Riri Shushu no subete (2001)

User Rating:

7.7/10   

Director:

Shunji Iwai

Writer:

Shunji Iwai (writer)

Release Date:

6 October 2001 (Japan)

Genre:

Crime | Drama | Music | Thriller

Tagline:

Pain can take you in prison. The ether can set you free.

Plot:

Life isn't easy for a group of high school kids growing up absurd in Japan's pervasive pop/cyber culture...

Plot Keywords:

Japan | 21st Century | Dream Like | Masturbation | Japanese

Awards:

4 wins

Cast

Hayato Ichihara	...	Yûichi Hasumi
Shûgo Oshinari	...	Shusuke Hoshino
Ayumi Ito	...	Yôko Kuno
Takao Osawa	...	Tabito Takao
Miwako Ichikawa	...	Shimabukuro
Izumi Inamori	...	Izumi Hoshino
Yû Aoi	...	Shiori Tsuda
Kazusa Matsuda	...	Sumika Kanzaki
Ryo Katsuji	...	Terawaki Shioske
rest of cast listed alphabetically:
Takako Baba	...	School girl
Yuki Ito	...	Kamino
Tomohiro Kaku	...	Yuichi's friend
Hideyuki Kasahara	...	Kyota Shimizu
Yoji Tanaka	...	Teacher

Directed by
Shunji Iwai

Writing credits (in alphabetical order)
Shunji Iwai		writer

Produced by
Koko Maeda	....	producer

Original Music by
Takeshi Kobayashi

Cinematography by
Noboru Shinoda

Film Editing by
Yoshiharu Nakagami

Production Design by
Noboru Ishida

Sound Department
Aaron Levy	....	sound recordist
Melissa Sherwood Hofmann	....	sound re-recording mixer
Osamu Takizawa	....	sound

Camera and Electrical Department
Hikaru Yasuda	....	assistant camera

Other crew
Atsushi Naito	....	legal advisor

Production Companies

• Rockwell Eyes

Distributors

• Cowboy Pictures (2002) (USA) (subtitled)
• Home Vision Entertainment (HVE) (2005) (USA) (all media)

Also Known As:

All About Lily Chou-Chou (International: English title) (USA)
Lily Chou-Chou no subete (Japan) (alternative transliteration)

Runtime:

146 min | 157 min (original cut)

Country:

Japan

Language:

Japanese | Ryukyuan

Color:

Color

Sound Mix:

Dolby Digital

Certification:

South Korea:15 | Australia:MA | Singapore:NC-16 | UK:15

Company:

Rockwell Eyes

Trivia:

Lily Chou-Chou is a fictional singer. The songs in the movie is sang by a great Japanese singer named Salyu.

Quotes:

Frog: [subtitle] People can't fight.

Movie Connections:

Referenced in Kill Bill: Vol. 1 (2003)

a film born from the ether...

"all about lily chou chou" begins with a series of manually keystroked chat-room-style statements that introduce facts and ideas, mostly related to mythical pop-star "lily chou chou." this sort of cinematic introduction sounds similar to many other computer-age-themed films, but amazingly the keystroke dialogue between several anonymous internet fanatics continues past the credits and runs through almost the entire movie. the nicely-scripted, brilliantly executed text acts as the backbone that beautifully holds together a story that is ultimately about many things, including the fragility of relationships and the personas we use based on them, fanatical envy and love contrasted against blind rage and hate, metamorphosis, and technology versus nature.

although executed in an arguably confusing manner, consisting of many non-chronological vignettes, the film ultimately succeeds in depicting a modern-day story involving the relationship between two early-adolescent japanese boys, their journey through life and school, their changing identities, and their fascination with and "connection" to the strangely popular musician, lily chou chou. visually, the filmmaking complements the ideas perfectly. the camera is often puerile and shaky when showing the boys' ventures and conversations. at one point, a vacation sequence is depicted solely through excited and dizzying amateur videography by the boys themselves, humorous close-ups of accompanying girls' bodies included. during the non-video portions of the film, the colors are beautifully rich, with verdant fields and saturated skies.

the abrupt, but fitting pattern between flowing, dreamlike camerawork, shaky camerawork, textual discourse, and the eerily sensual, fictitious lily chou chou tracks provide a momentum that is both refreshing in its originality but effectively discomforting. by the film's closing the style is not so much regretfully confusing as it is fittingly and fully dramatic, as well as both amazing and beautiful. the film is nothing short of art.

lastly, the film did well to keep free of preaching. with much of what goes on in the world today, filmmakers feel social commentary is an added bonus (or even a main goal) to depicting a narrative. this is not so much a problem until the viewer begins to feel manipulated in a propaganda-like fashion. this film is very much based in a realistic society with realistically harsh and shocking issues and occurrences. however, respectfully, this film does a fine job of depicting its characters and events in a manner that allows for the viewer's empathy without pointing direct fingers or offering direct solutions. incidentally, much of the films drama and marvel comes from this quality.