Bandage

Takeshi Kobayashi’s 2010 film is set during Japan’s band boom of the 1990s. Asako, still at school, meets Natsu, the singer of a new group called LANDS, at a concert and ends up managing them. As the band starts to rise, the friendships inside it crack, and the business of music turns out to weigh more than any of the bonds holding it together. Kobayashi is best known as the producer behind Mr. Children; here he directed, edited, produced and scored the film, and actually assembled LANDS for it. Shunji Iwai wrote and produced. Jin Akanishi plays Natsu and Kie Kitano plays Asako. LANDS also released a single sharing the film title.