I've just been to see the movie 'Linda, Linda, Linda'. It's a 'they went out as amateurs but came back as stars' story, but very well told, about four high school girls who get a band together for a festival in Gunma in Japan. One of the girls is Korean and has to work hard to sing in Japanese and to communicate with the others.
The title comes from a song they sing by The Blue Hearts (an 80s Japanese punk band).
see it if you can!
unintentional laugh of the night; the guy from the Japanese consulate made a speech comparing the director to Jim Jarmusch and said Jarmusch's name with a terrific air of triumph
here's the Japanese-schoolgirl infested website - annoyingly I can't get any images off it
Link: http://www.linda-movie.com/
That looks so sweet. Exactly my thing, I'm gonna try and see this.
Heh - that does look fun; shame it didn't make it to either of the films festivals I've been to recently (Reykjavik & Bergen), and there's crap-all chance of it just cropping up here. Oh well.
I did get to see a classic Japanese anime though (Night on the Galactic Railroad) and a great Australian film though: Lucky Miles; I can't remember the last film I enjoyed as much as that.
Link: Lucky Miles
ooh, look, someone's put some of the flick up on youtube
Link: Parumnan?
This is available on DVD in the US if you've got a region-free player. I only watched it because I remembered the (damnably catchy) song, but the film's good, too. Especially liked how the idea of just doing something dumb for its own sake can be a major motivating factor when you're no age at all - I suppose we can thank post-modern American yuuf-oriented screenwriting where the kids always talk like forty year-olds for that.
Densho Otako is good fun, too - I preferred the tv show, but the film's alright.
Ming, at Bergen, do you ever meet a Norg by the name of Petter Olsen?