What is the pioneering nature of “All About Lily Chou-Chou” that continues to create new trends?

PAGES

2018.10.05Naoto Mori

Elements of “All About Lily Chou-Chou” that lead to the present day

This movement by the younger generation is a pleasant surprise. This is because at the time of its release, the author recognized ``All About Lily Chou-Chou'' as an extremely ``contemporary'' work, and (naturally) did not take into account its pioneering and prescient qualities. Body.

For example, at the beginning of the film, news of a busjacking incident is broadcast on TV. This is reminiscent of the Nishitetsu busjacking incident that occurred in May 2000 (the culprit was a 17-year-old boy at the time), but similar busjackings were the starting point for the horrific scene where passengers were killed one after another. Eureka, directed by Shinji Aoyama, depicts the journey of a middle-aged driver who survived the accident and his teenage brother and sister to recover emotionally. Award-winning film. Released in Japan in 2001). Surprisingly, director Aoyama's choice of busjacking was not based on an actual incident, but was a coincidence. Because of this resonance and coincidence, the two works seem to be spin-offs of each other. By the way, "W Aoi" was also born in 1985 -- "All About Lily Chou-Chou" was Yu Aoi's debut film, and "EUREKA" was one of the films that made Aoi Miyazaki known to the world when she was a rookie. .

Hideaki Anno's animation " Neon Genesis Evangelion ", which began broadcasting on television in 1995, depicts a battlefield where the survival of 14-year-old boys and girls is at stake. (He also starred in `` Shikibi '') and ` `Battle Royale '' (2000), director Kinji Fukasaku's film adaptation of author Hiroharu Takami's only published work. The veteran master director Fukasaku passed away with this as his last work, but it seems that he was actually inspired by Anno's work. Furthermore, at the time, attention was increasing to juvenile crimes due to the Nishitetsu busjacking incident mentioned above, and ``Battle Royale'', which contained many depictions of brutal violence, led to an uproar in the Diet that called for restrictions on its screening (as a result) R-15 designation).

An important preceding work with a similar theme is Kyoko Okazaki's manga River's Edge (published from 1993 to 1994), which depicts the "flat battlefield" of teenagers in the suburbs. . A film version of the same work was released in February of this year (2018), directed by Isao Yukisada, who was an assistant director for Iwai-gumi until ``April Story''.

A number of contemporary resonances that occurred during the transition period from the end of the century to the present century. However, in addition to its importance, we should now pay attention to the pioneering nature of ``All About Lily Chou-Chou'' that led to the present day. For example, the situation at a local school where school caste and other obstacles are swirling around is similar to `` Confession '' (2010/Director: Tetsuya Nakajima) and `` Kirishima, Quit Your Club Activity '' (2012/Director: Daihachi Yoshida). , it was also one of the first films to fully incorporate the Internet (its predecessor, Yoshimitsu Morita's 1996 film "Haru" , was still about "computer communications"!). This film was also one of the pioneers of digital cinema, using an HD 24P camera at an early stage.

Thanks to these factors, ``All About Lily Chou-Chou'' is less often talked about with nostalgia than other works from the same period. Even now, it continues to live on as a film that arouses the viewer's earnest desire to tell their own story. In addition, Shunji Iwai himself, in his latest directorial work `` Rip Van Winkle's Bride '' (2016), reverses the social downfall of a serious woman to a positive perspective, while also looking at the blockage in Japan as a whole, and creating a hardcore `` For the first time in a long time, he showed his true potential as a social activist.

Of course, as is usual with school movies, it is also a showcase for the up-and-coming actors of the time, and the fact that Issei Takahashi, who is all the rage at the moment, appears in the role of Ikeda-senpai, the handsome head of the kendo club, is a treasure. The cinematography by Noboru Shinoda, a master cameraman who sadly passed away in 2004 (his posthumous work was Isao Yukisada's `` Crying for Love at the Center of the World '') is also superb, giving the film an eternal vitality. .

Text: Naoto Mori

Film critic, writer. Born in Wakayama in 1971. He is the author of ``Cinema Garage: Children in the Ruins'' (Film Art Publishing), and edited ``Movies of the Zero Years+'' (Kawade Shobo Shinsha), among others. He regularly writes for magazines such as Weekly Bunshun, Asahi Shimbun, TV Bros., Men's Nonno, Kinema Junpo, Eiga Hiho, and Cinema Today.

Watch now

View work information

"All About Lily Chou-Chou" Blu-ray

Director: Shunji Iwai Starring: Hayato Ichihara, Shugo Oshinari

Product number: NNB-0003

Publisher/distributor: No Man's Nose

Price: ¥3,800 (excluding tax)

PAGES