"All About Lily Chou Chou" Panorama (HK) - Region 0 - NTSC vs. Norman's Nose (JP) - Region 2 - NTSC vs. Optimum (UK) - Region 2

(aka "All About Lily Chou Chou" or "Riri Shushu no subete" or "Lily Chou-Chou no subete")

directed by Shunji Iwai
Japan 2001

"What a trip! Style is typical Iwai, but the story is nothing like his previous works. Some scenes are quite hard to watch, something I didn't expect. Very dark and sad film start to finish. Extremely powerful and highly stylized images and the music is just amazing. What impressed me the most is how the film appears to be cut with almost mathematical efficiency, which is quite impressive for a film that runs almost two and a half hour. There's no filler anywhere, every shot has meaning is important to the story. Scenes begin and end abruptly, not wasting time on form. "

Jeroen

Poster ?

Theatrical Release: 6 October 2001

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DVD Comparison:

Panorama (HK) - Region 0 - NTSC vs. Norman's Nose (JP) - Region 2 - NTSC vs. Optimum (UK) - Region 2 - PAL

Big thanks to Geert Jan Alsem and Jeroen for all the Screen Caps!

(Panorama (HK) - Region 0 - NTSC - LEFT vs. Norman's Nose (JP) - Region 2 - NTSC - MIDDLE vs. Optimum (UK) - Region 2 - PAL - RIGHT)

DVD Box Covers
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Distribution	Panorama Region 0 - NTSC	Norman's Nose Region 2 - NTSC	Optimum Region 2 - PAL
Runtime	2:20:09 (4% PAL speedup)	2:26:05	2:26:05
Video	1.78:1 Original Aspect Ratio 16X9 enhanced Average Bitrate: 6.95 mb/s NTSC 720x480 29.97 f/s	1.78:1 Original Aspect Ratio 16X9 enhanced Average Bitrate: 7.17 mb/s NTSC 720x480 29.97 f/s	1.78:1 Original Aspect Ratio Average Bitrate: 6.49 mb/s PAL 720x576 25.00 f/s
	NOTE: The Vertical axis represents the bits transferred per second. The Horizontal is the time in minutes.
Bitrate: Panorama (HK)
Bitrate: Norman's Nose (JP)
Bitrate: Optimum (UK)
Audio	Japanese Dolby Digital 5.1, Dolby Digital 2.0 surround	Japanese Dolby Digital 5.1, Dolby Digital 2.0 surround	Japanese Dolby Digital 2.0 surround
Subtitles	English, Chinese, None	Japanese, None NO ENGLISH!	English (non-removable)
Features	Release Information: Studio: Panorama Aspect Ratio: Widescreen anamorphic - 1.78:1 Edition Details: none DVD Release Date: March 17th, 2003 Chapters 12	Release Information: Studio: Norman's Nose Aspect Ratio: Widescreen anamorphic - 1.78:1 Edition Details: • I believe the 2 disc version is out of print, so no extra features on the single disc. DVD Release Date: unknown Chapters 28	Release Information: Studio: Optimum Aspect Ratio: Widescreen letterboxed - 1.78:1 Edition Details: • Theatrical trailer DVD Release Date: July 28th, 2003 Chapters 16

Comments

If you don't need English subtitles, the R2 JP has by far the best picture quality.

The R2 UK is non-anamorphic and has burned in subtitles, which are not 16X9 friendly.

Still I prefer the UK edition to the video quality of the R0 HK. This beautiful movie shouldn't be seen with such dark and washed out colors as are in the Panorama. The image is also less sharp than the Optimum and a bit shaky. Not only that, but somehow this NTSC DVD has a 4% speedup. I guess the master they used was PAL. They did time stretch the audio though, so the pitch is still correct.

The translation on both English subtitled releases is the same.

- Geert Jan Alsem

DVD Menus

(Panorama (HK) - Region 0 - NTSC - LEFT vs. Norman's Nose (JP) - Region 2 - NTSC - MIDDLE vs. Optimum (UK) - Region 2 - PAL - RIGHT)