'Techno Brothers': Off-kilter road trip comedy pays homage to techno pioneers

Starting with his feature debut, 2013’s “And the Mud Ship Sails Away,” director Hirobumi Watanabe has made all of his films in and around his hometown of Otawara, Tochigi Prefecture, and almost entirely in black and white.

For his latest, the music-themed comedy “Techno Brothers,” Watanabe departs from Otawara for the road to Tokyo, where a sibling trio hopes to find success in the music business. In another first for the director, the film is shot in full color.

The Watanabe style, which leavens minimalist arthouse influences with the director’s own brand of off-kilter humor, is still comically alive and well, though the contribution of his brother Yuji, who has served as composer on all of his films, is large: He wrote the film’s many techno tunes, which reference genre pioneer Kraftwerk. All are played from start to finish with little visual variation, which may be designed to put viewers in a techno trance but struck this non-fan as an overload.

Watanabe, who also wrote the original script, obviously borrowed from the 1980 John Landis comedy classic “The Blues Brothers,” down to Techno Brothers’ dark shades and permanently blank expressions, though his closest approximation to the former film’s spectacular car crashes is a minivan breakdown. Another inspiration is “Leningrad Cowboys Go America,” Aki Kaurismaki’s 1989 comedy about a rock band from Siberia that, together with a dead member, tours the United States, the land of their musical dreams.

“Techno Brothers” begins in a field in Tochigi Prefecture with the tiny but imperious “Boss Riko” (Watanabe film regular Riko Hisatsugu) speaking through a thuggish assistant (Watanabe) to the Brothers’ manager Himuro (Asuna Yanagi). Their techno sounds, she says, are out of tune with the times. However, she tells them to hit the road for Tokyo anyway. When Himuro asks her for an advance, Boss Riko brushes her off: “Make your own money!” she says.

Himuro channels the look and attitude of famed Vogue editor and “The Devil Wears Prada” inspiration Anna Wintour, from her bobbed hair and oversized sunglasses to her take-charge, all-business air. Make money she will.

With a gnomish old driver at the wheel of their rented minivan, the Techno Brothers journey to various gigs and contests, found for them on the fly by Himuro. Played by the trio (the brothers Watanabe and Takanori Kurosaki) in identical black-and-red outfits (much like Kraftwerk) and with robotic precision, their electronic sounds are catchy but retro. Think the Yellow Magic Orchestra minus the charisma.

The reactions of their non-actor audiences, from kids to old folks, generally range from the blank to the confused — and are a good source of laughs. As is the film’s running gag of Himuro punishing her ever-silent charges for their lack of success by only allowing them to have water at restaurants. Meanwhile, she orders dish after mouth-watering dish for herself as they hungrily look on.

Also amusing are Watanabe’s chameleon-like turns as a variety of characters, from a shambling local fan who offers Himuro unwanted advice to a loud-mouthed concert hall manager who has zero awareness of both the band and techno.

Despite the Techno Brothers serving as mute recipients of all the indignities the music business offers, Himuro retains an unwavering faith in their talent that becomes oddly infectious and, finally, inspiring. By the end, as they played into the sunset, I was tapping my foot — and cheering them on.