All About Lily Chou-Chou (Riri Shushu no subete)
2001, 146 min., color, 35mm. In Japanese with English subtitles.
In his remarkable visual style, Shunji Iwai (director of Love Letter) explores Japanese teen culture through the eyes of Yuichi, a lonely boy (Hayato Ichihara) who is constantly being picked on, bullied, roughed up and abused by his classmates. Yuichi’s only solace is a web/fan site called “Liliphilia” for pop singer Lily Chou-Chou, which he manages. While Yuichi’s school life is desolate and suffocating, he meets “Blue Cat,” another passionate Lily fan online and they become close friends. However, Yuichi must face a harsh reality at Lily’s concert.
A man for all media, Shunji Iwai has distinguished himself as an ingenious creator of music videos, television drama, feature films, documentaries, essays, novels and his own website. Iwai wrote this story originally as an interactive novel and gathered ideas from the chatroom where the novel was posted on the Internet.
Tickets: Japan Society members only, $5.
- Wednesday, July 10, 2002
- 6:30 pm