Review of All About Lily Chou-Chou (2001) by S. G — 02 May 2008

I had been wanting to see Shunji Iwai's All About Lily Chou Chou for quite some time, as random references kept perking my interest, but I never really took the plunge, until recently, and I am ever so glad I did.

No word is better suited to describe the film other than one of its leitmotivs... ether... ethereal. Characters in the film believe that Lily's music comes from the ether, that it represents it, that it gives it voice, but what Shunji Iwai did, was to capture it on film.

The film moves at its own steady pace, and everything within the world it presents seems enveloped in a protective bubble of beauty and bliss, where nothing can go wrong, an impression created with the help of wonderful cinematography and crafty camera work. In the beginning of the film, the parallelism with the line of the horizon is seldom kept, and I found that to be an element that combined with the extreme beauty of the scenery(bright green rice fields) helped create a mood of suspension in time and space that is vital in setting the tone of the whole film. While the film looks and sounds(Debussy's music is featured quite prominently) absolutely lovely, the story that unfolds on this background is anything but. The delightful setting only serves as an even harsher reminder of all that is lost throughout the film, the beauty of the images and the contrast between that and what they show seems ironic at times. An irony that not only does not take away from the ultimate tragedy of it all, but enhances it.

The non linear storyline might seem confusing, but give it time, as the film unfolds, the threads all tie together and by the end, light will be shed on everything. To me, the construction is flawless both for the feel and mood of the film as well as for the build up towards the final impact. Visually beautiful, cruel, tragic, compelling. I absolutely loved it.