Love & Pop

Tokyo schoolgirl Hiromi and her friends spend the summer of 1997 going on dates with older men for money. Armed only with a cellphone, she sets out to date her way to ¥128,000 in order to purchase an expensive topaz ring before the mall closes for the day. Based on the novel by Ryū Murakami, Love & Pop is the live-action feature debut from Hideaki Anno, creator of one of the most celebrated anime series of all time, Neon Genesis Evangelion. The film is radical in its stylistic approach to teenage ennui, taking to the seedy streets of Shibuya with handheld digicams, distorted lenses, and a barrage of unconventional camera angles. Criminally underseen for years, Love & Pop remains a singular portrait of Japanese youth coming of age in the approach to the 21st century.