Mono no aware

All about Lily Chou-Chou is an odd film. I find two types of oddness that run through the Japanese live-action movies in my collection: there’s the energetic, mad type of odd that drives the likes of Survive Style 5+ and the back catalogue of Takashi Miike and there’s the gentle, whimsical oddness of, say, Tony Takitani. Lily Chou-Chou falls in the second category. It’s not frenetic and off-the-wall, but its narrative has a shuffled chronology that jumps back and forth and there are some scenes that are quite shocking; it takes on some familiar issues but the execution is both beautiful and highly unconventional.

I mentioned the film to Bateszi absolutely ages ago; I recommended it to him by reputation before I’d seen it for myself (the same approach has given me a couple of other titles, namely Tokyo Sonata and Audition that are on the ‘to watch’ shelf, and two more in the form of Funky Forest: First Contact and Taste of Tea that I’m planning on picking up). I wish I hadn’t left it so long.

There are the FLCLs of this world that capture the disorientation and general feeling of nothing making sense using cinematography full of hyperactivity and apparent randomness but Lily Chou-Chou takes an alternative viewpoint, being that of quiet alienation. It conveys the decidedly teenage sensation of being in a state of developmental limbo, both pysically and mentally, where nobody understands how you feel and you, in turn, are unable to express your feelings effectively to others. Adolescence ought to be wonderful and exciting but to many it’s anything but.

The story of Lily Chou-Chou is meandering, and jumps backwards in time with only vague suggestions of what it’s trying to say. This is I think intentional, although I’m hopeless at recognising faces so I find this sort of thing quite taxing. It’s a long film too so it demands a lot of concentration during its prolonged periods of visuals with no dialogue to accompany them; I’d put Shunji Iwai’s directing style somewhere between Hideaki Anno and Jun Ichikawa. It’s fundamentally a story of friendship I think, but at the same time is quite experimental and tosses in no small amount of commentary regarding the importance of contemporary music on its fans.

The tale of friends growing up and drifting apart is one that fascinates me anyway: my high school life was a bit of a missed opportunity in that regard but on the plus side, if I can relate to the events on show here I think anyone can. Through the lo-fi eye of hand-held digital cameras (an Anno-ism if I ever saw one!) you see a bond between Yuichi and his closest friend Shusuke through the years, and see how it all goes wrong amongst the dramas and trials of high school life. It’s painful to see kids being bullied, bully others in return and fall out with each other; it’s even worse to see how the fall-out from this falling-out spills over and has such tragic effects on those around them.

I honestly felt really sorry for these kids. They do some awful things to each other when you know, deep down, they are so insecure and lonely inside they must know how much these things hurt. Between the shifts in time there are some poignant vignettes of good times and bad; it’s like some sort of dreamlike scrapbook of memories and emotions where the pages are all mixed up. It’s a gorgeous looking film.

What makes the rift between Yuichi and Susuke all the more painful is the fact that, as much as they hate each other later on, they were once firm friends who had so much in common. A central theme here is that of music, which forms a bridge of sorts between these characters on several occasions. Dubussy has a strong influence, as does the enigmatic Lily Chou-Chou of the film’s title: a fictional artist who exhibits the soothing tones of Spangle Call Lilli Line and the idiosyncracies of Björk.

She’s a sensation whose music unites many of the characters but ironically online instead of ‘IRL’. Aside from the cinematography which has the quirky, hip feel of modern Japanese indie cinema, much of Lily Chou-Chou’s oddness comes from the way in which it portrays Lily and the effects she has on certain fans. Iwai wrote the backstory to the film in the format of online BBS conversations that visitors to his site could follow and reply to; this interactive way of storytelling is kinda cool in itself but it formed a framework for the film by charting the relationship between the characters and their online personas simultaneously. They can interact freely in this Anonymous fashion as fans, but offline they lead totally separate lives; it’s quite late on then the two aspects meet.

I capitalised the Anonymous thing because these days online communities form the most efficient way for people to overcome various barriers and share their love and appreciation for something – be it films, video games or, indeed, music. It seems that, in the modern age in which sad stories of unhappy adolescence such as those depicted in this film are commonplace, lonely souls can still find comfort in sharing their enthusiasm. It’s a little light in a dark place, but it’s there.

I absolutely loved the music that this fictional Lily Chou-Chou sings. I’d like to get hold of the soundtrack to this – hell, it would be wonderful if someone like Lily really existed! Takeshi Kobayashi and Salyu make a magical pairing in bringing the music to life; it has all the ethereal and otherworldly qualities that Lily’s mystique demands. I have to admit I have no idea where that quality comes from: whenever I listen to Yoko Kanno, My Bloody Valentine or Mono, it really does feel like they are tapping into a supply of something not of this reality. Maybe this thing called the Ether really exists. Who knows?

All About Lily Chou-Chou does indeed feel like a timely reminder of the traumas of growing up, of how friendships can self-destruct and catch innocents up in the crossfire. At the same time it’s a celebration of how something as outwardly trivial as music can mean so much more. Maybe I’m biased by being a music nerd here, but there is something about music you love that forms an anchor and takes you away from it all, whatever life throws at you. I can’t say what it is either and feel like a pretentious rambling fool in trying. Maybe it’s just the Ether.

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