In my experience, performance - whether in a band or as a pro wrestler - is a lot of things you don't want to do at all. In fact, a good portion of it is the kind of work that you wouldn't want to do if you were being paid for it. Non-stop practice in the worst of conditions for sets that last ten minutes in places where no one wants to see you perform, but you keep at it, and every few times you reach a level of transcendence that no drug can give you so you keep at it even when everyone thinks you're dumb for caring so much.
Director Chûsei Sone directed many of Nikkatsu's Roman Porno movies, which are not porn, but films that revolve around sex to tell narrative stories. His Angel Guts movies are well-regarded and he eventually moved away from the genre and even made a mainstream hit, Flying, before he died.
So while the draw of this movie may seem to be the groupies, the truth is that it's incredibly realistic as to what it's like to be in a band. Rehearsals are tense at times. Not everyone gets along. And it feels like it could fall apart and your loved ones would be happier if it did. And then you play a show and you're high and staring at the lights and you remember being a fat kid in your room trying to do David Lee Roth spin kicks and there you are, the one on the stage, and for at least a few seconds, you've made it. You're living your dream. And then it's gone.
But at least you had it.
Director Chûsei Sone directed many of Nikkatsu's Roman Porno movies, which are not porn, but films that revolve around sex to tell narrative stories. His Angel Guts movies are well-regarded and he eventually moved away from the genre and even made a mainstream hit, Flying, before he died.
So while the draw of this movie may seem to be the groupies, the truth is that it's incredibly realistic as to what it's like to be in a band. Rehearsals are tense at times. Not everyone gets along. And it feels like it could fall apart and your loved ones would be happier if it did. And then you play a show and you're high and staring at the lights and you remember being a fat kid in your room trying to do David Lee Roth spin kicks and there you are, the one on the stage, and for at least a few seconds, you've made it. You're living your dream. And then it's gone.
But at least you had it.
