Synopsis
Chiwawa is a popular girl. One day, her dismembered body is found in Tokyo Bay. Chiwawa's friends gather to remember her, but they realize they do not know anything about her background or even her real name.
Chiwawa
Cast
Mugi Kadowaki Ryo Narita Kanichiro Sato Tina Tamashiro Shiori Yoshida Nijiro Murakami Kotone Furukawa Bambi Naka Taiko Katono Songha Chiaki Kuriyama Tadanobu Asano Yushin Shinohara Matsumoto Kiyo Honoka Matsumoto Airi Matsuyama Hajime Okayama Nobue Iketani Yukio Tsukamoto Ayana Sogawa Fighter Matsumoto Tomomitsu Adachi Seigo Nishihara Toshiya Nakamatsu Yuko Miyamoto Miyu Kinoshita Kaoru Sugiyama Kayoko Yoshikawa Manon Poudat
Director
Producers
Writer
Original Writer
Cinematography
Executive Producer
Sound
Studio
Country
Language
Alternative Titles
チワワちゃん：2019, Chiwawa-chan, 吉娃娃, 吉娃娃羅曼死, 치와와
Releases by Date
Theatrical
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Japan
Releases by Country
Japan
18 Jan 2019
- Theatrical
Popular reviews
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Visually appealing and the actors' performances are really great. But it's odd how I failed to connect with Chiwawa even though the whole film, Chiwawa is all talked about. One thing I loved about this is it perfectly captured young adults' happy and ecstatic moments that get to be one of the highlights and core memory of their entire life.
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Very good and very sad, just thinking that there are thousands of cases like Chiwawa's every day makes me want to cry. On the other hand, I loved the scenery and some passages, it shows that there is a lot of work behind this film and I highly recommend it.
Final Score : 80% 🍎 -
#48 - Ken Ninomiya from Japanuary Challenge 2024
Progress: 45/35
"I know nothing."
"I think only you are different from others."
"Thinking back, that actually was a suicide attack on our youth."
"In the end, it's just you who is hurt and lonely."
"You ask about Chiwawa like this everywhere."
"Chiwawa-chan" aka "Chiwawa" (and yes, the dog... but also no, a girl lmao) was a "different", striking and yet unsubstantial movie from Ken Ninomiya, IMO.
Just to clear things up... there's about zero mystery about Chiwawa's death. However, the movie is very much about who Chiwawa was (though, probably not in the expected way). I chose this movie both because the synopsis AND several of the director's movie felt intriguing.…
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Not the Girl you thought you knew
• Japanuary 2022 #15 🇯🇵
In den ersten 40 Minuten fühlt sich Chiwawa an wie die japanische Antwort auf Harmony Korines Spring Breakers. Hemmungslose Exzesse in Bunten Neonfarben, jede Menge gestohlene Kohle und Party Montagen mit leicht bekleideten Mädels. In schnellem Tempo entsteht ein regelrechter Rausch der danach aber allzu schnell etwas in Stocken gerät.
Chiwawa bleibt zwar über die gesamte Laufzeit ein ästhetischer Traum, das Tempo der Story schwankt jedoch stark und fühlt sich nicht konsistent an. Der großsteil der Geschichte wird in Rückblenden und Erinnerungen erzählt, Erinnerungen an Chiwawa. Das Mädchen das Ruhm erlangte nur um dann einen mysteriösen Tod zu sterben. Bei der Recherche rund um ihren Tod muss Miki…
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Ken Ninomiya delivers another masterful neon-soaked soundscape with all the visual trademarks that he established in his extracorporeal The Limit of Sleeping Beauty and a couple of very interesting new additions: like that amazing "sex routine" sequence, the ideal French fairy tale-like romance scene with Tadanobu Asano or the "Chiwawa's favourite song" musical number moment. He never ceases to amaze me with his experimentation and all his fresh eye-candy visual ideas!
This film takes clear influences from Korine's Spring Breakers not only in the party sequences, but also in the feeling of liberated youth escaping from the routine and the status quo. The first half of Iwai's All About Lily Chou-Chou also came to my mind while watching Chiwawa, especially…
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Pulsating through with heart and a young life well loved; the disorienting energy of Spring Breakers, the burning tragedy of Fire Walk With Me, but shining with a glittering maximalist pop hedonism that always captures the sheer joy of living for love. I know Chiwawa, I love Chiwawa, I miss Chiwawa. A moving tribute to memory, to love, to friends, to those moments. Ninomiya has proven himself a worthwhile student of the likes of Iwai and Anno (and Korine), but with a youthful hunger and vigour for capturing the pop zeitgeist, the hedonistic death drive but never not shot through the prism of love. This is what film was made for.
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really amazing as a pure audio+visual experience. watch this one on your TV unless you have a good computer monitor. wasn't totally into some of the musical choices but they fit the mood so who cares. the in between shit felt human & the way people interact. i loved that. it's what keeps me coming back to japanese cinema above all else.
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(C)
if im about to have a biography movie, i want it to be like this 🤣
surprisingly, i enjoy Chiwawa a lot! tangan si directornya ajaib sekali memainkan setiap shotnya, terasa khas, mirip quick sequencenya Mamoru Hosoda gitu, cuma ini lebih wild. lagunya enak2, dominansi warna neonnya juga stand out banget, se stand out Chiwawa alias Chiwaki-san dalam circlenya. Chiwawa, secara normal kehidupannya jauh lebih misterius dari yang teman2nya kira. sejauh apapun Miki berusaha menyatukan puzzle kisahnya Chiwawa, tapi tetap belum komplit rasanya. Friendship, just like any other relationship, is complicated. -
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Japanese hedonist youth not going very far but very fast. Shot in a very aggressive style and with pretty good young cast. A little on the moralistic side and the back half is predictable weaker than the setup. The main limitation I suspect is that the mid 90s manga it is based one deals with the burst of Japanese economy and replacing it with “age of social media” isn’t quite as effective and filmmaker’s think. Still, there’s something affecting in how the on the moment rush and the narrative around fading memory operates.
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It's hard to love this film. It has some redeeming parts (the "investigation" section offers interesting insight), but it tries so hard to be cool, edgy, sexually provocative.... ultimately empty. Another reviewer said something like: "Alright dude, we get it, we've also seen Spring Breakers". I agree. Just another cheap excuse to show skin and crazy horny restless teens. I'll just open a Vice Magazine circa 2007, Thanks.