All About Lily Chou-Chou

A love for music. A passion for music. An obsession for music. However you want to describe it, the truth is that there are tons of ways for people to represent how strongly they feel about the music they listen to. For some it's simple: When the album of your favourite band drops, be there to pick up the latest release. But others are more diligent, dare I say, obsessive with their music tastes. Sometimes this obsession is relished, dare I say, a compliment; it all depends on the listener.

The truth is, whether a band is the most mainstream band in the nation, or the most independent artist you can find, you'll probably also see some fans tucked in tow, some fans more infatuated than others. And in our day and age, with the viral internet world, it's incredibly easy to express your passion for almost any band on Earth.

In my experience, Japanese bands are the best at gathering a hardcore fanbase, to the point of being wildly mad for the band. While many bands can garner a huge following with graceful ease, I simply haven't ever seen anyone top what some J-rock and J-Pop bands have done. The Pillows has transcended all sorts of barriers: international boundaries, language barriers, and even genre barriers, as their music was prominently featured in the Japanese anime FLCL. Quruli has amassed a wildly extensive fanbase with their perky J-pop, while An Cafe seems to have listeners in every nook and cranny of every continent. Don't even get me started on Dir en grey, the infamous J-rock meets visual kei meets metal band that has quickly began seeping into mainstream American alt-rock. The devotion of these bands fans is incomparable.

Music and the obsession that can pervade it. The idea can almost seem ethereal at times. Neigh, at times, music can seem to have an ether flowing through it. There are a few who are graced by this mysterious ether, but they're the artists who shine forth stronger and brighter than any star in the sky. They transcend the barriers of the world with their own interpretations of the Ether, and their ability to change the world around them without batting an eyelash is what makes their Ether so strong - what makes these artists so powerfully prudent, and so unfathomable (dare I say) utopian. There is one musical artist who's Ether never needs to be judged (besides Debussy, of course). Her name is Lily Chou-Chou.

Let's talk all about Lily Chou-Chou. That's [ree-ree shu-shu] for us off the Islands of the Rising Sun. Lily Chou-Chou is in touch with the Ether. She flows with the Ether. She welcomes you to the Ether. She welcomes you with open arms. Her music is her expression of the Ether, and all us simple peasantfolk need to do is to kokyuu [breathe], and embrace the Ether with our own soul/love/ideals/passions. Lily Chou-Chou is one of the most inspirational, facinating artists to ever create music. Did I also mention she's fictional?

The movie is titled, リリイ・シュシュのすべて [All About Lily Chou-Chou], and was created and directed by Shunji Iwai. All About Lily Chou-Chou was conceived as an online novel through a Japanese BBS titled Lilyholic; some of the fictional characters from the story posted to the BBS; thus, readers of the internet novel were free to post alongside the fictional characters, integrating themselves into the novel as their own web-based characters - becoming a physical presence within the story of Lily Chou-Chou, the mysterious, reclusive, subtle, beautiful Japanese songstress her was entwined with the omnipresent, indescribable force known as the Ether.

From this online novel came All About Lily Chou-Chou, Shunji Iwai's eerie, slightly demented, yet wholly enlightening and masterfully created feature film. Telling the story of several obsessive Lily Chou-Chou, stuck in their country town surrounded by green rice fields in all directions, All About Lily Chou-Chou is truly a one of a kind film. The kids of the story are forced to grow up in reckless abandon, all the while Lily Chou-Chou is planning a huge concert at a local venue. The movie stands a triumphant masterpiece of Iwai's work as a filmmaker and writer.

All About Lily Chou-Chou is easily one of the best films of the last decade, and is definitely something you don't want to miss. How does Voilà!, a simple music blog, tie this in? Easily: All About Lily Chou-Chou offers a very honest expression of the oddity that is music in the modern age, albeit the strange story that accompanies it. It goes into everything from live shows to internet obsession (Lilyphilia, if you will); a diligently crafted story about love and loss - about growing up and learning of life's true Ether - it's true oddity and depravity - all surrounded by beautiful sounds of the fictional Lily Chou-Chou.

It's abstract, yeah, but it's a movie for true music lovers. The movie tops out over two hours, and is entirely in Japanese. It's also contains some extremely intense imagery, and is definitely not for the lighthearted. But if you're the type to stomach something intense, powerful, and magnificent all wrapped together, All About Lily Chou-Chou is right up your alley. You can find yourself a copy of All About Lily Chou-Chou on Amazon.com, at your leisure, or you can hear the wonderful sounds of Lily Chou-Chou herself (vocaled by the singer Salyu) right here, on her Myspace. Welcome to the Ether.