We’re thrilled to announce the resto premiere of Hideaki Anno’s LOVE & POP! A diaristic shot-on-video experiment, Anno's day-in-the-life snapshot captures the lives of teenage schoolgirls roving the streets of 90s bubble burst Tokyo.
— Japan Society Film (@js_film_nyc) January 16, 2025
U.S. premiere on 2/1: https://t.co/EP71LomZk2 pic.twitter.com/U80i0ksVaE
Hideaki Anno, best known for creating Evangelion and randomly voicing people in Ghibli movies, first feature, Love & Pop, is having its U.S. Premiere of the 2K Restoration. This is thanks to the Japan Society up in NYC. Which is really weird, because if you've seen it, you might never want him be allowed to direct a film again.
Set around a young high school girl and the really messed up concept of enjo kosai (compensated dating) we follow her on a pretty gross adventure on the stupidest of quests to earn money to get "a really cool ring."
Even worse than the subject matter is Anno's experimental art house look to the movie. Camera shots are everywhere from every angle, all the time. To say it's annoying is an understatement. It's a cocktail for a person to vomit as the subject matter and constant angle changes are like going on a roller coaster. A roller coaster of misspent Japanese youth.
I can't possibly figure how a 2K version was made as I believe it was shot digitally in the 90's. So, some upscaling nonsense, who knows.
This also means an eventual home video version will come out, but I wouldn't recommend it for a date night, unless you're pretty messed up.
