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 | gang rape | 

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Taglines:

If you scream and no one hears you, she's there for you.

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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

At one point a character describes Hoshino's mom as looking like Izumi Inamori. This is the actress that plays Hoshino's mom.

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Quotes

Yuichi's friend: Tsuda. Tsuda Shiori. She's from our school. Of course you know her, she's your classmate.

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Connections

Referenced in La mujer perfecta (2013)

User Reviews

sad , long, emotional experience into the teenage years

Lilly Chou-Chou is quite a perculiar movie experience, there is no over riding message, there is no moment to reflect, everything that this movie expresses appears in an instance and then is lost again in the great 'ether'. Throughout I felt lost, not merely due to the disjointed narrative but the pacing and overall premise did not register to me as 'a movie'. Trying to find meaning in Lilly Chou-Chou is similar to attempting to find meaning in ambient electronic music, as we watch the movie we are detached, the story, so to speak, unfolds gracefully but the audience can not relate to the characters, but can only attempt to make sense of it all.

Lilly Chou-Chou is in my opinion a great achievement of movie making, interms of acting, editing, sound mixing and visual flair, fans of cinema are treated to something entirely fresh, but there is the overall feeling of dissatisfaction, I wanted more from the story, I wanted to see more of the characters, more of their lives and their interaction with one another. Yet the director withholds much of this from the viewer, choosing to present the characters relationships with one another in small doses, leaving the visuals and sound to complement the rest. And this I feel is one of the dissapointments of this movie, so much is conveyed yet so little is actually on screen, the watching of this movie requires a level of understanding of emotions, and the viewer is called upon to make sense of it all.

This would be the movies strongest point, and one of its weakneses. I urge anyone with a curiosity for this movie to watch it.