Shunji IWAI 岩井俊二
All About Lily Chou Chou
リリイ・シュシュのすべて
Nippon Cinema ª
Schooldays in Japan are, according to Shunji IWAI, a mythical period - at the same time traumatic and nostalgic, full of gangs, schoolgirl prostitution and deep longings. Yuichi tries to escape his whipping boy position via the internet fan site of pop star Lily Chou Chou, where he can rave about Lily's 'ether' with like-minded people. But again and again the humiliations of his schoolmates drag him back to reality, which turns friends into oppressors and also forces Yuichi to do the unforgivable. More and more, Lily Chou Chou becomes a symbol of urgently needed salvation - not only for him. Schoolyard and school hell, pecking order, merciless brutality and the supernatural beauty of the ether - Shunji IWAI composes a complex world of unreal, grandiose images in which all extremes merge and tear the protagonists apart one by one.
Related Events:
All About Lily Chou Chou (NC 2002)
Coming of age Music
リリイ・シュシュのすべて
Riri Shushu no subete
Japan 2001
146 minutes
Production
Rockwell Eyes
World sales
Fortissimo Films
Cast
Hayato ICHIHARA, Shugo OSHINARI, Ayumi ITO, Yu AOI
About Shunji IWAI
岩井俊二
Shunji IWAI, born in Miyagi Prefecture in 1963, graduated from Yokohama National University. After beginning his directing career with commercials, TV dramas and music videos in 1988, his feature debut LOVE LETTER (1995) became a commercial and critical success and received numerous awards. The teen drama ALL ABOUT LILY CHOU-CHOU (2001 NC ’02) brought him international renown. He has already made several films outside Japan, with VAMPIRE (2011) having been his first English-language film. In addition to writing and directing his films, IWAI often composes his own scores.