Posted By: Jennifer Murawski
Posted On: January 19, 2012
This film is a very bleak yet realistic look at the lives of Japanese teenagers who suffer from bullying and isolation and find escape through the online forums devoted to their favorite celebrity, a Bjork-like singer named Lily Chou-Chou. The subjects of this film may appeal to teenagers, but it is unfortunately not a film that most teachers should consider using in the class room as it addresses a number of issues connected to the bullying, such as forced prostitution of a female classmate involved in 'sexting' who is blackmailed into dating older men for the financial benefit of some of her classmates, a group of thugs who use the money she "earns" and that they steal from elderly people to take an expensive vacation. This film shows a different side of Japanese schools and adolescent culture and it is very beautifully filmed and presented (often as a series of posts on the message boards the bullied students frequent), but teachers should not consider it for most classroom uses.