(Credits: Far Out / Rockwell Eyes)
Around the turn of the new millennium came the arrival of Web 2.0, whereby internet use became defined by its individual-generated content and participatory culture. The internet is part of our everyday lives today, but at the beginning of the 2000s, it was still a relatively new technology. In 2001, Japanese film director Shunji Iwai released an experimental coming-of-age drama that explored the dark realities of the online world.
All About Lily Chou-Chou is Iwai’s fourth movie as a director, and it focuses on a group of Japanese teenagers who are deeply obsessed with the film’s titular singer. Iwai unflinchingly dives into his characters’ most traumatic experiences and the themes of identity and friendship amid the increased internet use of the late 1990s and early 2000s.
There’s a dichotomy between the problematic realities of the film’s protagonists, Yuichi Hasumi and Shusuke Hoshino, as they make their way through school age and the identities they craft for themselves in cyberspace. Iwai fractures the main narrative of Lily Chou-Chou with typed online messages from a forum celebrating the eponymous fictional pop star, who becomes a haven of sorts for the alienated and downtrodden.
Bullying and violence are rife in All About Lily-Chou Chou, and scenes in which the shy Yuichi – who runs the online forum under the name ‘Philia’ – is victimised and humiliated by Shusuke are particularly shocking. However, they are counterposed by the kind of respect Yuichi garners from his fellow Lily Chou-Chou idolisers.
In turn, as Yuichi finds comfort in his hobby and passion, the sad realities of how his former friend treats him become all the more harrowing. It’s easy to see why the young teenager feels the need to disappear further into his online persona, forming connections with anonymous strangers through a shared interest rather than solely suffering at the hands of his tormentor.
As it transpires, Shusuke also possesses an online persona that seems to link him to Yuichi despite their antagonistic real-life relationship, showing that even those in oppressive and abusive positions seem to seek the anonymity of the online environment to cover up their deepest insecurities and ever-increasing isolation.
The way All About Lily Chou-Chou is edited, with jump cuts and ellipses aplenty, essentially represents the distractive nature of the internet itself and the weakened attention span and restless mood of its most dedicated users. In addition, by using a fictional pop star as one of its central narrative proponents, Iwai explores the modern obsession with celebrity personalities whilst also detailing how an individual can project their own personal issues onto a fanbase, accepted as part of the broader family as a result of their mutual passion.
The soundtrack for the film features several songs written by a band called Lily Chou-Chou, though the person herself is indeed fictional. Ethereal and ambient pop music lends Iwai’s film a dreamlike quality and a melancholy mood that reflects the isolation and alienation of its characters whilst matching its stunning cinematography captured fittingly on the then-new Sony HDW-F900.
Iwai resists any conception of the internet generation as critique, though, instead delivering an exploration of the sad realities of dissolving real-life connections. The challenges of teenagehood are laid out to bear in all their ugly and painful authenticity, making All About Lily Chou-Chou a difficult watch, if an admittedly poignant and aesthetically beautiful one.
Check out the film’s trailer below.
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Tyler Fields is your internet guru, delving into the latest trends, developments, and issues shaping the online world. With a focus on internet culture, cybersecurity, and emerging technologies, Tyler keeps readers informed about the dynamic landscape of the internet and its impact on our digital lives.
