All About Lily Chou-Chou (2001)

The problematic lives of teenager students for whom the singer Lily Chou-Chou's dreamy music is the only way to escape an alienating, violent and insensitive society.

Director:

Shunji Iwai

Writer:

Shunji Iwai

Stars:

Hayato Ichihara, Shûgo Oshinari, Ayumi Itô

4 wins.

Cast

Credited cast:
Hayato Ichihara	...	Yûichi Hasumi
Shûgo Oshinari	...	Shusuke Hoshino
Ayumi Itô	...	Yôko Kuno
Takao Ohsawa	...	Tabito Takao
Miwako Ichikawa	...	Shimabukuro
Izumi Inamori	...	Izumi Hoshino
Yû Aoi	...	Shiori Tsuda
Kazusa Matsuda	...	Sumika Kanzaki
Ryô Katsuji	...	Hitoshi Terawaki
Rest of cast listed alphabetically:
Chiyo Abe	...	Shizuko Hasumi
Takako Baba	...	School girl
Anri Ban	...	Noriko Izawa
Kaori Fujii	...	School nurse
Shinji Higuchi	...	Otaku
Takahito Hosoyamada	...	Kentarô Sasaki

Storyline

Life isn't easy for a group of high school kids growing up absurd in Japan's pervasive pop/cyber culture. As they negotiate teen badlands- school bullies, parents from another planet, lurid snapshots of sex and death- these everyday rebels without a cause seek sanctuary, even salvation, through pop star savior Lily Chou-Chou, embracing her sad, dreamy songs and sharing their fears and secrets in Lilyholic chat rooms. Immersed in the speed of everyday troubles, their lives inevitably climax in a fatal collision between real and virtual identities, a final logging-off from innocence.

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Plot Keywords:

bully | japan | prostitute | older man young girl relationship | summer vacation | 

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Taglines:

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

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Genres:

Crime | Drama | Music | Romance | Thriller

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Details

Official Sites:

Official site

Country:

Japan

Language:

Japanese Ryukyuan

Release Date:

6 October 2001 (Japan)

Also Known As:

All About Lily Chou-Chou

Box Office

Opening Weekend USA:

$3,064, 14 July 2002, Limited Release

Gross USA:

$24,846, 16 March 2003

Company Credits

Production Co:

Rockwell Eyes

Technical Specs

Runtime:

146 min 157 min (original cut)

Sound Mix:

Dolby Digital

Color:

Color

Did You Know?

Trivia

Ayumi Itô spent weeks training on the piano in order to do all of her scenes without a double. She became so obsessed with Debussy's "Arabesque No. 1" that she made it her cell phone ring tone.

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Quotes

Teacher: You've been caught shoplifting, was it fun?

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Connections

Referenced in La mujer perfecta (2013)

User Reviews

Filmmaking at its best

This is a film that makes you feel more than it makes you think. Combination of poetic images and magnificent music takes you to a new level of emotion. Iwai used emotional space of each characters as well as physical space very well throughout the entire film, it is hard not to make connection with them. This is what the cinema is all about in my humble opinion. Emotions be felt by images and sound.