Love Exposure

This film was recommended to me when I mentioned going to a film festival in London, so I read a little about it and it gathered that it was a four hour plus Japanese movie with themes surrounding Catholic guilt, love, up-skirt fetishism, and transvestism. How could I fail to be entertained? Well I wasn't.

A false dichotomy containing however a large helping of truth is that with cinema, when you go down either the art-house or mainstream routes, you are opting for either the morbid or the stupid (occasionally both). If that's so, then Love Exposure is an example of the troisieme voie that modern exuberant Japanese cinema can be. This film is literally bursting with life and fully sustains the four hour running time. I felt like asking the winds why all cinema wasn't like this when I came out.

Despite numerous sashays forward and back in time and a pretty complex plot, what we've got here is basically a love story between star-cross'd lovers, a young man Yu, and a young woman Yoko. The comedy aspect comes with the obstacles that Yu is continuously having to overcome to achieve love with Yoko, a girl who hates all men, except for Kurt Cobain (incidentally Cobain crossdressed). Spunky Yu is going to be dragged through bushes, over hot coals, through friendships, in and out of a cult and drug before he even gets close to Yoko.

The soundtrack is pretty crazy, and disarmingly obvious, main uses are made of Ravel's Bolero and the Allegretto from Beethoven's Symphony #7 (if you don't recognise the name you probably will recognise the sound). There's also some J-rock chucked in for added good measure, and that was not bad to be fair (I don't generally care for modern vocal music - chock full of loose allusions). The vast majority of films wouldn't get away with the classical choices made here, however the film has the level of pathos and interest to match the music.

There's quite a lot of points scored along the way about different modes of living. Tosatsu is shown as being as revelatory as the Christian experience. Tosatsu by the way, if you can believe it, is the Japanese martial art of taking up-skirt photos of unwary young women. The movie dwells a lot on the fetishism involved with Christianity as much as it does up-skirt fetishism. We quite often see ornate gold and mother of pearl rosaries being held by female characters, and the ritual of confession becomes incredibly fetishised, literally causing Yu to commit far more sin than he would otherwise have done.

It occurs to you occasionally that the film is low budget, as some of the cinematography is reminiscent more of a documentary than a high production values movie. But the movie is a pure unbroken copper strand, conducting electricity throughout. The great device of Sono during the first half of the movie is to have a countdown to a "miracle" that is going to occur so you're always in anticipation.

I've simplified the movie a bit, there are several important characters that I haven't mention whose stories play out alongside Yu's, and the level of character development is very high. This is the movie experience of the year. You'll see the hospital run at the end, and it will stay with you for the rest of your life.

Congratulations to Shion Sono, who has displayed a sensitivity to marginalised folks, and a joie de vivre that hardly anyone else is even trying to do.

This movie is perfection. Normally, even when I enjoy a movie, I'm ready for it to be over after about two and a half hours... I'm sure there is some psychological reason for this. Suffice it to say that this was not at all the case with this movie; in the almost four hour running time, there was literally only one five minute stretch where the pace slowed down. The remainder of the film is pure electricity, and touched on every emotion you could want in a movie... there's laughter in spades, there's action aplenty, and I challenge anyone not to tear up at the amazing ending. If you see only one movie about up-skirt panty-shot taking ninjas this year, make it this one.

A freewheeling, four-hour epic saga of teenage crushes, Christianity, upskirt photos, double identities, shady cults and perversion. Director Sion Sono gives himself free rein to shift gears at the drop of a hat, and amazingly it doesn't end up an incoherent mess. In fact, somehow the more ridiculous it gets, the more you start to take it seriously. There's an awful lot of thematic ground covered here, but for me it felt particularly successful as a story of adolescent self-discovery. Yu and Yoko cycle through various roles that their social structures, institutions and backgrounds have set up for them before they "find themselves" in a finale that in itself may be yet another false construct. The film's Christian angles are a little tougher to get a hold on, but ultimately I feel Sono's stance is satirical (rightfully so) regarding the hypocrisy of organized religion while not completely writing off the possibility of a fulfilling spiritual life. The sexual content has an unusual complexity to it as well. I am a little concerned about the casual treatment of Yoko's lesbianism (which I can't get into without spoiling) but I suppose that's usually going to be an issue when you have a male writer/director tackling the subject.

Despite the hefty length, the movie is never dull, mixing up styles and tones in a way that keeps you wondering what will happen next. Comedy and action and melodrama bleed together effortlessly (it's something the Japanese tend to do rather well) and no matter how wacky the proceedings become, there's a sincerity and heartfeltness to it. I liked the use of music, especially the "Bolero" in the first chapter, building up to the "miracle" that smashes our heroes together. The performances are all fine... I don't know if I was particularly impressed with any of them, but they seemed to fit.

Overall, I thought it was fantastic, complex and very entertaining. A bit like Jodorowsky, but more enjoyable.

I've never been so immersed in a film that lasted 4 hours as much as I was with this, and before you know it the film ends! This is one of the greatest I've ever seen and hardly no one has watched it even over 10 years on! It'll be hard recommending it cause of how abstract it is.

The acting is quite eccentric and surreal story basis is perfectly timed and laid out. I had an instant love for the crazy characters and their journey throughout this epic feature. If I was to give any advice before watching, keep an open mind. If you like films that are different from the mainstream then this is for you.

I can't praise it enough and definitely rate it with some of the greatest films in cinema history. One of a kind

10/10

This was part of Film 4's recent 'Extreme Season' and it's easy to see why. Film critic and introducer to the film, Mark Kermode unravelled a whole heap of adjectives in trying to describe its virtues - and I think he only scraped the surface.

Yes, we know by now that it's 4 hours long but with the requisite ad breaks, that bumps it up to five. Thus, the very thought of committing the time and effort to this huge chunk of one's valuable life is far worse than actually watching it. Due to other commitments, I had to undertake watching the recording in 3 manageable pieces, turning each into 'normal' film lengths.

Lurching between high melodrama and lamenting ballad, Love Exposure IS a love story. But the most crazy, beautiful and fantastical one you've ever seen. Typically Japanese in going to extremes, at times modern fairytale and then extreme graphic violence almost at the turn of a hat.

Somehow, strangely all the characters are endearing, especially the two central ones, Yu and Yoko. Yoko must have the sweetest smile I've ever seen, at times enticing, at others crying painfully. If you think though that this is just about emotional roller-coasting, there are some of the most striking story lines and stunts and ideas that have come from a fertile, imaginative and superb director, that mix martial arts with technology, religion with sex, perversion with love and much more.

The choice of music, from Ravel's 'Bolero' to other brilliant rock pieces, that were repeated in loops really added to the structure and my enjoyment and I'm sure they hypnotised us into feeling the film shorter than it actually was. This was one of the best features of the project.

Unlike the film, I'm going to keep my review shortish. Let's just say that the hype is real, the movie is unforgettable and whilst not quite a Citizen Kane, most film lovers with an open mind and an open heart will find much to enjoy.