Shunji Iwai	...	(Director)
Shunji Iwai	...	(Writer)
Hayato Ichihara	...	Yûichi Hasumi
Shûgo Oshinari	...	Shusuke Hoshino
Ayumi Ito	...	Yôko Kuno
Takao Osawa	...	Tabito Takao
Miwako Ichikawa	...	Shimabukuro
Izumi Inamori	...	Izumi Hoshino
Yû Aoi	...	Shiori Tsuda
Kazusa Matsuda	...	Sumika Kanzaki
Ryo Katsuji	...	Terawaki Shioske
Takako Baba	...	School girl
Yuki Ito	...	Kamino
Tomohiro Kaku	...	Yuichi's friend
Hideyuki Kasahara	...	Kyota Shimizu
Yoji Tanaka	...	Teacher
Noboru Shinoda	...	Cinematographer
Yoshiharu Nakagami	...	Editor
Yôji Tanaka	...	Teacher

Summary: The pain and suffering of junior high is always good movie fodder, and in All About Lily Chou-Chou the topic gets an unfamiliar and moody airing. Director Shunji Iwai takes a discursive, sometimes baffling look into the life of a bullied kid whose misery is broken by his worship of a pop star, Lily Chou-Chou. Internet chat room exchanges punctuate the film's narrative, as Yuichi and his anonymous Lily-philes share their intoxication with the "Ether"--the mystery of life that Lily's voice somehow illuminates. The film's style (and length) offer little in the way of traditional movie-watching pleasure, and the mystifying storytelling will have some viewers giving up in exasperation. Still, the portrait of adolescent loneliness rings true, and the ferocity of school bullying is laid bare. On the latter subject, this film is a little like the kill-or-be-killed apocalypse of Battle Royale, without the fantasy overlay. --Robert Horton