aka INTERSTELLA 5555: THE 5TORY OF THE 5ECRET 5TAR 5YSTEM
Movie Review by Neil Ryan
Music: Daft Punk featuring Romanthony, Todd Edwards, DJ Sneak
Director: Kazuhisa Takenouchi
INTERSTELLA 5555 is a science fiction fantasy animation set to the music of French techno-pop duo Daft Punk’s 2001 album, DISCOVERY. In collaboration with renowned Japanese animator Leiji Matsumoto, the enigmatic electro-dance pioneers conceived a storyline which thematically links DISCOVERY’s 14 tracks in their original running order to produce a seventy minute dialogue-free yarn which will strike a chord with the group’s fans and any child of the 1980s with fond memories of BATTLE OF THE PLANET-style animated series.
The very basic plot revolves around an evil centuries-old musical svengali who kidnaps an alien supergroup from a distant galaxy and has them transported back to Earth where they are robbed of their souls and transformed into an emotionless money-making hit machine. However, the bass player’s space pilot boyfriend is alerted to their plight and sets off to rescue the catatonic quartet. It is deliberately simplistic fare but followers of Daft Punk will be eager to see how the music is ‘interpreted’ and the compositions are varied enough for even non-fans and newcomers to enjoy one or two tracks. The nostalgia value of the animation and the music business in-jokes will raise the odd wry smile, as will the self-consciously cheesy (but nonetheless satisfying) live-action coda.
