All About Lily Chou-Chou (Blu-ray) (Japan Version)

Product Description

Ah, to be young again & experience anew the horror show that is youth. In Iwai Shunjiss All About Lily Chou-Chou there is nothing redeeming about the adolescent years. Its an out-&-out war among teen peers. If viewers were shocked at the frank depiction of sexuality & violence in Larry Clarks Kids, then theyll flip over Lily Chou-Chou, which is just as gritty & twice as rough.

Hasumi Yuichi (Ichihara Hayato), Hoshino Shusuke (Oshinari Shugo), & their cohorts artfully dodge a string of life-threatening nightmares & seek release through overactive involvement in cyber culture, pop music, & celebrity adulation. Hasumi plods through junior high school guarded & mostly mute, but in the soft cocoon of cyberspace he proves to be ravenous for joyful expression. He & his classmates abide by an unwritten code that these impulses are voiced only in the stunted dialogue of a chat room dedicated to the fictitious pop star Lily Chou-Chou. Meanwhile, the same kids spend their days sitting in classrooms run by bullies & are fed a regular diet of public humiliation, petty thievery, & straight violence.

Iwai has established himself in Japan with such films as April Story, Swallowtail Butterfly, & Picnic, & is known for his "e;cool"e; subject matter. Its obvious in seeing Lily Chou-Chou that he is a clear barometer of pop trends. The ecstatic compositions & ample palette of shockingly lush colors provide a unique, private, happy ending.