Musume Power
Title: Linda Linda Linda
Director: Nobuhiro Yamashita
Actors: Du-na Bae, Aki Maeda, Yu Kashii
Year Released: 2005
Genre: Drama
See Also: Hana and Alice, April Story
Otaku Alert: First-time actor Shiori Sekine, who plays Nozomi, is a real-life bassist in the band Base Ball Bear.
Title: Swing Girls
Director: Shinobu Yaguchi
Actors: Juri Ueno, Yuta Hiraoka, Shihori Kanjiya
Year Released: 2004
Genre: Comedy
See Also: Kamikaze Girls, Ping Pong
Otaku Alert: Swing Girls was filmed in scenic Yamagata, Japan, the same location for Takashi Miike's upcoming western, Sukiyaki Western Django. The similarities end there.
Availability Note: Import only.
When I told him the plot for Linda Linda Linda, that of a group of four Japanese schoolgirls starting a band and learning three songs in a week to play at their school festival, my friend said he'd watch Japanese schoolgirls do pretty much anything. For many Western audiences, therein lies Linda Linda Linda's appeal. I mean, let's face it: we're completely fascinated with Japanese schoolgirls. I'm not sure what exactly it is —I spent many an afternoon in Harajuku contemplating this very thing, mesmerized by all the sailor suits and loose socks—but at the end of the day, most of us, like my friend, would gladly watch Japanese school girls do, as he said, just about anything.
Bonus then that Linda Linda Linda is so good.
With the school festival approaching, and their band falling apart due to internal tensions, a trio of girls has to find a new vocalist to keep the band going. After deciding to take the next person they see, but passing on the chubby guy going for a drink at the vending machine, they choose Korean exchange student Son (Du-na Bae), who accepts, not really understanding what the other girls are asking her. What they are indeed asking her to do is to sing, in Japanese, three Blue Hearts songs, which they will all learn together.
For those unfamiliar with late-'80s and '90s Japanese pop punk, the Blue Hearts were pretty much the best thing since sliced pan, the Green Day of Japan before Green Day made it big in the US. Come up from the underground to major label exposure, they never lost their street cred and managed to pen a string of huge, punky hits, of which "Linda Linda" is their most recognizable, karaoke-worthy. This and two others form the girls' set list, and most of the film is them learning the songs, playing them over and over, and getting to know each other.
Little happens, yet Linda Linda Linda remains one of the most emotionally rich films to come out of anywhere in recent years. Director Nobuhiro Yamashita has been compared to Jim Jarmusch for his penchant for minimalism, but Yamashita has here captured something about women that few filmmakers have managed to do, with the rare exception of someone like Shinji Iwai (Hana And Alice, April Story). There's a naturalness to the proceedings that spreads beyond the boundaries of the film screen, bestowing upon the characters something akin to honest-to-goodness life. Their mannerisms and reactions ring true, whether you've spent time in Japan or not. Someone you know can be found on screen.
Oddly enough, for Western audiences, that someone is more often than not Son, played by Korean actress Du-na Bae, last seen launching a fiery arrow into the mutated beast of the Han River in The Host. Likely her casting was the product of a recent Korean boom in Japan, but the fact that the vocalist in the band doesn't understand Japanese creates a character for non-Japanese-speaking audiences to identify with. It's a unique (and likely unintentional) casting coup for the film makers in terms of international audiences, ensuring it will play well in foreign markets.
Better than a film like Swing Girls, which at first glance appears to be a less artsy Linda Linda Linda clone. A quick check on IMDB, however, will reveal that Swing Girls was released in Japan a full year before Yamashita's film, inspiring one to ruminate: was Linda Linda Linda just a timely cash-in? Its artistic merits push me to the "no" side of the debate, but still… Would it exist without the box-office muscle of Swing Girls?
Similarities are legion: a group of high school girls form a band and learn, with some considerable difficulty, a series of well-known covers (in Swing Girls' case, big band numbers) for a film's-end concert, to which they show up late and then impress everyone mightily. The difference is, of course, that Linda Linda Linda inspires to be art, and Swing Girls just wants to make you laugh.
And laugh you will. Directed by Shinobu Yaguchi, the man responsible for the massive hoga (Japanese domestic) box office hit Waterboys, Swing Girls (in contrast to Linda X3's artistic aspirations) swings for the lowest common denominator. Dakara, the main characters are pure American '80s teen movie staples: the rebellious one, the boy-crazy one, the fat one, the nerd. But to its credit, Swing Girls manages to remain consistently entertaining, even as it drags out well-worn conflicts like the group arriving late to the climactic event (also employed by Linda X3) and the self-doubting group leader sensei, in this case redeemed by character actor Naota Takenaka, best known to Western audiences as the closeted ballroom dancer of Shall We Dance?
Ultimately, comparing the two is like arguing who is the bigger bad-ass, Bruce Lee or Sonny Chiba. Fodder for sad fan-fiction authors but for those of us with better things to do with our lives, an ultimately pointless exercise. Both are worth a look, but Linda Linda Linda is one for the ages. If just because The Blue Hearts are so much more entertaining than Glenn Miller.
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