Lily Chou-Chou and Seattle

[M Arnold]

The other day I grabbed a flyer for the Northwest Film Forum in Seattle and
discovered that the Grand Illusion on 50th and University, a cozy little
theater about the size of Cinema Shimokitazawa, is showing a series of
Japanese films over the next few weeks.  The title is "Sex, Violence &
Beauty: 3 Weeks of Contemporary Japanese Cinema."  (Ah yes, three words that
pretty much sum up contemporary Japanese cinema... the only thing missing is
"manga.")  Of course the films scheduled are just as representative as the
title would suggest:  Fudoh: The New Generation, Warm Water Under a Red
Bridge, Uzumaki, Freeze Me, and All About Lily Chou-Chou.  There are also
two "International Horror Film Shorts" programs playing at the Little
Theater in Seattle soon, the first one including a 39 minute film by Sato
Tomoya called L'ilya, and the second with "Nekojiro-So" [sic].  Most of
these films I don't need to watch again (Freeze Me is still one of the
dullest Japanese films I can remember) but I might catch this L'ilya thing.
Has anyone seen it?

My first try with Lily Chou-Chou was spent scanning through a day-late
rental video, so I visited the Grand Illusion a couple of nights ago to sit
through it again.  The English subtitles were impressive considering all the
BBS-type chatter that comes up on the screen, but the nice blue, green and
pale yellow tones I saw on the Japanese video were all washed out.  I also
had to close my eyes several times during the show for fear of
Pokemon-seizures, or at least a strong headache, induced by the flashing
black and white screens.  Not a healthy combination with that strong Seattle
coffee.  As for the story, well, it's lacking something.  With all these
films about school kid violence and prostitution etc., it still seems odd
that so few of them have anything to say about it.  The reviews in Seattle
had trouble putting their fingers on it as well, the P.I. talking about the
film's powerful "intimacy" (I felt the opposite), The Stranger saying they
got bored and walked out half way through, and the Seattle Weekly:
"...manga-influenced Japanese cinema often fuses the bloody and the
beautiful. Considered in that hybrid sense, Lily finally turns emotional
violence into exquisite harmony."  A-ha, I guess "manga" did turn up.  I
admit I probably like it most out of Iwai's films, and the photography,
music and editing are very lovely, but I was left hanging by the film's lack
of any usable context to address the kids' turmoil.  All we have are a few
brief mentions of trouble in the home (dare I contrast this with Battle
Royale or Gaichu, which hit us over the head with traumatic scenes of family
life).  And even with the violence, the beautifully lit school ceremonies,
kendo afternoons and chorus contest practices seem all too idyllic.

Question:  at the point when the kids go to Okinawa and the male tour guide
starts talking to them, I heard some muffled laughter from Japanese viewers
in the audience.  Did I miss something?  I know that in Swallowtail for
example Iwai had Japanese actors "playing" Chinese and reading lines that
(according to my Chinese-literate friends) sounded phony as heck, but in
this case was the man not speaking real Okinawan, or do some people simply
find the way Okinawans speak funny-sounding?  (I don't think they were
laughing about Ichikawa Miwako.)  I haven't quite figured out what Iwai was
trying to do, using Okinawa in the film...

Michael Arnold