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Love & Pop Director: Hideaki Anno Number of Items: 1 Format: Color, Closed-captioned Audience Rating: Unrated Running Time: 110 minutes Studio: Kino International Product Group: DVD Release Date: 2004-07-06 Buy from Amazon

Customer Reviews: Total numer of reviews: 3 Average rating: 4.5 "Fascinating ground-level view of Japan..." For the record, I thought 'Lost in Translation' was an extremely OK film, in every way tasteful, thoughtful and, hey, there's Bill Murray and panoramic views of Tokyo and so forth and ... well, like a lot of people, I couldn't quite explain what it was about Sofia Coppola's film that bothered me, and I ended up taking a swing at poor old Paul Thomas Anderson. I am not an Asian film specialist, nor an Otaku, nor deeply enamored with Ozu or Mizoguchi, so my first impressions of 'Love and Pop' are simply those of a general film afficianado (read: not a snob) who was baited with the promise of 'maximum eye candy' (DVDBeaver.com) and the opportunity to make a blind purchase during a release schedule slow patch. Anyways, imagine if you will, the nooks and crannies of everyday urban Japan, downright attractive Japanese schoolgirls (Scarlett who?), and the there-you-are quality of video windowboxed with immersive, eavesdropping elan and, voila, the unlikely (single disc) DVD of the year so far. As with LIT, the storyline is merely a tether for 'emotional scenery' and the usual Zeitgeist-y rambling of artier fare. In L&P, however, the rambling is easier to appreciate as we aren't constantly reminded that feelings of alienation are kinda like 'being a white person in Tokyo'. The cultural imposition of watching Japanese catering to the whims and expectations of Westerners--or self-consciously going against type--is supremely distracting. No amount of beautiful cinematography can compensate for this, or for the apprehension of watching people of another culture being objectified. "the first live action film by Anno Hideaki, god of anime" Love and Pop (1998) is the first live action film by the anime genius Hideaki Anno. Anno is best known as the director and writer of Neon Genesis Evangelion, regarded by many as the greatest and most ambitious anime series of all time. After Evangelion, Anno directed Kare Kano and some short anime series, but decided to leave the world of anime to explore live action filmmaking. Love and Pop was shot on a minimal budget using a video camera, but Anno uses this limitation as a source of inspiration, experimenting constantly with camera angles that would be impossible with large, unwieldy film cameras. Anno's camera goes under tables, inside sweaters, inside cups, on toy trains, under, over, and around the characters. it's actually a bit dizzying, at times. film buffs will love the technique, but other viewers may find it annoying or tiresome. the film tells the story of teenage japanese girls who engage in "enjo kosai," or compensated dating. apparently, this is a phenomenom in japan where older businessmen pay teen girls to simply hang out with them for a while, and sometimes it involves prostitution. the story is based on a novel by Ryu Murakami called Topaz II. The first Topaz book was made into the film Tokyo Decadence by Murakami himself. The Topaz books portray two aspects of Japan's sexual underbelly, so whereas Tokyo Decadence is all skyscrapers and wealth, Love & Pop is more street-level. Is Love & Pop great? It is definitely worth seeing. The cover of this American DVD release reads, "Schoolgirls by day... Call girls by night..." but this is misleading and inappropriate, since this is a serious film, not some smut! It is worth noting that Love and Pop inspired one of Japan's best filmmakers, Shunji Iwai, to experiment with digital video himself in All About Lily Chou-Chou. "Mr. F*Ball likes you." I purchased _Love & Pop_ Not because it was directed by Anno Hideaki, Neon Genesis Evangelion, but because it is based on a novel written by one of my favorite Japanese novelists Murakami Ryu, _Almost Transparent Blue_ and _Coin Locker Babies_. I had no expectations for the film, but I went in hoping that it would be an enjoyable experience. It was. Definately not one of the greatest films that I have seen, but it was decent and entertaining. The movie stars 11th grader Hiromi Yoshii, Asumi Miwa, who is a thin, kind of tall pretty girl with short hair. She gets along with her father, who loves his model trains, and her mother, who loves her swimming, and her older sister. She lives in a nice home and has a good group of friends: Chisa, who want to be a dancer; Nao, a computer and manga nerd; and Chieko, who is the most developed physically of the three girls. However, there seems to be one thing missing from Hiromi's life, and that is a sufficient cash flow. Hiromi and her friends first make money by accepting offers of older men who invite them out to eat. these men are relatively harmless, they just want to talk and keep company with pretty girls. It is still disturbing though men in their 30s 40s or 50s paying 15 or 16 year old girls to keep them company, Hiromi makes a little money doing this, but it is not until she desires to purchase a topaz ring that she takes the next step. Hiromi and her friends eventually join a "compensated dating" service which links men to teenaged girls in order to make more money. These services are also used by males and females of the same age trying to find dates. The people Hiromi meet are very creepy. A construction worker who has not had a conversation with a female in 5 years asks Hiromi to accompany him to the market and a video store in order to show people that he does have a girlfriend. In the store he forces Hiromi to do something purely nasty. The next man she meets, played by Asano Tadanobu, is truly frightening. This is a decent film shot on a shoe string budget. There are quite a few camera angles that would have been impossible with a bigger camera, but it also gives the film a home video look. Some of the views are just plain odd. Under the sweater, Hiromi washing her face, etc. The cameras also come dangerously close to looking up the young girls' skirts quite often, which I find a bit discomforting. Not because I am a prude, but because of the age of the girls. Of course, being what this film portrays, maybe I am being a bit stuffy. A decent film that shows that the Japanese sex industry begins with people at a very young age.