Interstella 5555: the 5tory of the 5ecret 5tar 5ystem Movie Review:


Synopsis:

Interstella 5555 tells the strange tale of an alien rock band kidnapped by an evil corporate mogul and transported across the cosmos to Planet Earth. The story is told through a combination of Daft Punk's music and Matsumoto's visuals – leaving dialogue aside.

Manga without any dialogue, with Daft Punk music laid over the top? Could be utterly awful couldn’t it?

At 70 mins Interstella 5555 could be nothing more than an extended 3min pop promo. Pop promos are notorious for their rapid cuts and lack of story being mere confection to try and SELL the product. Thankfully this isn’t what we get here, instead we get something unique that defies genre and I’ll be honest is extremely had to describe!

The movie follows alien pop band The Crescendolls, who are captured by a megalomaniac record company boss and taken back to Earth where they become the biggest pop stars in the world and we follow their fight to escape back to their home planet.

Directed by Leiji Matsumoto at Toei studios, with a Manga look reminiscent of Battle of the Planets we are taken on a beautiful, surreal, inspirational journey jam packed with great visual flourishes all set to Daft Punk songs.

There is no dialogue in the entire movie instead relying on the feel of the music and the skill of the animators to convey the story and fitting this to the beat of the music must have been an absolute nightmare, but they have succeeded in blending them together to create something quite unique.

Daft Punk have always had a reputation for original video’s, so it's a credit to the person who greenlit this, it would have been extremely easy to say no to this being made.

In lesser, less twisted hands this could have been utterly boring. 70 minutes of pop promo would be enough to turn any brain into mush; here you’ll find the time flies by, as you get absorbed in the simple but yet poignant tale. That always remembers to keep it’s tongue firmly in its cheek.

Having said that, if you’re not a fan of manga or Daft Punk then you may find yourself bewildered by this. It would probably play best in a nightclub on multiple screens blasted out a full volume to fully appreciate the trippy nature of its visuals.

One of the most original things I’ve seen in years.

Gary Gray

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