Gorgeous and inventive camerawork and lighting. I was not expecting to be specifically reminded of the style of Hideaki Anno, where although a lot of human drama works so well because of how closely tied he is to humanity itself, the kind of camerawork and ambiance you get from something like Neon Genesis Evangelion felt like the vibe you could only get from a painstakingly designed anime. Instantly one of the most beautiful looking and sounding movies I have ever seen, period. Well, now having finally watched it, I can conclusively say there are very few new film viewings I have had this year that are better than All About Lily Chou-Chou. Adored this, been recommended it before by a handful of good friends, kept pushing it off for reasons that varied from a lack of access to just having other movies that felt more important in the moment to get to. "Lily Chou-Chou" has been compared by some to Truffaut's " The 400 Blows," which was also stylistically groundbreaking in its time, but Truffaut broke with traditional styles in order to communicate better, not to avoid communicating at all.Was going to open this just with a joke sentence like "They're just like me but instead of Lily Chou-Chou, I have Weezer." but then during the end credits, among an onslaught of usernames, I suddenly see a message that comes from a character named "Noah," and I wanted to jump out of my skin. Shunji Iwai has gone to a great deal of trouble to obscure it. The film's teachers and adults care, but are hopelessly misinformed about what is really going on. Yuichi's life has been turned into hell by Hoshino, who seems to act not so much out of hatred as boredom. Shiori has sex with strangers for pay, but is too shy to tell Yuichi she likes him. These students drift without values or interests, devoting all the passion of their young lives to creatures who may exist only on the Internet. It will be appreciated by a handful of highly evolved film watchers who can generate a simultaneous analysis in their minds, but what is the point, really, in making a film that closes out most moviegoers? The world that swims murkily to the surface of "All About Lily Chou-Chou" is certainly a frightening one, eclipsing even the anomie of the Columbine killers. He has made a film that few reasonable ticket-buyers will have the patience to endure. Iwai seems to want to tell the story of his characters, and it could be a compelling one (some of the scenes have are poignant or wounding), but he cannot allow himself to make the film in a way that can communicate. It's a style that was interesting for a brief season and is now tiresome and pretentious.Įither you make an experimental film that cuts loose from narrative, characters and comprehensible cinematography, or you do not. Some sequences are so incomprehensible they play as complete abstractions. He and his cinematographer, Noboru Shinoda, are in love with their lightweight digital camera, and give us jerky hand-held out-of-focus shots. Shiori has a secret crush on Yuichi, but is under Hoshino's control and pathetically confides on the telephone, "Lately, when I think of men I think of customers." The elements are in place for a powerful story of alienated Japanese teenagers, but the writer-director, Shunji Iwai, cannot bring himself to make the story accessible to ordinary audiences. Hoshino has another sideline: He pimps Shiori ( Yu Aoi) to prostitute herself with businessmen, and makes her give him most of the money. Both Yuichi and Yoko are the targets of cliques of school bullies.įor a while, Yuichi has a friend, Hoshino ( Shugo Oshinari), a fellow student who turns into a sadist and forces Yuichi to steal money and give it to him. He has a crush on the real-life Yoko ( Ayumi Ito), a gifted pianist. Ironically, then, one of her songs consists of repetitions of "I see you and you see me." She is idolized by Yuichi ( Hayato Ichihara), a student in high school. The story: Lily Chou-Chou is a Japanese pop idol, who must be real, since she appears in concert, but who we never see.
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