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Trouble strikes a high-school, teen-girl band on the eve of their performance at the school's festival.
The lead guitarist has broken her finger and the lead singer has split. The remaining band members, unwilling to call it quits, search for a new lead singer to complete their line-up with three days to go before the concert.
In an absurdly random fashion they choose Son, a Korean exchange student, to be their vocalist. Son has never performed in a band and speaks precious little Japanese. A discarded tape of Linda Linda, the ridiculously catchy mid-80s' hit song by pop punk icons The Blue Hearts, makes them look beyond their considerable shortcomings as musicians and, while the other three band members start learning their respective parts, Son sets off for the nearest karaoke bar to rehearse.
Balancing on the simple direction by Nobuhiro Yamashita and featuring a soundtrack by Smashing Pumpkins alumnus James Iha, Linda Linda Linda is a sweet, offbeat and refreshingly idiosyncratic teenage tale of friendship and rock'n'roll.
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D/S Nobuhiro Yamashita P Yuji Sadai S Kosuke Mukai, Wakako Miyashita WS Bitters End Inc. L Japanese w/English subtitles TD 35mm/2005/114mins
Nobuhiro Yamashita was born in Aichi, Japan, in 1976. His films include Hazy Life (1999), No One's Ark (MIFF 2003) and Ramblers (MIFF 2004).