Finally! The full trailer for Takeshi Kobayashi and Shunji Iwai's "Bandage"

by Chris MaGee

It's been a long, long, looong road for the musical drama "Bandage" (read our full coverage here). Originally conceived of as a project written by Shunji Iwai and directed by Ryuhei Kitamura the film about the rise of an indie Japanese rock band languished in development hell for a number of years, that is until last year when Kitamura left the project to be replaced by longtime Iwai collaborator and songwriter Takeshi Kobayashi. Once that happened production on the film started to roll along at a steady pace with Jin Akanishi, lead singer of Japanese band KAN-TUN, cast as the lead singer of the fictional group LANDS. Fans of Iwai have waited and waited for the trailer for this film and finally it's arrived.

it vary much from the standard rags to riches rock star drama? It doesn't seem to. Does it look like it's been worth several years of waiting? Maybe, but it's hard to tell. Is the music created by Akanishi and Kobayashi for the film as memorable as, say, the music Kobayashi put together for Iwai's "All About Lily Chou-Chou"? I don't think so, but that film set the bar very, very high. Am I asking all of these questions rhetorically? No. These are the questions on a lot of people's minds, questions that can only be answered by checking out the full trailer over at Nippon Cinema". What are you waiting for? Go!

For more details on the film (in Japanese) head to its official site here. "Bandage" is set to hit Japanese theatres on January 16th.