Kritiken

A delightful return to form for the king chronicler of drop-out life in Japan, La La La combines the musical flair of Yamashita's cult hit Linda! Linda! Linda! with the deadpan approach of his earlier Ramblers and No One's Ark.

In the new films, a sugary kind of teary rom-com-ness — albeit often coupled with bathroom humor only Asian teens might really appreciate — is common, beginning with Nobuhiro Yamashita's La La La at Rock Bottom, a disarmingly jokeless Japanese comedy about an ex-con thug who's beaten into amnesia and is thereafter recruited as the yowling frontman in a local band.

The scenario by Tomoe Kanno could easily have devolved into schmaltz, but Yamashita never softens the characters' hard edges. The duo doesn't get romantic, but instead bonds over their mutual depression, agreeing that the only way to stave off the darkness is to get on stage and perform, night after night.