As for the story, of course it is totally extreme, vulgar and shocking, but it was acted out incredibly good, without making fun of any of the really serious subjects and without being laughable.
The characters were thoroughly thought about and there were no stereotypes. There were no "good" and "bad" characters, either.
Of course the acting was great. You must be a great actor to pull off extreme scenes like there were so many in this movie. It must have been really, really hard.
I would recommend everyone who's old enough (well as said before, it IS kind of extreme) to watch this. It is definitely worth it and a masterpiece.
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This movie is something I would never ever imagine myself watching and liking. Why? First of all, it lasts nearly 4 hours (3h57 to be exact) – why would anybody release such a long movie? "There’s no way that it will keep me interested through the whole thing, it’s just too much!" I thought something along those lines. Now I can tell you all: this movie is not boring even for one second, on the contrary: I was surprised it ended so soon and wanted more! And guess what? The original movie lasted 6 hours (sic!) but the producers forced the director to shorten it so the audience wouldn’t be scared off by its length.
Another thing why I shouldn’t like this movie: it’s plot is completely and utterly ridiculous. How sick has a person be to write a story about a young catholic boy who wants to please his father so much that he becomes a king of perverts? Who would believe that a story about sick ways of loving would ever become popular or awarded? And what about this returning motive of a hard-on; how many scenes of the main guy struggling with an erection can one movie contain?! Also, this thing that it’s based on true story – so there really is a guy who roams around Tokio and takes “panty shots” using kung fu techniques?... You may think this sounds a lot like American Pie or any other movie for horny teenagers - well, you’re partly right, but apart from perverted stuff, this film has so much more to offer.
The acting is simply brilliant. I watched this movie because of Mitsushima Hikari – I’ve seen her in Soredemo, Ikite Yuki where she played a weird, soft-hearted girl and was really convincing as such, so when I saw a poster of Love Exposure with her showing a “fuck off” gesture I was immediately intrigued. Can she really play somebody like Yoko who’s crude, vulgar and provoking? Hell yes! I couldn’t believe she’s the same girl who played in Soredemo, she’s just a completely different person here, both in terms of character and looks. I am her die-hard fan now – she is for sure among the most talented Japanese young actresses.
As for a main male character in this drama I have a confession to make: I had no idea who Nishijima Takahiro was before today. I haven’t seen anything with him and his photo on MDL is not his best in my opinion – he looks too feminine for my taste, so I wasn’t too eager to see him in action. Well, another surprise: I simply love this guy! His smile melts my heart, every time he grins I want to hug him and never let go. He’s just too lovable for his own good, really! Plus he’s an amazing actor, he did a great job portraying Yu and that wasn’t easy, because this character was so exaggerated that if it would be any other actor I guess I would take this movie only as a disgusting comedy (eg. scenes with his countless hard-ons). Thanks to him I felt all kinds of emotions: from dying of laughter or shouting in frustration to holding back my tears; he made this strange king of perverts, Honda Yu, real. But I have one request to this guy: keep your hair black, you look so much better like that!
As for a rest of the cast, they were amazing too. Ando Sakura as a psychotic Koike was just terrifying, I felt sick whenever she was on screen – the things she does here are really disturbing sometimes (or nearly every time). Yu’s father, Yoko’s step mother and Yu’s friends – they all were strong points of this movie too; I especially loved this blond thug friend who was like a tag king or something, he was adorable.
As for a music I already downloaded main song from this movie on my mp3 – it’s really catchy and I swear I have already heard it somewhere before!
To sum this long review up, I really recommend you to watch this movie. Don’t be scared off by lots of weird perverted things that tend to go really overboard, they give this movie an air of originality and some of them are simply hilarious (kung-fu moves for panty-shooting are my favorite!). Also, watch making of Love Exposure on youtube, there are interviews with the movie’s director – this guy is really dedicated to his job, I have to watch other things made by him too!
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4 hours didn't feel like 4 hours at all. In fact, it made my 11 hours flight seem...so short. To summarize what Love Exposure is is difficult. But that's very Sion Sono-like anyway. He's an auter that way. I enjoyed Love Exposure because it was different, because it was refreshing. It's a combination of all these things that normally don't fit well together but Sono does just that -- very Sono-like again. You have religion in one area and then sexuality on the other. You have panty shots on one hand and blood on the other. You have sinning in one hand and confession on the other. They're not things that go hand in hand yet Sono makes a perfect combination out of them.
I don't know what Love Exposure wanted me to get out of it. But it doesn't matter. In fact, I think Sono doesn't even want to make you think too hard. You're not suppose to undergo some epiphany just because of it. It's just a mash-up of different things that keeps you entertained and also think but not to the point of overanalyzing -- much like Sono's other works anyway. Sono doesn't try to hard to insert things, he shows it to you.
The divisions of 4 chapters was cleverly done and balanced well enough. There are loads of characters but each of them are given their own screen time that it doesn't seem so lopsided. It's 4 hours alright, but I felt like everything mattered and needed to be there...no matter how bizarre and weird they seem.
Truly, it's a romantic comedy that isn't subtly one. Above all, I think it aims to reflect the whole parent vs. child conflict of how parents carve their children into their own ideals, ultimately abandoning who they truly are in the process. It's about bad parents raising "bad" kids. But mostly, it's about how love, above all, conquers. At the end of the day, you lose your memories, you fell out of the line...but love it could save you.
Great soundtrack, exciting, funny, amazing cast and acting and most of all entertaining without trying too hard. 4 hours? It'll pass by so fast you won't even notice it.
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FIRST AND FOREMOST: THIS IS A MOVIE FOR MATURE AUDIENCES ONLY. I'm sure you may have grasped that already, but I'm just reiterating the fact. It deals with mature themes such as extreme violence (not so much for the graphic nature, but more for the how disturbing it is.), sexuality (once again- not very graphic, but still a bit disturbing), the psychologically shaking nature of some parts of the movie, and other general things.
I shall go with the usual review format, but may have some extra points.
Story: A well deserved 10. The plot was extremely unique- I can honestly say I've never seen anything that compares in the slightest. It had a wide range of emotions and themes that I found slightly surprising (at least, to find them all in one movie) such as humour, (sometimes dark humour, but humour nonetheless) romance, (sort of? I don't know, for a movie with love in the title, I can't say it's overly romantic, but it does exist in an odd sort of way) religion, family, friendship, the uselessness and futility of life, yada yada yada. This movie is also really shocking and surreal. The movie starts off pretty messed up, gets more normal near the middle, and then everything goes freaking haywire near the end. And the ending- it was so good. For a while I was a bit weary, but I ended up loving it.
Acting/Cast: AN EASY 10. I honestly don't see any bad parts to the acting in this. There were some extremely difficult roles in this movie to pull off, and yet they did it. That would be enough for my 10. But the skill with which the pulled it off? It makes the value of the 10 so much higher. I could honestly believe that I was seeing real people while watching this, no matter how absurd the circumstances became. It was truly brilliant.
Music: While watching the movie, I actually stopped to think about the music several times- not something I usually do. Now, music wasn't a huge part to this movie- I think there may have been only about 2 songs played(?), I'm not really sure. But the music always fit the scene, and even added a little something extra to it. For me, that's all music has to do in a movie like this.
Rewatch Value: Now, I gave this movie a fairly low rewatch value. And yes, I have been ranting on about how wonderful this movie was. But let me explain- this was a wonderful movie, it really was. But honestly, it was like... 4 hours long. A good four hours, but still. Ain't nobody got time for that! It may be a nice thing to watch again when I get really, desperately bored, and a rewatch might help pull the chaos that makes up some parts of this movie together, but I can't see it happening any time soon.
NOTES: This movie was a bit of a surprise, in the sense that I honestly didn't know if I would like it for a long period of time. It took until the very end for me to decide that I did. Whether that's a good or bad thing, you can decide for yourself when/if you watch this. Just know that when you watch it, you really can't expect a movie like anything else you've ever seen. Is that a good thing or a bad thing? Once again, find out for yourself.
Enjoy! :)
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This has become one of my favorite movies.
It reminds me a lot of Quentin Tarantino films by the way it makes you feel gloominess and darkness right from the start but with just the right amount of comedy and lightness to not make it too heavy. The story invites you in to the life of psychologically damaged people and contains a fair amount of gore, violence, incest, romance, sex and PANTIES.
The part I love the most is that it handles very serious matters in a comedic way without making it seem like a joke. It actually makes it more horrifying. You get to see the characters fall apart little by little and this might lead to you feeling sympathy towards a psychopathic killer. This wouldn't have worked without these great actors though. I was starting to wonder if their minds got slightly more deranged after making this movie. For them to be able to pull through one sick thing after another, I am truly impressed.
I can't find anything about this movie that I dislike.
The story was incredibly well done. It was interesting throughout the whole film even though it was 4 hours long.
The actors were amazing. Even though the characters weren't lovable, I loved them anyway.
The scenes were beautiful. I'm not in to gore, but some scenes were just shot perfectly.
The music fit right in. It set the mood just right. it wasn't too heavy and not too light but I can't say it was comfortable either. I still felt the psychological chaos.
Lastly, the ending was better than I expected. In movies like these you never know how it is going to end. Especially when it's Japanese but in my opinion it ended just the right way.
Take time to watch this film. It was funny and twisted at the same time and it definitely left a print on me. It's a journey you wont forget easily.
P.s I am sorry for my messy review. I had so many things I wanted to write but It was hard to put it all together. Hope it was helpful anyway.
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Still worth watching.
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The music, escpecially the songs by Yura Yura Teikoku, added to the whole ambiance; quirky, messy and absolutly fantastic.
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Don't judge this "book" by it's "cover."
That's exactly what I did. I was very reluctant watching this because of the mixed reviews and simply because the cover photo turned me off. I'm glad I told myself to stop doubting it and to watch at least the first 30 minutes. 30 minutes turned into an hour, and hour to 2 hours, and so forth.I was moved down to the core significantly from the cult-like ominous groups that corrupted Yu's family. It has made me realize that even today groups like this exist. Personally, I grew up forced into Christian beliefs and had to put up a fight to state my own opinion against it since I'm even still under the age of 18.
The acting the actors portrayed could've carried this movie if the storyline wasn't good. These actors amazingly outdid themselves and I will DEFINITELY watch more productions in which the main cast has starred in.
It wasn't really until the ending that made me show emotion, though. when Yoko realized that all along she was in the wrong, and when Yu was in the psychiatric ward, she went to do what he tried to do for her.
This movie is so hard to explain emotionally, you REALLY have to watch it yourself to see what I mean by all this.
Worth the 4 hours.
10/10 from me.
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A japanese "Clockwork Orange"?
The movie is a little weird and i love out-of-the-box movies. The gang of the pantie’s "ninjas", the cult of the zero church (zero must symbolizes the number of synapses of the members), even the question of faith and lust, misandry, and so on…The almost 4 hours does not matter, the story can carry on with different layers…
STORY – lots of intertwined stories in one.
ACTING – I think it was the best of the movie. Wonderful!
MUSIC – not bad but will not remain in my mind except one or two.
REWATCH – some of the crazy and funny scenes yes!
OVERALL - I do not know what to expect because humans can be worse than people think, and reality is more creative than fiction. So maybe the characters could behave like they did. But that is not as important to the movie. The ending is ok, especially the last scene.
But, reading the reviews and watching the movie after… I was trying to discover the masterpiece that was mentioned and all the accolades that were written. I could not find any…
Do not know if a comparison is due, but Clockwork Orange is much much better in addressing some of the themes of this movie and the atmosphere.
Funny, interesting but noooooooooooo, not a masterpiece nor a 10 star!!!
I do not mind when someone gives 10 stars to a show, but do not use technical terms of words like masterpiece. It is not true, mainly in Japanese filmography that is amazing!
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I can't believe I actually cried watching this
This has got to be the strangest movie I have ever seen PERIOD. I'm such a sucker for anything psychological so this movie intrigued me right away. Even though I got kind of bored and watched most of it at 2x speed, I had an absolute blast, especially towards the ending. Like other reviewers mentioned, this movie's characters feel oddly alive, despite the overall strangeness of their personalities and plot. They are all a tiny bit (scratch that, VERY) crazy and are extremely flawed, but there's something so real and so raw about their emotions that just makes them feel like they are actual, real-life people. Everyone's motivations, no matter how weird or messed up, seemed to make sense, and even the insta-lovey, extremely flawed and extremely toxic Romeo and Juliet romance felt really fitting and honestly super endearing in this movie. This might be hormones, but (spoiler alert) the weirdest, least-explained, and extremely illegal reunion of the couple in the last 5 minutes of the drama made me shed a tear, and the ending was just as romantic as it was absolutely f***ed up, unrealistic, and kind of scary. Overall, kudos to the entire team behind this drama. I might revisit this weird nightmare a few years down the line, and I'll enjoy every second of it when I do. Would recommend.Was this review helpful to you?
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The most amazing movie ever.
No its not a romantic movie as i expected it to be. It is so much more. I almost dint watch it bcz it was too long but i watched some reviews on youTube n i was glad i gave it a go.It became my favorite movie
I had watched many japanese movies before it but this one actually has soul. This movie has life from beginning to end. I actually loved the first half
Said many times, japanese make anything with their heart n really i love the makers of this movie they r angel.
I dint expect the ending at all, not in my dream but they gave us that ending but i was like. Does it matter? No bcz the movie in itslf is so wholesome i would still love it forever for their acting, chemistry, madness, inspiration, the whole stupid career thing,emotions n depth, i love the depth in the movie its so mature n reaches ur heart i even cried,church n music. I have said enough.
This movie deserves more audience.
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