The things you hold dear, friends, family, lovers, hurt you the most. You live with that

I saw this last night with a thought of not expecting anything since I read the synopsis with a lightweight but as I dived into the film & to the story, everything seems went black. I guess this film isn't for everybody, the themes at least. The film talks about abuse, depression, prostitution, and gang-related vices but all of these things were surrounded by these kids.

The focused of the film is about this boy and his love for this ethereal singer called Lily Chou Chou, where he finds a gateway out from his dark realities. The film also has this chat like messages in sequences of the story though sometimes it bothers me because I want to see the whole film without too much flickering of chat messages but somehow it is part of the film. You need to read those chat messages in order for you to know who's who in that chat board that relates to the characters.

While this boy who likes his ethereal singer lily chou chou, the film brings you into his backstory of how he meet the people around him that causes him to do bad things. The timeline is not organized, it will throw you back into some details of the timeline then it will back to the present so it's a little confusing too.

The used of music in this film as well as the camera angles and shots that were will bring you into the 90s culture. The overexposure of light in the night, the used of a video camera as part of the backstory.

There are particular scenes you can tell that this film is owned and made by Shunji Iwai. The uses of objects and spaces as the character become part of it.

I have read in the review that this reminds them of A Brighter Summer Day and when I read that I also thought of that ending too, yeah it reminded me of that, the involvement of gang among kids and that final act. The film itself feels like a lengthy music video that is gloomy and eerie. The characters involvement to each other and their downfall were somehow controversial and intriguing to me. There are some parts that I don't get that I did read some long reviews for me to understand this film.

What I noticed is that during the chat messages, the kids in this film didn't know who's who. They tend to act as they are with each other or to other people without conveying their true feelings about what's happening in their life but through lily chou chou, her music and through that chat board, they somehow find solace and connected as they share their deepest and dark thoughts. Which this proves how is the purpose of the internet and making online friends because of having the same interest.

As I said, this film is not for everybody. It maybe triggers warning for others but for some, this film is their favorite because it speaks to them.