All About Lily Chou-Chou (Riri Shushu no subete) (2001)

Featured Audience Ratings

• Anthony L

  
  First off, All About Lily Chou-Chou looks beautiful. It's switching from digital to 35mm is brilliant, the direction, cinematography and editing is great, as is the non-linear narrative. The music is also suitably haunting, an important thing to get right considering the subject… More
  First off, All About Lily Chou-Chou looks beautiful. It's switching from digital to 35mm is brilliant, the direction, cinematography and editing is great, as is the non-linear narrative. The music is also suitably haunting, an important thing to get right considering the subject matter - I still can't get that 'I see you, you see me' song out of my head. It's only real problem, and unfortunately it's a big one, is that it drags on for far too long and, well, how do I put this, no one does teenage angst as unconvincingly as the Japanese. Harsh I know, but I just can't stand Japanese high-school dramas - I find them annoying and unrealistic. Shame really, as this film was so nearly a five star film!

• Cynthia S

  
  If watching other people's home movies, and chatlogs, about new age mumbo jumbo appeals to you, knock yourself out--but I was too bored to give this movie the kind of attention it demanded to follow its disjointed out-of-order scenes. 146 minutes was way too much for me on this… More
  If watching other people's home movies, and chatlogs, about new age mumbo jumbo appeals to you, knock yourself out--but I was too bored to give this movie the kind of attention it demanded to follow its disjointed out-of-order scenes. 146 minutes was way too much for me on this one.

• Justin Y

  
  Shunji Iwai's <i>All About Lily Chou-Chou</i> is one of those films that stands out on its own.<p>The story is quite unique and so is the writing, but this film is not for everybody. It shows how music can be a place for people to seek sanctuary from their… More
  Shunji Iwai's <i>All About Lily Chou-Chou</i> is one of those films that stands out on its own.<p>The story is quite unique and so is the writing, but this film is not for everybody. It shows how music can be a place for people to seek sanctuary from their everyday lives. The story can be tough to get into and the run time is just under 2 and a half hours. The first hour and the last 30 minutes are the better parts, while the middle tends to drag.</p><p>With that said, Shunji Iwai's directing makes this worth watching. For the most part, the camerawork is great. The cyber texting element that Iwai employs consistently throughout the picture is also a creative element worthy of note.</p><p>Hayato Ichihara's character is a bit bland, but he works well with what he has. The rest of the supporting cast is also good. Shugo Oshinari, Aoi Yu, and Ayumi Ito stand out the most. Takao Osawa also shows up with a funny character.</p><p><i>All About Lily Chou-Chou</i> may only be the best film to some, but it is one of those movies that sticks with nearly every other viewer for a good amount of time. If only once, this is one to consider watching.

• Stella D

  
  all about teen angst and the need to make connections and sense of the world. good cinematography, strange narrative structure. it will frustrate alot of people but i liked it. debussy reinforced the impressionist tone. could've used some cutting tho

• Tsubaki S

  
  As pointless and missguided in it's social/media commentary as, say, Suicide Club. But at least not as stupid and irresponsable as the late. Still, quite lousy and not worth the time. I bet Reygadas stole some of the robots they used on this production for his magnus fats-opera… More
  As pointless and missguided in it's social/media commentary as, say, Suicide Club. But at least not as stupid and irresponsable as the late. Still, quite lousy and not worth the time. I bet Reygadas stole some of the robots they used on this production for his magnus fats-opera "Batalla en el Cielo".

• Saskia D

  
  There are quite some different opinions about this movie, mine is that I liked it although it took me a while to get into it. Young people are so relentless!! I liked the dreamy scenes, and the music for the film was well chosen. But the main character Yûichi was a bit… More
  There are quite some different opinions about this movie, mine is that I liked it although it took me a while to get into it. Young people are so relentless!! I liked the dreamy scenes, and the music for the film was well chosen. But the main character Yûichi was a bit 'flat', I need some more passion! I loved the whole thing about the "ether", some sort of space where you can reside (for instance through music), be happy and forget about everything bad, a sort of other dimension. I wish the director would have gotten into that more. <a href="http://s102.photobucket.com/albums/m106/maibois/CD%20cover/?action=view&current=s1645759.jpg" target="_blank"><img src="http://i102.photobucket.com/albums/m106/maibois/CD%20cover/s1645759.jpg" border="0" alt="all about lily chou"></a>

• Drew S

  
  It's confusing and very slow, but accesses a very different part of the viewer's emotion. The movie is a tonally bizarre look at bullying and social ostracization; the ethereal atmosphere and lilting music work better than the subject matter would suggest. Amazing… More
  It's confusing and very slow, but accesses a very different part of the viewer's emotion. The movie is a tonally bizarre look at bullying and social ostracization; the ethereal atmosphere and lilting music work better than the subject matter would suggest. Amazing soundtrack, by the way.

• Luke B

  
  A beautiful film on more than one level about growing up, and friendships through school. The films chronological narrative is skewed so we begin somewhere in the middle. This allows us to evaluate the friendships with a select knowledge of the relationships between the characters.… More
  A beautiful film on more than one level about growing up, and friendships through school. The films chronological narrative is skewed so we begin somewhere in the middle. This allows us to evaluate the friendships with a select knowledge of the relationships between the characters. The first thing to slap you across the face in this film is the stunning cinematography. The digital camera is used for hand-held shots that are crisp and clear, and the use of colour is fantastic. I've never really been a big fan of the colour green, but after seeing the scenes in the rice fields, it is a very nice colour. Like all coming of age films, we see the troubles of the youth, they bond with each other but eventually have to deal with their problems themselves. The film handles its tones very well, the holiday is absolutely hilarious, while the drama is moving. The inevitable conclusion is tragic.

• Lesley N

  
  Being a teenager sucks.

• Jared H

  
  Rating these types of movies is so difficult, since it is quite obvious that movies like this are intentionally made to counter-act what we traditionally think of as good movies. Shunji Iwai wasn't thinking about critics when he made this film, so to criticize it would be… More
  Rating these types of movies is so difficult, since it is quite obvious that movies like this are intentionally made to counter-act what we traditionally think of as good movies. Shunji Iwai wasn't thinking about critics when he made this film, so to criticize it would be somewhat pointless. But, since I must, I will definitely say that this is the type of film that about 3% of the population will absolutely love with every inch of their souls, while 97% of people will absolutely hate. At 2 hours and 45 minutes, this film is a long, depressing, dreary, disturbing, brave, draining, frustrating, largely boring but at times though-provoking, artistic, and undeniably an original experience with a notably good soundtrack. Did I like this film? Not at all actually. It's not really a film that wants to be liked. So, I give this film 2 stars, knowing that there are others who would give this film 5 stars in a heartbeat, and I wouldn't really argue with them...those people simply watch movies for different reasons than I do. I will say this, that "Lily Chou-Chou" is an unforgettable experience... whether that experience is a good or a bad one depends on you.

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