The Rocking Horsemen

Rock. It seems to be cinema's ultimate (yet lazy) go-to source for a bit of rebellion, even though it's now very much a last century thing (the rebellious part that is). I don't have any affinity with the genre, so these films tend to be wasted on me, even when it's a director like Ôbayashi handling the film.

The Rocking Horsemen is a very basic coming of age drama, with a young high school student (Takeyoshi) being introduced to rock music for the first time. He's immediately sold and ditches his love for classical music. He takes on a job during the holidays and wants to start a band with some guys from school.

It was fun to see a very young Tadanobu Asano in one of his first big roles and the drama isn't that bad. There are small glimpses of Ôbayashi's wilder side too, but they are few and far between. It's just all very basic and with no enthusiasm for the music on display it does come off as one of Ôbayashi's weaker films.