Hideaki Anno’s Love & Pop

『ラブ&ポップ』
Rabu & Poppu

U.S. Premiere of 2K Restoration. “Everything in the world’s got a time for change,” muses high schooler Hiromi (Asumi Miwa) in Hideaki Anno’s dreamy day-in-the-life experiment—a diaristic stream of consciousness with shifting aspect ratios, rapid cuts and fisheye-lensed perspectives—capturing the 16-year-old’s delicate interiority on a single date: July 19, 1997. Hiromi records her life with the flash of her camera, documenting the roving exploits of her band of friends as they congregate and sift through Shibuya’s vast array of cafes, plazas and malls, chatting about love, desire and boys. Enchanted by a dazzling topaz ring, she impulsively probes the world of enjo kosai (compensated dating) to earn its worth by day’s end. An intimate close-up of a teenage girl’s plaintive essence, the Evangelion creator’s live-action debut breaks away from convention in its liberating experimental form. Adapting Ryu Murakami’s (Coin Locker Babies, Audition) novel Love and Pop: Topaz 2, Anno’s transgressive shot-on-video opus formulates a coda for the turn of millennia—a point-and-shoot testament of youth languishing in the perpetual disarray of Japan’s lost decade.

Dir. Hideaki Anno, 1998, DCP, 110 min., color, in Japanese with English subtitles. With Asumi Miwa, Kirari, Hirono Kudo, Yukie Nakama.

Japan Society presents this rare gem from Hideaki Anno (Neon Genesis Evangelion, Shin Godzilla).

© 1998 Love & Pop Productions.

Japan Society programs are supported by the New York State Council on the Arts with the support of the Office of the Governor and the New York State Legislature.

Film programs are generously supported by ORIX Corporation USA, public funds from the New York City Department of Cultural Affairs in partnership with the City Council, Anime NYC and Yen Press. Endowment support is provided by the Lila Wallace-Reader’s Digest Endowment Fund and The John and Miyoko Davey Endowment Fund. Additional season support is provided by The Globus Family, George P. Hirose, David Toberisky, Joseph Rajaratnam and Dharshini Iolanthe Sivakumaran, and Film Circle members

Transportation assistance is provided by Japan Airlines, the official Japanese airline sponsor of Japan Society Film Program. Housing assistance is provided by the Prince Kitano New York, the official hotel sponsor of Japan Society Film Program.