Monday, September 7, 2015

Interstella 5555: The 5tory of the 5ecret 5tar 5ystem

In a far corner of the universe, four members of a popular Alien rock band have been kidnapped.  Brought to Earth, they are brainwashed and turned into the next big thing, under the guidance of a powerful record producer.  Racing to save them is an intergalactic hero named Shep, who also happens to be a fan.  Even if he can reach the band, there’s still the brewing questions this tale presents: why was the band abducted and brought to Earth?  What is this producers endgame for them?  And what is the terrifying truth behind the Secret Star System located in Darkwood Manor?  The answers may change the fate of two races forever.

Interstella 5555: The 5tory of the 5ecret 5tar 5ystem was conceived back in 2001 while Daft Punk was hard at work on their second album, Discovery.  In several interviews they had noted how Leiji Matsumoto (Galaxy Express 999, Captain Harlock, Space Battleship Yamato) and his works had been a huge influence on their own music and they had sought to do an animated piece alongside him.  A marriage of brilliance and culture, a celebration of music, Anime, fandom and the past.

While I wouldn’t go so far as to say this is Anime’s answer to Disney’s Fantasia, Interstella is still one very amazing piece of musical animation.  The film has no dialogue so I can see how that might hamper casual viewers enjoyment of it…and that’s a shame.  I think the movie did a good job of telling us everything we needed to know about the world and story without a single word being spoken by any character.  Even the lyrics of some of the songs did the job just fine.  It’s easy to get from beginning to end without needing much clarification.  That being said, one thing I was confused about at times was how much the band knew about their lives when they got their memories back.  Did they know they were aliens or just think they were brainwashed artists from Earth?  It’s a nitpick really and I think you can make your own conclusions with your own viewing.

The music is the stuff of legends…obviously this is Daft Punk.  Personally I see no reason why this duo cant just produce the score for every film or Anime for the rest of time (Tron Legacy aka the best part of that movie, will probably be the closest we get to them doing a film score again for a while).  That being said, this is a rare treat to have their music used this way.  Every single track from Discovery is used in it’s entirety with very few edits, if any.  And as I said above, the music tells the story with only song lyrics at times, though the way it meshes with the animation, you wouldn’t need those lyrics either.  Still, two of my personal favorite parts (Digital Love and Something About Us), involving Shep and Stella, the beautiful lead Guitarist of the band, meld beats with honest lyrics and are both inspiring and also heartbreaking given where they respectively take place in the film.

Interstella 5555 is a movie that while I wish there could be an expanded series, is thankfully one of a kind.  Daft Punk got to live it’s dream of working with an artist who drove them to make music that we got to hear in this movie.  And we got to enjoy a film about music and stardom, love and sacrifice, adventure and exploration, all of the good things that made Anime from the 70’s and 80’s so memorable.  If you’re a Daft Punk fan or a fan of techno/dance, I recommend it.  If you’re an Anime fan, I recommend it.  If you want a fun and soothing massage for the sense that involves music and Anime…oh yeah this one will make you feel alive again after a hard day.

9/10

Lock and Load for next week as we head back to Roanapur for the long awaited second season of Black Lagoon.  The Second Barrage begins, see ya then.

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