A tad overlong, but this coming-of-age, teen angst movie captures with exceptional ambition the pre-social media stan culture with a kind of authenticity, intimacy and raging fervour quite rarely experienced in cinema.

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I remember the late 1990s and early 2000s, way before social media altered—or perhaps ruined—how we anticipated and consumed content. 

Back then, we had CD stores to thank for and the requisite patience to wait for new albums from our favourite artistes to pop up on a shelf somewhere.  We had our portable CD player for long bus and train rides. 

Mostly, we had the freedom of youth.  This freedom wasn’t about having choices or the ability to make decisions; we scarcely cared about such un-youthful things. 

Instead, we cared about the freedom of expression—of our obsessions.  Stan culture has never been more rampant than it is today, but at the turn of the millennium, the pre-social media period felt far more authentic and intimate with burgeoning internet relay chats and primitive blogs that further cultify these ‘obsessions’. 

“The Ether can set you free.”

All About Lily Chou-Chou brought me back to those days like a flickering memory—and indeed, the film literally flickers from the onset as text-on-screen simulating virtual community chats coincide with floaty, poetic shots of a boy with headphones as he listens to Lily Chou-Chou in a sea of green. 

As such, Shunji Iwai has fashioned a unique audiovisual style that more frequently than not punctuates the story of several students who must grapple with the burden of growing up. 

Taking a spur-of-the-moment trip with friends, facing chronic bullying, or trying to find one’s identity, real or imagined, these are the joys and tribulations of the coming of age. 

While a tad overlong and losing a bit of steam just before its ‘concert crowd’ third act, All About Lily Chou-Chou is nevertheless tender and angst-ridden, hardly concealing a raging fervour that emanates from within.

Grade: A-

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