This review may contain spoilers
The plot is one of the darkest, twisted yet fascinating as you would find psychological elements that would impact you as viewer. I say psychological because if you try to look into the mind of the characters, their action would just makes sense. I'm not trying to justify their actions because it's obvious these are your typical twisted characters in a movie. I also would like to point out there is no Forbidden love, younger man/older woman, student/teacher relationship and especially ROMANCE in this movie. Obsession & Lust is very different from love, just watch the scene on the beach where he tried to cut off his D**k, that was such a powerful scene. I see these tags are the reason why there are a lot of negative comments here. These are very misleading tags.The movie shows the dark reality, the cycle of abuse which is very scary. I believe the girl was also abused by her dad, and it's also the reason for her sexual orientation. It's her dominating personality that later on lead to her abusing the child. One of the most realistic portrayal of rape and abuse in a movie, it shows how it will affect the victim later in life. I also refuse to believe being a pedophile is hereditary, nope, genes has nothing to do with it. Everyone's psychology/mindset is a result of the environment they grew up in.
The Acting here is very strong, which is very important in a movie that has bold storyline. You could tell the actress, Sugino Kiki is a very passionate one as she's also one of the producers of this movie, and it shows in her performance. It doesn't seem nudity bother her either. Imagine producing a movie, casting yourself in a movie which you'll do a nude scene later. At first I thought the casting of Taiga is terrible because it seems he's portraying a character much younger than his age, they even put a kid's voice on him, which is understandable because there is no way they could cast real kid without going jail. But eventually thanks to Taiga's acting I forgot to notice those things. There is one important scene in this movie where he was really impressive, that was when his character was being raped by the female lead, that look on his face shows agony in a very realistic manner, that alone deserves an acting award for him. Hard to believe this is Imai in Kyou Kara Ore Wa!!. Goes to show how versatile as hell and criminally underrated he is. Most of the Music is composed of music from Mozart. It's very important to note that it conveys the psyche of the character once you hear it in the background.
People ask why we need movies such as these that it doesn't make sense at all, and some even said they want to unsee it. I understand people have different taste when it comes to movies but saying it doesn't make sense makes no sense to me. Maybe they didn't try to look for meaning because even weed type art-house films have meanings. Now if you ask why these dark twisted types of movies exist? SIMPLE because it's CINEMA. The prime purpose of cinema is not to entertain but to tell a story, humanity is always fascinated by different stories, which is why cinema is considered as the 7th form of ART.
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Don't romanticise the abuse, if it comes back to you, will you be able to handle that?
Before watching this movie you should be aware of the tags, which are enough to trigger your senses. And here I am sitting completely shocked. I don't know how should I explain my feelings, whom should I sympathize with, where did it start to go wrong. Only Japan can produce something raw like this to make you believe the unbelievable.If you want to know how Stockholm Syndrome look like, then this is the perfect example of one. The traumatic events that teenage boy, Moto has to go through just "to keep himself safe" is beyond horrible and disgusting. He tolerated his trauma and came to fond of it. Moto wanted to trust and believe Sala but she's a horrible adult to begin with. She exploited the innocent and when she acts indifference of the situation made my blood boil with anger and frustration. I had to check the age of boy current and at that time just to ensure my heart he wasn't a minor. I wanted to question her "how do you like it when the things you did to others, is done to you?" Then I found myself guilty for feeling that way. Idk whom should I apologise to.
But why would you watch it -
• chilling realistic acting
• to come out of your comfort zone and understand there's someone out there doing and going through these same things. Just to be aware of these wicked humans.
• there's always that grey area of our mind which needs to fed with ugly reality once in a while to realise how grateful we should be for our safe place.
Why you shouldn't -
• if you are sensitive of "these" triggers. Just check out tags, you'll know why.
• if you can't differentiate reel and real life (I know I'm contradicting my own point but you need to realise not all situations are same, not every person behaves the same way. Things can be more or less brutal in real life and this is just a dramatisation of a fictional characters)
My rating: 7/10, I can't explain it enough how realistic their acting was to make me punch them in the face at the moment.
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