Love & Pop
Encyclopedia
is director Hideaki Anno
's first live action film, an adaptation of Ryū Murakami
's novel, Topaz II. Released in 1998, it somewhat follows the film Tokyo Decadence
, an adaptation of Topaz I filmed by Murakami himself. Love & Pop was filmed almost entirely on hand-held digital camera
s, and contains some very unusual camera work, including many different mounted camera positions, such as on a model train riding on tracks. The film also flips from widescreen
to 4:3
aspect, distorts (with effects such as a fisheye lens
), confuses, and makes use of overlays stacked in layers to convey the character's emotions.
An official English
DVD
was released in 2004 by Kino on Video.
high school
girls who engage in enjo kōsai
, or compensated dating. This is a practice in Japan
where older businessmen pay teenage girls more commonly to simply spend time with them, or rarely for prostitution
. The movie is also a coming-of-age story. The main character, Hiromi, does not have the direction in life that her friends already have. Hiromi's friends were going to buy Hiromi a ring, but Hiromi refuses to take all the money because she does not want her friends to be jealous. Hiromi goes on dates by herself to get money for the ring. Soon, she gets in over her head. Hiromi falls too far into the world of enjo-kosai as she tries to hold onto a "friends forever" vision of the past.
Hideaki Anno
is a Japanese animation and film director. Anno is best known for his work on the popular anime series Neon Genesis Evangelion. His style has come to be defined by the touches of postmodernism that he injects into his work, as well as the thorough portrayal of characters' thoughts and emotions,...
's first live action film, an adaptation of Ryū Murakami
Ryu Murakami
is a Japanese novelist and filmmaker. He is colloquially referred to as the "Maradona of Japanese literature".-Biography:Born as Ryūnosuke Murakami in Sasebo, Nagasaki on February 19, 1952...
's novel, Topaz II. Released in 1998, it somewhat follows the film Tokyo Decadence
Tokyo Decadence
is a 1992 Japanese film. The film was directed by Ryu Murakami with music by Ryuichi Sakamoto. The film stars Miho Nikaido and is known by two other titles, Topaz, Sex Dreams of Topaz. It has been banned in Australia and South Korea...
, an adaptation of Topaz I filmed by Murakami himself. Love & Pop was filmed almost entirely on hand-held digital camera
Digital camera
A digital camera is a camera that takes video or still photographs, or both, digitally by recording images via an electronic image sensor. It is the main device used in the field of digital photography...
s, and contains some very unusual camera work, including many different mounted camera positions, such as on a model train riding on tracks. The film also flips from widescreen
Widescreen
Widescreen images are a variety of aspect ratios used in film, television and computer screens. In film, a widescreen film is any film image with a width-to-height aspect ratio greater than the standard 1.37:1 Academy aspect ratio provided by 35mm film....
to 4:3
Aspect ratio (image)
The aspect ratio of an image is the ratio of the width of the image to its height, expressed as two numbers separated by a colon. That is, for an x:y aspect ratio, no matter how big or small the image is, if the width is divided into x units of equal length and the height is measured using this...
aspect, distorts (with effects such as a fisheye lens
Fisheye lens
In photography, a fisheye lens is a wide-angle lens that takes in a broad, panoramic and hemispherical image. Originally developed for use in meteorology to study cloud formation and called "whole-sky lenses", fisheye lenses quickly became popular in general photography for their unique, distorted...
), confuses, and makes use of overlays stacked in layers to convey the character's emotions.
An official English
English language
English is a West Germanic language that arose in the Anglo-Saxon kingdoms of England and spread into what was to become south-east Scotland under the influence of the Anglian medieval kingdom of Northumbria...
DVD
DVD-Video
DVD-Video is a consumer video format used to store digital video on DVD discs, and is currently the dominant consumer video format in Asia, North America, Europe, and Australia. Discs using the DVD-Video specification require a DVD drive and a MPEG-2 decoder...
was released in 2004 by Kino on Video.
Story
The film follows four JapaneseJapanese people
The are an ethnic group originating in the Japanese archipelago and are the predominant ethnic group of Japan. Worldwide, approximately 130 million people are of Japanese descent; of these, approximately 127 million are residents of Japan. People of Japanese ancestry who live in other countries...
high school
High school
High school is a term used in parts of the English speaking world to describe institutions which provide all or part of secondary education. The term is often incorporated into the name of such institutions....
girls who engage in enjo kōsai
Enjo kosai
means "compensated dating" and is a practice which originated in Japan where older men give money and/or luxury gifts to attractive women for their companionship and, possibly, for sexual favors. The female participants range from primarily school-aged girls to housewives. A common misconception is...
, or compensated dating. This is a practice in Japan
Japan
Japan is an island nation in East Asia. Located in the Pacific Ocean, it lies to the east of the Sea of Japan, China, North Korea, South Korea and Russia, stretching from the Sea of Okhotsk in the north to the East China Sea and Taiwan in the south...
where older businessmen pay teenage girls more commonly to simply spend time with them, or rarely for prostitution
Prostitution
Prostitution is the act or practice of providing sexual services to another person in return for payment. The person who receives payment for sexual services is called a prostitute and the person who receives such services is known by a multitude of terms, including a "john". Prostitution is one of...
. The movie is also a coming-of-age story. The main character, Hiromi, does not have the direction in life that her friends already have. Hiromi's friends were going to buy Hiromi a ring, but Hiromi refuses to take all the money because she does not want her friends to be jealous. Hiromi goes on dates by herself to get money for the ring. Soon, she gets in over her head. Hiromi falls too far into the world of enjo-kosai as she tries to hold onto a "friends forever" vision of the past.
Personnel
- Director: Hideaki AnnoHideaki Annois a Japanese animation and film director. Anno is best known for his work on the popular anime series Neon Genesis Evangelion. His style has come to be defined by the touches of postmodernism that he injects into his work, as well as the thorough portrayal of characters' thoughts and emotions,...
- Original Story: Ryū MurakamiRyu Murakamiis a Japanese novelist and filmmaker. He is colloquially referred to as the "Maradona of Japanese literature".-Biography:Born as Ryūnosuke Murakami in Sasebo, Nagasaki on February 19, 1952...
- Script: Akio Satsukawa
Cast
- Hiromi Yoshii: Asumi Miwa
- Chisa Noda: KirariKirariFor the Japanese satellite, see OICETS is a Japanese singer and songwriter. Kirari wrote "Last Piece" for the end theme for the anime series Great Teacher Onizuka. Her cover of Martika's Toy Soldiers reached number 18 on the Oricon charts in May 2000....
- Nao Yokoi: Hirono Kudō
- Chieko Takahashi: Yukie NakamaYukie Nakamais a Japanese actress, singer and former idol. She was born in Okinawa, Japan, in a fisherman's family, the youngest of five siblings.At the start of her career she was a gravure idol and singer , and appeared in bit roles until her career breakthrough playing Sadako in "Ring 0: Birthday ."In 2000,...
- Mitsuru Hirata
- Mitsuru Fukikoshi
- Moro Morooka
- Tooru Tezuka
- Ikkei Watanabe
- Tadanobu AsanoTadanobu Asano, born is a Japanese actor. He is known for his roles as Dragon Eye Morrison in Electric Dragon 80.000 V, Kakihara in Ichi the Killer, Mamoru Arita in Bright Future, Hattori Genosuke in Zatoichi, Kenji in Last Life in the Universe, Aman in Survive Style 5+, Ayano in The Taste of Tea, and Temudjin...
- Kotono MitsuishiKotono Mitsuishiis a prolific Japanese voice actor from Tokyo. As a young girl, Mitsuishi lived in Nagareyama, Chiba. Mitsuishi graduated from high school in 1986, and entered the Katsuta Voice Actor's Academy. While attending the academy, she began working part time as an elevator girl in the Sunshine 60 building...
- Akira IshidaAkira IshidaAkira Ishida is a prolific male seiyū born in Nisshin, Aichi, Japan.He was a part of Mausu Promotion from 1988 until March 2009...
- Verbal Dialing Information Voice: Megumi HayashibaraMegumi Hayashibarais a Japanese voice actress, singer, radio personality, and lyricist from Tokyo. She is currently affiliated with Aksent. Her nicknames include: Megu-san, Megu-nee, Bara-san, Kakka, and Daijin...
- Nana Okata
- Leo Morimoto
DVD Variations
An SR-Ban version was released in Japan on the 24 July 2003. Apparently, it is the director's cut, has 2 minutes of extra footage and has been transferred directly from the original tape, whilst the American and Japanese dvd's have been transferred appears to come from a different source. The American version appears to be the original interlaced version, whilst the Japanese, non-director's cut, appears to have been de-interlaced and given the impression of a psuedo progressive style. Both non-director's cut have more subdued colours, whilst the director's cut is more vivid and the motion is fluid.Reception
iSugoi.com gave the film an overall positive review, and commented that "Such issues as self value, respect and friendship are brought up numerous times within the film, and it’s through these attributes that the film delivers a hauntingly poignant statement concerning a societal problem that exists within modern day Japan. It’s a problem that can’t easily be fixed, but films like Love & Pop courageously attempt to address it and more importantly provide an outlet in which to discuss it."External links
- Love & Pop at Kino Video
- Trailer for Love & Pop
- http://replay.waybackmachine.org/200011201945/http://www.gainax.co.jp/special/pop/intro-e.html
- http://replay.waybackmachine.org/200012041126/http://www.gainax.co.jp/special/pop/cast-e.html