Half Japanese: The Band That Would Be King
Half Japanese: The Band That Would Be King

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- 75/100 based on 284 votes

A documentary covering the rise of extremely alternative band Half Japanese: from the early days when Jad and David Fair recorded loud music in their bedroom for distribution via mail order cassette tape, to their contemporary incarnation after David's departure for married life and Jad's increased stature among musicians and critics. Includes interviews with Jad, David, Mo Tucker of Velvet underground fame, and Penn Jillette, who produced an album of theirs.... (Full plot summary below)

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Actors in Half Japanese: The Band That Would Be King:

Byron Coley
Jad Fair
David Fair
Maureen Tucker
Penn Jillette

Full Plot Details

A documentary covering the rise of extremely alternative band Half Japanese: from the early days when Jad and David Fair recorded loud music in their bedroom for distribution via mail order cassette tape, to their contemporary incarnation after David's departure for married life and Jad's increased stature among musicians and critics. Includes interviews with Jad, David, Mo Tucker of Velvet underground fame, and Penn Jillette, who produced an album of theirs.

Review & Comments

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Movie Reviews

User Review - 10/10 by Tim MBrilliant brothers, and their parents and the lovely Maureen Tucker have such trenchant and correct things to say about them. It's like two Daniel Johnstons (although, given Daniel's size these days, it might require THREE Fair Brothers to equal Daniel).
User Review - 10/10 by Private USometimes, it seems like this is more mockumentary than rockumentary. But, if you've ever heard or seen Jad Fair and Half Japanese live, you know that's the point.
User Review - 10/10 by Anni Phalf serious? It starts a little slow but hang on it's worth it!Don't miss the videos!
User Review - 10/10 by Philip LA weird but often hilarious documentary about an equally bizarre band started by two over eccentric brothers Jad and David Fair, who made radical but honest music on their own terms without ever knowing how to play a note. If you're into outsider music, or if you're interested in oddball characters check this out. A pair of anti heroes like you've never seen.
User Review - 10/10 by Kari KGreat Documentary of an inspiring avant-grade band.
User Review - 8/10 by Marty Ti saw this again recently after seeing them play together for the first time ever. the Fair's are awesome but some of the talking heads did not age well with time.
User Review - 8/10 by Andrew Cone million kisses for one million girls. I didn't know Penn Jillette was into punk rock.
User Review - 8/10 by Heather KWhat starts out as a documentary about the band Half Japanese, gets a little distracted around the middle portion, then gets back on focus towards the end. Half Japanese started in 1977 by two brothers David and Jad fair, who couldn't play their intruments but had their hearts and minds in the right place and would eventually carve a niche in independent/alternative rock for themselves. Personally I like their first album, Half Gentleman/Half Beasts the best. One critic in this film compares it to the John Coltrane/Rashied Ali album Interstellar Space, and I do agree with that comparison to a certain degree, the difference being that Coltrane and Ali were both expert musicians playing at the top of their game,and Half Japanese were just two young kids making some good noise. I like both albums equally and the end result's are very similar. Just goes to show that it's really about passion not technical proficiency, and both albums had plenty of it. The middle portion of the film gets distracted a bit and starts examining why a band like Half Japanese can't be truly successful in the major label/MTV sense of the word, and we see a lot of HJ fanatics bash the majors and MTV for a good 20-30 minutes. No real complaints from me there. Nothing would please me more than to see MTV and the majors burnt to the ground, but it does feel slightly out of place. Then again perhaps the filmmakers where trying to make a statement on the commodification and standardiztion of Rock n Roll, and music in general, and were using HJ as center piece, as opposed to a straight documentary about HJ. The film does go back to focusing on HJ themselves towards the end though. All in all a very good documentary centering around an underrated and important band, who more people need to check out. While my musical preferences tend towards the noisy and bizarre, the band did eventually evolve into a more than acceptable indie rock band, and their later material reminds me of Lou Reeds solo work in a lot of ways. Could be mainly Jad's vocal delivery, but thats what came to mind for me. Recommended.
User Review - 8/10 by Eric Bfuck the beatles, half japanese are the greatest pop band ever.
User Review - 6/10 by William DYeah I watched it. Yes it was watched. Uh you could also watch it

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