All About Lily Chou-Chou
Encyclopedia
is a 2001 Japanese film written and directed by Shunji Iwai
. The film portrays the rough lives of high school children in Japan, and centres around the music of a fictional singer Lily Chou-Chou
.
In elementary school, Hoshino was one of the best students in school, but was picked on by his classmates. Hoshino and Hasumi meet and become friends when they join the kendo
club, and Hoshino invites Hasumi to stay over at his house. Hoshino's family is wealthy in comparison to Hasumi's family. Hasumi mistakes Hoshino's attractive young mother for his sister.
The kendo club summer camp training is tough, and Hoshino, Hasumi and some other first-grade boys decide to take a trip to Okinawa. Once there, Hoshino has a traumatic near-death experience and his personality changes from good-natured to dangerous and manipulative. Back at school in September for second term, he takes his place as class bully and shows his newfound power by ruining the lives of his classmates. An alternative voice, that of the character Sumika Kanzaki, attributes Hoshino's personality change to the collapse of his family's business and his parent's divorce; this matches several scenes connecting the decline of Hoshino – who has had to change his name – to divorce.
Hasumi, the confused and shy former friend of Hoshino, finds himself sucked into his now-tormentor's gang. He is ridiculed and coerced into doing Hoshino's dirty work, and finds solace only in the ethereal music Lily Chou-Chou makes, and acting as web editor for his fan website. Things become far worse for everyone when Hasumi is assigned to supervising Shiori Tsuda, whom Hoshino has blackmailed into enjo kōsai
, and another girl is raped by Hoshino's lackeys after unwittingly offending the school's girl gang. The whole quagmire comes to a head when Hasumi heads to Tokyo to see a Lily Chou-Chou concert, and encounters the last person he thought would be there.
The story of Hoshino and Hasumi is paralleled by messages posted to a Lily Chou-Chou Internet message board which are displayed on screen. Until the meeting at the concert, it is left up to the viewer to figure out which characters in the story are posting under what names.
, but only in Japanese.)
Production on the film began in Ashikaga
, Tochigi Prefecture
on August 13, 2000 and ended on November 28, 2000. It premiered at the Toronto International Film Festival
on September 7, 2001, and opened in Japan
on October 6, 2001.
Iwai was the first Japanese director to use the, at the time, completely new digital video camera, the "24 Progressive"
to shoot the film.
It is thought that Iwai was inspired to shoot in digital by his friend, the anime
and live-action film director Hideaki Anno
, who shot his own digital film entitled Love & Pop
, in 1998. Anno later cast Iwai as the lead in his second live-action film, Shiki-Jitsu
.
. It features a number of songs that are sung by the fictional rock star Lily Chou-Chou in the film. The soundtrack also makes heavy use of the classical music of Claude Debussy
.
Local:
International:
Rentals:
Shunji Iwai
is a Japanese film director/video artist, writer and documentarian.-Life and career:Iwai was born in Sendai, Japan, Miyagi prefecture. He attended Yokohama National University, graduating in 1987....
. The film portrays the rough lives of high school children in Japan, and centres around the music of a fictional singer Lily Chou-Chou
Lily Chou-Chou
is a Japanese band that debuted in 2000. Initially a fictional band that produced music for the 2001 Shunji Iwai film All About Lily Chou-Chou, the group later reformed in 2010 for the 10th anniversary of the film...
.
Plot
All About Lily Chou-Chou follows two boys, Shuusuke Hoshino and Yuichi Hasumi, from the start of junior high school when they first meet, and into second grade. The film has a discontinuous storyline, starting midway through the story, just after the second term of junior high school begins, then flashes back to the first term and summer vacation, and then skips back to the present.In elementary school, Hoshino was one of the best students in school, but was picked on by his classmates. Hoshino and Hasumi meet and become friends when they join the kendo
Kendo
, meaning "Way of The Sword", is a modern Japanese martial art of sword-fighting based on traditional Japanese swordsmanship, or kenjutsu.Kendo is a physically and mentally challenging activity that combines strong martial arts values with sport-like physical elements.-Practitioners:Practitioners...
club, and Hoshino invites Hasumi to stay over at his house. Hoshino's family is wealthy in comparison to Hasumi's family. Hasumi mistakes Hoshino's attractive young mother for his sister.
The kendo club summer camp training is tough, and Hoshino, Hasumi and some other first-grade boys decide to take a trip to Okinawa. Once there, Hoshino has a traumatic near-death experience and his personality changes from good-natured to dangerous and manipulative. Back at school in September for second term, he takes his place as class bully and shows his newfound power by ruining the lives of his classmates. An alternative voice, that of the character Sumika Kanzaki, attributes Hoshino's personality change to the collapse of his family's business and his parent's divorce; this matches several scenes connecting the decline of Hoshino – who has had to change his name – to divorce.
Hasumi, the confused and shy former friend of Hoshino, finds himself sucked into his now-tormentor's gang. He is ridiculed and coerced into doing Hoshino's dirty work, and finds solace only in the ethereal music Lily Chou-Chou makes, and acting as web editor for his fan website. Things become far worse for everyone when Hasumi is assigned to supervising Shiori Tsuda, whom Hoshino has blackmailed into enjo kōsai
Enjo kosai
means "compensated dating" and is a practice which originated in Japan where older men give money and/or luxury gifts to attractive women for their companionship and, possibly, for sexual favors. The female participants range from primarily school-aged girls to housewives. A common misconception is...
, and another girl is raped by Hoshino's lackeys after unwittingly offending the school's girl gang. The whole quagmire comes to a head when Hasumi heads to Tokyo to see a Lily Chou-Chou concert, and encounters the last person he thought would be there.
The story of Hoshino and Hasumi is paralleled by messages posted to a Lily Chou-Chou Internet message board which are displayed on screen. Until the meeting at the concert, it is left up to the viewer to figure out which characters in the story are posting under what names.
Production
On April 1, 2000, Shunji Iwai went live with his internet novel, in the form of a website called Lilyholic, where he posted messages as several characters on the BBS. Readers of the novel were free to post alongside Iwai's characters and interact with each other, indeed this BBS is where some of the content from the movie comes from. After the main incident in the novel took place, posting was closed and the second phase of the novel started, about the lives of 14 year olds. (The novel is available on CD-ROMCD-ROM
A CD-ROM is a pre-pressed compact disc that contains data accessible to, but not writable by, a computer for data storage and music playback. The 1985 “Yellow Book” standard developed by Sony and Philips adapted the format to hold any form of binary data....
, but only in Japanese.)
Production on the film began in Ashikaga
Ashikaga, Tochigi
is a city located in Tochigi Prefecture, Japan. Ashikaga is located north of Tokyo.As of April 1, 2011, the city has an estimated population of 153,766, with a household number of 59,219, and a density of 864.73 persons per km²...
, Tochigi Prefecture
Tochigi Prefecture
is a prefecture located in the Kantō region on the island of Honshū, Japan. The capital is the city of Utsunomiya.Nikkō, whose ancient Shintō shrines and Buddhist temples UNESCO has recognized by naming them a World Heritage Site, is in this prefecture...
on August 13, 2000 and ended on November 28, 2000. It premiered at the Toronto International Film Festival
Toronto International Film Festival
The Toronto International Film Festival is a publicly-attended film festival held each September in Toronto, Ontario, Canada. In 2010, 339 films from 59 countries were screened at 32 screens in downtown Toronto venues...
on September 7, 2001, and opened in Japan
Japan
Japan is an island nation in East Asia. Located in the Pacific Ocean, it lies to the east of the Sea of Japan, China, North Korea, South Korea and Russia, stretching from the Sea of Okhotsk in the north to the East China Sea and Taiwan in the south...
on October 6, 2001.
Iwai was the first Japanese director to use the, at the time, completely new digital video camera, the "24 Progressive"
24p
In video technology, 24p refers to a video format that operates at 24 frames per second frame rate with progressive scanning . Originally, 24p was used in the non-linear editing of film-originated material...
to shoot the film.
It is thought that Iwai was inspired to shoot in digital by his friend, the anime
Anime
is the Japanese abbreviated pronunciation of "animation". The definition sometimes changes depending on the context. In English-speaking countries, the term most commonly refers to Japanese animated cartoons....
and live-action film director Hideaki Anno
Hideaki Anno
is a Japanese animation and film director. Anno is best known for his work on the popular anime series Neon Genesis Evangelion. His style has come to be defined by the touches of postmodernism that he injects into his work, as well as the thorough portrayal of characters' thoughts and emotions,...
, who shot his own digital film entitled Love & Pop
Love & Pop
' is director Hideaki Anno's first live action film, an adaptation of Ryū Murakami's novel, Topaz II. Released in 1998, it somewhat follows the film Tokyo Decadence, an adaptation of Topaz I filmed by Murakami himself...
, in 1998. Anno later cast Iwai as the lead in his second live-action film, Shiki-Jitsu
Shiki-Jitsu
is a live-action film directed by Hideaki Anno.The screenplay is an adaption by Hideaki Anno and Ayako Fujitani of Fujitani's novella Touhimu, which was inspired by an emotionally difficult time spent in Los Angeles during her work in her father's 1998 film, The Patriot.The film tells the story of...
.
Music
The soundtrack of Lily Chou-Chou was written and arranged by Takeshi Kobayashi, with vocals by the singer SalyuSalyu
is a Japanese singer, produced by Takeshi Kobayashi. She debuted in 2000 as the fictional singer Lily Chou-Chou for the film All About Lily Chou-Chou, and later debuted as a solo artist in 2004...
. It features a number of songs that are sung by the fictional rock star Lily Chou-Chou in the film. The soundtrack also makes heavy use of the classical music of Claude Debussy
Claude Debussy
Claude-Achille Debussy was a French composer. Along with Maurice Ravel, he was one of the most prominent figures working within the field of impressionist music, though he himself intensely disliked the term when applied to his compositions...
.
Cast
- Shugo OshinariShugo Oshinariis a Japanese actor best known for his roles in the controversial Battle Royale II: Requiem and Shunji Iwai's film, All About Lily Chou-Chou ....
as Shusuke Hoshino (星野修介 Hoshino Shusuke), the best student in school who, after a trip to Okinawa, becomes a bully. - Hayato Ichihara as Yuichi Hasumi (蓮見雄一 Hasumi Yūichi), Hoshino's former friend who becomes a reluctant member of his gang and will later on be bullied by Hoshino. Yuichi is the leading character in the movie. He admins an online Lily Chou-Chou BBS and is a great fan of the singer.
- Ayumi ItoAyumi ItoAyumi Itō is a Japanese actress who received her big break in 1996, when she was cast as the central character of Ageha in Shunji Iwai's hit movie, Swallowtail Butterfly. The following year, she won her first Japanese Academy Award for 'Rookie of the Year'...
as Yoko Kuno (久野陽子 Kuno Yōko), a classmate of Yuichi's. A brilliant pianist, she is the envy of a clique of powerful girls, and therefore is also bullied. She is raped by Hoshino's gang and cuts off her hair as a way of avoiding Shiori Tsuda's fate. - Yû AoiYû Aoiis a Japanese actress and model. She made her film debut as Shiori Tsuda in Shunji Iwai's 2001 film All About Lily Chou-Chou...
as Shiori Tsuda (津田詩織 Tsuda Shiori), a classmate of Yuichi who gets blackmailed into enjo kōsaiEnjo kosaimeans "compensated dating" and is a practice which originated in Japan where older men give money and/or luxury gifts to attractive women for their companionship and, possibly, for sexual favors. The female participants range from primarily school-aged girls to housewives. A common misconception is...
by Hoshino. Yuichi befriends her later on, and introduces her to Lily's music. Near the end of the movie she takes her life. - Yuki ItoYuki Itois a Japanese actor and musician from Tokyo Prefecture. The role he is most known for is as in Mahou Sentai Magiranger.-References:* - Personal Blog...
as Kamino, one of the boys in the blue school uniforms at the train station when Kuno is introduced. - Izumi InamoriIzumi Inamoriis a Japanese actress signed to Burning Production.-Biography:Izumi Inamori was born and grew up in the city of Kagoshima. After graduating from the local high school, Inamori went to University of Texas at Arlington to study English abroad...
as Izumi Hoshino (星野いずみ Hoshino Izumi), Hoshino's mother. It is unknown if she is single. She loves her son very much and welcomes Yuichi with open arms during a junior high sleepover at the Hoshino household. A classmate of Yuichi suggests that this is done to ensure that Yuichi will enjoy being Hoshino's friend. - SalyuSalyuis a Japanese singer, produced by Takeshi Kobayashi. She debuted in 2000 as the fictional singer Lily Chou-Chou for the film All About Lily Chou-Chou, and later debuted as a solo artist in 2004...
as Lily Chou-Chou, the enigmatic and ethereal singer that Yuichi, Tsuda and others in the film are fans of. She is hardly seen in the film, except on a video screen near the story's end, but her music is heard throughout the movie. She is said by her fans to channel what is called "the EtherLuminiferous aetherIn the late 19th century, luminiferous aether or ether, meaning light-bearing aether, was the term used to describe a medium for the propagation of light....
", which is not unlike the invisible substance once thought by ancient philosophers to be the field that light travels through. This "ether" can be heard in the calm, melancholy songs she sings.
Details
- Quentin TarantinoQuentin TarantinoQuentin Jerome Tarantino is an American film director, screenwriter, producer, cinematographer and actor. In the early 1990s, he began his career as an independent filmmaker with films employing nonlinear storylines and the aestheticization of violence...
used the song "Kaifuku Suru Kizu (Wounds that heal)" from the Lily Chou-Chou soundtrack in Kill BillKill BillKill Bill Volume 1 is a 2003 action thriller film written and directed by Quentin Tarantino. It is the first of two volumes that were theatrically released several months apart, the second volume being Kill Bill Volume 2....
, in the scene where the Bride views Hattori HanzoHattori Hanzo, also known as , was a famous samurai and ninja master of the Sengoku era, credited with saving the life of Tokugawa Ieyasu and then helping him to become the ruler of united Japan. Today, he is often a subject of modern popular culture.-Biography:...
's sword collection. - The idea of Lily Chou-Chou the rock star was inspired by Faye WongFaye WongFaye Wong is a highly successful and influential Chinese singer-songwriter and actress who is usually referred to as a diva . Early in her career she briefly used the stage name Shirley Wong . Born in Beijing, she moved to Hong Kong in 1987 and rose to stardom in the early 1990s by singing...
. - Extras at the concert scene were given an index card with extremely detailed information as to the thought process they should be going through during filming. There were hundreds of extras, partly made up of fans of the internet novel who had BBS meet ups during the day. Posters from the BBS are visible in the background of this scene and can be spotted by watching for clues from their posts.
- Ayumi ItoAyumi ItoAyumi Itō is a Japanese actress who received her big break in 1996, when she was cast as the central character of Ageha in Shunji Iwai's hit movie, Swallowtail Butterfly. The following year, she won her first Japanese Academy Award for 'Rookie of the Year'...
spent weeks training on the piano in order to do all of her scenes without a double. She became so obsessed with Debussy's "Arabesque No. 1Arabesques (Debussy)The Two Arabesques , L. 66, is a pair of arabesques composed by Claude Debussy. They are two of Debussy's earliest works, composed between the years 1888 and 1891, when he was still in his twenties....
" that she made it her cell phone ringtone. - Originally, in the internet novel, Yuichi and Hoshino belong to the trackTrack and fieldTrack and field is a sport comprising various competitive athletic contests based around the activities of running, jumping and throwing. The name of the sport derives from the venue for the competitions: a stadium which features an oval running track surrounding a grassy area...
team, not the kendoKendo, meaning "Way of The Sword", is a modern Japanese martial art of sword-fighting based on traditional Japanese swordsmanship, or kenjutsu.Kendo is a physically and mentally challenging activity that combines strong martial arts values with sport-like physical elements.-Practitioners:Practitioners...
team. - Debussy wrote his famous Children's Corner Suite (1909) for his beloved daughter whom he nicknamed Chou-chou.
- This movie made an impact and is the third highest grossing local film of 2001 in Japan (next to Visitor QVisitor Qis a controversial 2001 film directed by Japanese director Takashi Miike. It was filmed as the sixth and final part of the Love Cinema series consisting of six straight-to-video releases by independent filmmakers via a brief but exclusive run at the minuscule Shimokitazawa cinema in Tokyo...
and Spirited AwaySpirited Awayis a 2001 Japanese animated fantasy-adventure film written and directed by Hayao Miyazaki and produced by Studio Ghibli. The film tells the story of Chihiro Ogino, a sullen ten-year-old girl who, while moving to a new neighborhood and after her parents are transformed into pigs by the witch Yubaba,...
). This is the highest grossing film made by Shunji Iwai, beating his previous work, Love Letter (1995). - The movie's original runtime was 157 minutes, but the original print of the 157 minute version no longer exists because it was burned. The extra 11 minutes was composed of extra and intense footages of the rape scene, a scene with Yuichi in the beach (similar to Hoshino's drowning scene) and an extended funeral scene.
Awards and nominations
- 2002 Berlin International Film FestivalBerlin International Film FestivalThe Berlin International Film Festival , also called the Berlinale, is one of the world's leading film festivals and most reputable media events. It is held in Berlin, Germany. Founded in West Berlin in 1951, the festival has been celebrated annually in February since 1978...
– Panorama (Shunji IwaiShunji Iwaiis a Japanese film director/video artist, writer and documentarian.-Life and career:Iwai was born in Sendai, Japan, Miyagi prefecture. He attended Yokohama National University, graduating in 1987....
) - 2002 6th Shanghai International Film Festival – Best Music (Takeshi Kobayashi) and Special Jury Award (Shunji Iwai)
Box office totals
- Budget:¥150, 000, 000 ($1,249,656)
Local:
- Japan: ¥3, 026, 188, 000 ($25,211,298)
- Opening Week Gross: ¥514, 775, 000 ($4,288,612)
- Date Released: October 6, 2001
- In release: 15.7 weeks
International:
- USA: $26,485 (¥3,179,328)
Rentals:
- Japan: ¥810,340,000 ($6,750,436)