The 2005 film “Linda Linda Linda” is one of the most beloved Japanese films of the current century and to celebrate its 20th anniversary a new 4K remaster of Nobuhiro Yamashita’s cult favorite is rolling out in selected cities in North American including NYC’s IFC Center September 5 and in Los Angeles’ Laemmle Theatres September 12. Go here for information about other cities and showtimes.

A few days before their high school senior year ends, three schoolgirls in a band fear their dream of performing at an upcoming school festival may be canceled as two of their members suddenly quit. Keyboardist Kei (Yuu Kashii), drummer Kyoko (Aki Maeda), and bassist Nozomi (Shiori Sekine) capriciously decide to ask the first girl they see to become their new vocalist. They get lucky: it’s Son (Bae Doona), a Korean transfer student who is hungry for new friends and opportunities and goes through a crash course in singing by practicing at a karaoke club.

Their next few days are filled with marathon practice sessions, awkward meetings with past and present boy crushes and very little sleep. So little that they are very late for their big performance and other student musicians must perform to keep the audience from leaving the show. Son introduces the band as “Paranmaum,” Korean for “Blue Hearts,” a Japanese punk-rock band active from 1985 to 1995 whose hits they are covering, including “Linda Linda,” a simple but catchy number. (James Iha, formerly of The Smashing Pumpkins, also contributed original music for the film.)

Bae Doona’s performance is the standout here. Her character is not yet fluent in Japanese, she’s very shy and awkward but determined to succeed as the band’s front person. Doona achieved huge fame when she was cast as the archer the next year in Bong Joon-Ho’s “The Host,”  the highest-grossing film in South Korean box office history, and has since gone on to act in successfull American films and TV series. Though the narrative is sometimes as tedious as school life itself can be, the four young actresses carry the film with their buoyant, funny interactions as they negotiate the complicated logistics of learning the songs and finding places to practice. One of the most imaginative sequences involves Kei dreaming that her birthday celebration includes the Ramones standing in the audience waiting for her performance.

Will American teenage audiences today weened on TV shows like “Euphoria” and “Sex Education” relate to a film that has no sex, violence or even dirty words? Then again, the kids are crazy about manga and Japanese fashion and in 2018 four young women from Los Angeles created a popular band, The Linda Lindas, inspired by the movie. A cheerful, ebullient, infectious film like this might serve as a welcome break from the toxicity of contemporary adolescence.