Considering I haven't write a readable film review for a while I've decided to acutally spend time with this particular post, because this movie is just disturbingly beautiful.
With that being said, All About Lily Chou-Chou is a harsh, close to 3 hours coming-of-age film that's done in a very beatiful way through image and music to convey the emotions. This movies take on number of social issues that are happening in Japan including young juvenile gang-rape, social segregation, murder, violence, degradation, a fixation on certain object (pop idol fixation), and combine them all together to produce the final effect. The movie centers on Yuichi Hasumi who happened to be at the bottom in a group of persecutors whose leader was once his best friend. He was in an adult situations but without the adult faculties. Despite being persecuted, Hasumi finds Lily Chou Chou, a singer who resembles Tori Amos/Bjork figure, embodies his disillusions and his unspeakable life through her music. When Hasumi finds that his best friend/tormentor shares his love of Lily Chou-Chou, it was too much for him to bear.
Though it may appears boring to mass audience, but this film's beauty really lies behind the narration through beautiful and effective graphics and music. By making these 2 elements stand out through the filmmaking process, director was able to complicate the line between pain and confusion. This forces the audience to be repulsed and charmed at the same time. Thus rating this film in a traditional cinematic language wouldn't do the justice to the narrative depth of this film.
I've always been fond by Shunji Iwai (director)'s narrative skill ever since the film Love Letter. And in All About Lily Chou-Chou, his skill clearly hasn't been a let down either. So with unique cinematic graphics and music, this film is definitely on my recommend list, however be prepared to be bored in certain aspect through out the film.
中文:
關於莉莉周的一切
Trailer below
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