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

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

Colour:

Colour

Sound Mix:

Dolby Digital

Certification:

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

Company:

Rockwell Eyes Inc.

Trivia:

Ayumi Ito really shaved her hair for the movie.

Quotes:

Yuichi's friend: That's so lame!

Movie Connections:

Referenced in Kill Bill: Vol. 1 (2003)

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.