Wildly popular filmmaker Shunji Iwai breaks a three-year hiatus following his less than successful April Story with this elliptical drama about teenaged alienation, violence, and celebrity. The film centers on Yuichi Hasumi (Hayato Ichihara), an eighth grader who lives in a sleepy town in rural Japan with his mother, her boyfriend, and the boyfriend's son. At school he is beaten up and harassed by his former friend Hoshino. In order to scrape up the cash to meet Hoshino's daily extortion demand,
Yuichi resorts to petty theft and shoplifting. At home he finds sanctuary with his favorite singer Lily Chou-Chou, for whom he has devoted a website called "Liliphilia." One day, he encounters on the net a fellow Lily-phile who goes by the handle "blue cat." As Hoshino's power grows, he demands that Yuichi tail fellow classmate Shiori Tsuda (Yu Aoi), who he is pimping out to older men. Yuichi's suffocating situation at school leads him to consider suicide, something he confesses to "blue cat" -- his only confidant. Things come to a head tragically at a long awaited Lily Chou-Chou concert. This film was screened at the 2001 Toronto Film Festival. ~ Jonathan Crow, Rovi
For all of its insights into the dream world of teen life, and its electronic expression through cyber culture, the film gives no quarter to anyone seeking to pull a cohesive story out of its 2 1/2-hour running time.
Bravura, ambitious and profoundly disturbing. It is also a daunting, demanding experience, one whose complex structure makes it a challenge to track despite literate subtitles.
A difficult, absorbing film that manages to convey more substance despite its repetitions and inconsistencies than do most films than are far more pointed and clear.
If watching other people's home movies, and chatlogs, about new age mumbo jumbo appeals to you, knock yourself out--but I was too bored to give this movie the kind of attention it demanded to follow its disjointed out-of-order scenes. 146 minutes was way too much for me on this one.
Shunji Iwai's All About Lily Chou-Chou is one of those films that stands out on its own.The story is quite unique and so is the writing, but this film is not for everybody. It shows how music can be a place for people to seek sanctuary from their everyday lives. The story can be tough to get into and the run time is
just under 2 and a half hours. The first hour and the last 30 minutes are the better parts, while the middle tends to drag.With that said, Shunji Iwai's directing makes this worth watching. For the most part, the camerawork is great. The cyber texting element that Iwai employs consistently throughout the picture is also a creative element worthy of note.Hayato Ichihara's character is a bit bland, but he works well with what he has. The rest of the supporting cast is also good. Shugo Oshinari, Aoi Yu, and Ayumi Ito stand out the most. Takao Osawa also shows up with a funny character.All About Lily Chou-Chou may only be the best film to some, but it is one of those movies that sticks with nearly every other viewer for a good amount of time. If only once, this is one to consider watching.
September 28, 2009
Justin Y
Super Reviewer
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