An extremely well-written, emotionally complex coming-of-age tale that has a John Hughesian respect for teenage angst.

Director Nobuhiro Yamashita seems to be aiming for a laconic deadpan tone, yet the static camera work and even-keel pacing elicit more yawns than chuckles.

If The Beatles were teen girls starring in a John Hughes picture made with a distinctly Japanese attention to the comedy of everyday life, the movie showcasing it all would go something like this.

Irresistible fun… one of the more joyous comedies of the 2000s. Kaurismäki-esque… Like the great All About Lily Chou-Chou, it treats music like air or water: strictly necessary.