Cinema is Dope

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It seems to separate the karaoke masters from the karaoke neophytes to count how many times one has sung this song for karaoke. If you never have rocked out to this, then you surely have not lived a very long karaoke existence. Forget Elvis. Forget the Beatles. Forget Jefferson Starship. Bring on some Linda Linda Linda for the all-time karaoke anthem! The film itself is an absolute treasure that leisurely unfolds with a near avant garde prowess as we follow a group of girls as they come of age both as women and as musicians. Leave it to helmer Nobuhiro Yamashita to craft a memorable journey that in any other hands would have been the Sisterhood of Traveling Guitars.

Highly recommended viewing and it’s out on Region 1 DVD from Viz Pictures (Official US Site).

Amazon.com Link:
::: Buy the Linda Linda Linda DVD

Related Coverage:
::: My Interview with Nobuhiro Yamashita on Cinema Strikes Back
::: Tom Mes Interviews Nobuhiro Yamashita for Midnight Eye
::: Tom Mes Reviews Linda Linda Linda for Midnight Eye

Japanese Cinema:
::: Jason Gray
::: Mark Schilling’s Tokyo Ramen
::: Midnight Eye
::: Nippon Cinema
::: Outcast Cinema
::: Ryuganji
::: Toronto J-Film Pow-Wow

(Read more…)

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Nothing like waking up and blasting - Linda Lindaaaaa Linda Lindaaaaaa-ahhaaaaa Linda Linda Linda Lindaaaa-aaaahaaaaaa!

From Left to Right:
Shiori Sekine as Nozomi Shiroko, Bae Doona as Son, Aki Maeda as Kyoko Yamada and Yu Kashii as Kei Tachibana.

Hands down one of the best films to come out this decade and perhaps a really over looked gem. If you don’t already own the Viz DVD (view here) of this… what the hell are you waiting on? An absolute must own for cinephiles and music lovers!!!

Related Coverage:
::: Tom Mes Review at Midnight Eye

Japanese Cinema:
::: Jason Gray
::: Mark Schilling’s Tokyo Ramen
::: Midnight Eye
::: Nippon Cinema
::: Outcast Cinema
::: Ryuganji
::: Toronto J-Film Pow-Wow

(Read more…)

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Well chances are you have already ready my interview with director Shusuke Kaneko on this film at Twitch (read here), but what you may not know already is I have a huge movie crush on Yu Kashii. I first became aware of her in Linda Linda Linda where she instantly leaped from the screen and most recently saw her in the really bizarre film The Pavillion Salamandre (Pavillion sanshouo). One of my Japanese colleagues who has met her before (who will go nameless) told me, “Blake if you have a thing for gorgeous women with big noses, Yu Kashii is your girl.”

Japanese Cinema:
::: Jason Gray
::: Mark Schilling’s Tokyo Ramen
::: Midnight Eye
::: Ryuganji

(Read more…)