All About Lily Chou-Chou

All About Lily Chou-Chou is a Japanese movie made in 2001. The theme of this movie is Ijime(bullying). With this material, Shunji Iwai, the director, tried to describe teenagers’ sensibility and anguishes. In the movie, there is violence, bullying, rapes, suicide, murder, sympathy, confusion, and music. The entire mood is dark. Although Iwai chose this movie as his best for now and his style is well reflected, it can be hard for audiences to truly sympathize with the movie because it is lacking consideration of general audiences.
The plot.
In the movie, a boy named Yuichi Hasumi loves Lily Chou-Chou’s songs. Lily Chou-Chou is an imaginary singer who plays an odd music in this movie, and her fans communicate with each other through internet site named ‘Lily-holic.’ Another fan of Lily Chou-Chou, Shusuke Hoshino, once a friend of Yuichi, was a quiet and sincere student. However, during a trip to Okiwana, he experienced some traumatic accidents related to death and his characteristics completely changes. He starts to torment other students including Yuichi. Yuichi wants to stop him but he doesn’t know how to do so and he cannot help assisting Hoshino’s misdeeds. The only solace Yuichi can find is Lily Chou-Chou’s songs.