=6760|title=DVD listing from VIZ Media|accessdate=2007-06-01]

Plot

"Linda Linda Linda" tells the story of a group of (eventually) four high school girls who decide to put together a band for Hiiragi-sai, their school cultural festival. Three days before they are to play the festival, the guitarist and singer quit the band. The remaining members, nihongo|Kei Tachibana|立花恵|"Tachibana Kei", nihongo|Kyoko Yamada|山田 響子|"Yamada Kyōko", and nihongo|Nozomi Shirakawa|白河望|"Shirakawa Nozomi" must figure out what to do or risk cancelling. They decide to perform covers of The Blue Hearts songs, but all agree that they need to find a new member to be the singer. They ask the first girl that walks by - nihongo|Son|ソン, a Korean foreign exchange student. Son is not fluent in Japanese, and this leads to some difficulties and misunderstandings, but through sharing in the ins and outs of high school life, they are able to understand one another. The first day ends with all the girls working their hardest to begin to learn their parts, the most notable scenes here being Son trying to enter a karaoke parlor, and Kyoko talking with her crush, nihongo|Kazuya Oe|大江一也|"Ōe Kazuya".

On the next day, they begin practicing early at school where Kei struggles to play the guitar. As school begins, they all break off to do their own thing, Kyoko is seen selling crepes alongside Oe. By mid afternoon, it's time for the girls to regroup back at the music club room, but Kyoko ends up coming late and they miss their time slot. From there, Kei calls her ex-boyfriend and manages to get her group over to "Studio Q" to practice. They leave late at night to return to school, and continue practicing through the rest of the night.

By the next morning, they had begun to get down their songs and are on their way to performing well. As school begins, they all go to their respective places to help out during the festival. Kei continues to practice and master her guitar parts and talks to one of her rocker friends, Takako. Son, is supposed to be helping with the "Japan/Korea Culture Exchange" but day dreams about the band (and comes up with a name for it) until falling asleep on her desk. Kyoko is assumed to have gone back to selling crepes, and Nozomi falls asleep on her bass guitar in one of her teacher's classrooms. By mid afternoon, Kei and Kyoko wake up a reluctant Nozomi and go to fetch Son. There, after waking her up, they find that she received a note in Korean to go to the equipment room where Mackey wanted to ask her out. However, in the spirit of the band, Son comically walked out, and they enjoyed a dinner at Nozomi's house where Kyoko was convinced to talk to Oe about going on a date. Kyoko agrees to talk to him the next day, one hour before the performance. They end the night back at school, practicing until early morning.

On the final day, the band gets awakened by a group who began to take out instruments to set them up on stage. The band decides to head back to Studio Q and continue practicing. However, out of exhaustion they fall asleep and Kei dreams about being celebrated and performing for The Ramones at the Budokan. All this while, the stage managers begin to search for Kei's band, but to no avail. To pass the time, the band's friends Takako and Moe have impromptu performances. Kei only wakes up to the sound of Kyoko's cell phone when Oe calls to ask where Kyoko is. The band then rushes back to school in a taxi where Oe and Kyoko finally meet while everyone else sets up with only ten minutes left. When Kyoko finally comes in, the band performs two of the three songs they had planned: "Rinda Rinda" (Linda Linda), and Owaranai Uta to an excited and pumped up crowd.

Cast

* Yuu Kashii - Kei Tachibana
* Aki Maeda - Kyoko Yamada
* Shiori Sekine - Nozomi Shiroko
* Bae Doona - Son
* Katsuya Kobayashi - Kazuya Oe
* Takayo Mimura - Rinko

oundtrack

The soundtrack was released on July 20, 2005. The original instrumental tracks were composed by James Iha of The Smashing Pumpkins. The vocal tracks include Paran Maum (the band from the movie) singing covers of The Blue Hearts' songs "Linda Linda", "Boku no Migite (My Right Hand)" and "Owaranai Uta (Never Ending Song)". There are also two songs by Base Ball Bear (the band Shiori Sekine belongs to in reality) played; they are "Sayonara Nostalgia" and "April Mirage". These two songs can be heard playing in the "crêpe shop" scenes featuring Kyoko and Oe Kazuya. Shione Yukawa (who plays Moe Imamura in the movie) and Hanako (from the band me-ism) also perform a few songs on stage at the festival itself.

Track listing

# James Iha - Oopuningu Taitoru (2:44)
# Paran Maum - Rinda Rinda (2:38)
# James Iha - Houkago (1:04)
# James Iha - Yonin No Fuukei (1:20)
# Paran Maum - Boku No Migite (3:06)
# James Iha - Aru Hi No Hirusagari (0:26)
# Base Ball Bear - April Mirage (4:36)
# James Iha - Hiiragi Matsuri (0:30)
# Base Ball Bear - SAYONARA-NOSTALGIA (4:17)
# James Iha - Kaze Ni Fukarete (1:04)
# James Iha - Cat Walk (0:46)
# James Iha - Taisetsu Na Jikan (3:12)
# James Iha - Son No Yume (1:13)
# James Iha - Kei To Kyouko to Nozomi (0:42)
# James Iha - Yuugure No Kaerimichi (1:36)
# James Iha - Mabayui Gogo (0:53)
# Yukawa Shione - The Water Is Wide (1:29)
# James Iha - Yasashii Jikan (1:22)
# Yukawa Shione - Fuuraibou (3:19)
# James Iha - 3.30 p.m. (1:21)
# Paran Maum - Owaranai Uta (1:42)

References

External links

* [http://www.linda-movie.com/ Official site for US release]
* [http://www.hogacentral.com/Special_SH_DNO.html Announcement of US licensing]