All About Lily Chou-Chou

Adolescent loneliness and school-bully brutality are treated with frank, sometimes shocking realism in the Japanese film All About Lily Chou-Chou, in which a reclusive eighth-grader named Yuichi escapes from his unpleasant school-life by serving as the online moderator of an Internet chat room devoted to Lily Chou-Chou, a Björk-like chanteuse whose music provides a sanctuary from Yuichi's real-world anxieties. In due course, however, the film escalates into a desperate, seemingly inescapable series of disturbing developments involving teenage prostitution, petty theft, wanton violence, and perhaps even murder (in a mysterious twist), expanding on its origins as a real-life Internet novel that writer-director Shunji Iwai then adapted into a screenplay. The first Japanese film shot entirely on digital video, All About Lily Chou-Chou's muted colors and slow, hypnotic style will either draw viewers into a state of attentive alertness or bore them to tears. Still, while not an 'easy' film in the conventional sense, those viewers who manage to get on its wavelength may find it intriguing. Optional. [Note: DVD extras include a 'making-of' documentary (55 min.), the music video 'Wings That Can't Fly,' a director bio and filmography, an essay by director Shunji Iwai, and trailers. Bottom line: a solid extras package for a challenging film.] (J. Shannon) [Blu-ray/DVD Review—May 21, 2019—Film Movement, 146 min., in Japanese w/English subtitles, not rated, DVD: $29.99, Blu-ray: $39.99—Making its latest appearance on DVD and debut on Blu-ray, 2001’s All About Lily Chou-Chou features a nice transfer with 5.1 surround sound audio on the Blu-ray release. Extras include a 'making-of' documentary (86 min.), and an essay by NY Asian Film Festival deputy director Stephen Cremin (with a prologue by writer-director Shunji Iwai). Bottom line: Iwai’s overlong and challenging film makes a welcome debut on Blu-ray.]