Helter Skelter is more of a dark and edgier story of human desire for beauty. Be it for self-satisfaction, be it for satisfying others. Or both.
Lilico is the epitome of that desire. She cut and stitched herself together and filed the rough edges that didn't fit to put piece by piece together. She is the image of that desire incarnate, a perfect picture. If you pay attention to details you will see how deliberate her image throughout the whole movie is. She is so vain that even at her lowest she wears a dress and high heels. God knows, she definitely doesn't even have "casual" clothes that do not come from a fashion magazine and I'm sure she doesn't own a pair of more confortable shoes, like her assistant. You can see her throughout the movie staring at herself in the mirror (hence the reference "mirror, mirror on the wall") and mostly she does it barely dressed and you know why, because she is satisfied with her beauty, it is supposed to be a fake beauty created by a surgeon, but she wears it as if it was real, she loves to see herself almost naked, because this way most of it shows. Yes, it all describes superficial image.
Which still leaves me a bit in awe that this movie could see so much into future. Yes, plastic surgery was there for a long time, but it never was such a common place. maybe it was for the western world, but only these years I've seen girls copying IG "models", trying to be alike, dress alike and also have a face alike. Never have I met so many people just shopping and I see a woman with lip fillers for example. It was such a rare occurance for a place like ours, but it's not anymore.
But beauty isn't everything here, Lilico always wants more. She has this almost morbid desire to be loved and admired, although she acts like a bit*h in real life, she wants to be loved and be the center of attention.
I see several paths evolving:
- For her goal she can sacrifice.. anything.. even herself. So you can say that there's too much *ex in the movie, I can say that argument is quite fair, because there is indeed enough of it. You can say it serve several purposes. For example she sleeps with producer not for love, but for more roles. "Unspoken rules" of the industry. Her boyfriend is like fake love of two plastic dolls, although they're perfect. Then is her assistant who is no less crazier than her to me, even if she looks meek and acts like a soft persimmon. But again, morbid desire for love and also she acts like her assistant should stay and be the puppet in her small world, because by this time she started losing her shi. This also gives her a bit of a cheap feeling, because this is her most prized body she stares at so much, yet she shares it left and right without cherishing herself. But it also has the feeling of her past that she knows no other ways to tie people to herself.
- She wants to last forever, although it is impossible. There is a theme of being on the peek, as if you're a legend that will always stay in hearts, but also being dispensable and nothing more than a party popper that is thrown out after use. So Lilico and Kozue are the opposites of each other. Kozue came later, was younger and in demand, so Lilico slowly became a background character and was on the verge to be forgotten. I loved the simple demonstration of it all through showing Kozue being photographed in same studio with the same background, also attending same TV show, doing the same commercial. But Kozue unlike Lilico understands the truth of this industry, but Lilico can't come to terms that she's no longer there. Everything came to nothing and she was replaced.
We're talking mainly Lilico here because the idea and the message of the movie are portrayed through her.
To me Lilico is like that brainwashed girl that beauty is everything, for it you should be ready to sacrifice, even if it means to lay under the knife, even if it means you shoud sleap around when you're not sure if it's a right thing to proceed. Like look at her relationship with her boss, she calls her Mama, but you can tell that she trusted too much, they used shady clinic that requires you for often visits, even her earnings who knows where they're going. Her own condition, physical and mental, lead her to abuse substances. Her life became a mess before her last call. And at the last moment she did it her own way, like she told her boyfriend, she held her life in her own hands and did it to become what she always aspired to be - a legend.

The movie is shot nicely, it looks like a colorful kaleidoscope of Lilico's life, moving so fast that there is no moment for stopping. The dangerous ticking of the clock that time is running and it's something Lilico is most afraid of. It's also like flipping through a fashion magazine. Colorful and distant life. But who knows that it's just a fake dream.
I call dialogues very.. Japanese, because they don't talk like common people, it always feels theatrical almost (mainly thanks to investigator). The only ones who were underpaid were probably extras, the girls who were shot for "girl talk", those were so fake and plastic, but if you want to give it meaning it can have it.
I don't think there are many movies like this? They may be, but I haven't seen them yet. I say it because it's a darker version fo where beauty may come.