Similar stylistic choices can be seen in his other films. His stylistic use of music and cinematography likely comes from his background of shooting music videos. But his use of music and cinematography is one of my favorite aspects of this film. Music is a stand out for me in this film and I still listen to the "Lily Chou-Chou album" from time to time. But I instantly fell in love with the film regardless. But not having seen some of his darker (or mature) films he's done in between Love Letter and Lily Chou-Chou, it was shocking to say the least. So I was aware of his name when I was introduced to this particular film. I love this film, probably favorite Iwai film.įor whatever reason, one of his previous film Love Letter was huge hit back in the day in the country I grew up.
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The story goes all over the place and feels fitting for the film's habitat since it feels like one giant series of vignettes being presented as memories than building up to a climax, which is why some people were not digging into the movie as a whole.Ī beautifully arranged melancholic and ethereal work of brilliance of the pain of the teenage years is probably the best way I could sum up this. The way the camera moved and the music choices felt like Shunji Iwai was obviously channeling Wong Kar-wai and Terrence Malick but when I thought about the movie as a whole more, the more the music and cinematography was appropriately used to fully craft a sprawling take on one's teenage years and the society around them. The anonymous message boards that were occasionally used in a black screen wasn't something I was into at first, but I realized that it was a useful way for Yūichi to communicate his feelings and thoughts (as well as the music he shoplifts and listens to). There's a lot of emotion that is stuffed into this and it does work to make me feel immersed into the scene while making me feel drained. It was only a recent time ago when I first watched All About Lily Chou-Chou (roughly a month ago to be exact), but the more I thought about it, the more it started to grow on me and this time it left a more emotionally melancholy impact on me.