Love Exposure (2009)

Wow, I watched this just now and I am still speachless. I started watching it without knowing how long it was going to be. Maybe that would have shocked me off if I had known - I am glad I didn't.

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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Do you know this feeling when you just finished watching something completely surprising, unique and brilliant? Right after experiencing something like that I’m always feeling empty inside, like I’ve poured all my emotions and thoughts into this particular movie/drama and it’s the only thing I can think about for days. Well, thanks to Love Exposure I feel like an empty shell again, but hell I don’t regret watching it at all.

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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