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The films of Shunji Iwai present a view of the world in an almost dreamlike manner. That said, no matter how stylized his work can be, he’s never afraid to offer a raw portrait of reality. The youthful years of people’s lives are generally a time of happiness and growth, building memories that, years later, can be looked back on with a happy sense of nostalgia. Yet, the harsh truth is that’s heartbreakingly not always the case, and in a country like Japan, issues such as bullying remain a major problem. Combined with experimental filmmaking, Iwai would make a feature following Japanese youth lost in sorrow and partaking in misguided behavior. That harrowing film is “All About Lily Chou-Chou.”

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Throughout the 1990s in Japan, music was super popular, and there was a noticeable rise in juvenile delinquency,...

Stars: Kiyohiko Shibukawa, Maya Okano, Shugo Oshinari | Written and Directed by Eiji Uchida

When you decide to delve into Asian cinema, it is like a treasure trove sometimes. Sure, there are many genres such as horror that dominate sometimes, but there are also many more waiting to be discovered. One such treasure is Lowlife Love aka Gesu no ai, which is a must for fans of the filmmaking process.

Tetsuo (Kiyohiko Shibukawa) is a lowlife film director living off the fame of his one hit indie movie he made years ago. Now thirty-nine he refuses to move from the indie scene as it would go against his ‘artistic integrity’. Abusing his actors and fast losing their trust, it is not until Minami (Maya Okano) arrives at his film school that his true love of film is reignited. When he loses Minami to the corrupt world of filmmaking though, his world begins to unravel.