Jane Philpot (JanePhilpot)
I understand why religious persons or unattractive females may hate it but I totally see it not only as fun but also as empowering and funnily subversive. Clearly not a Disney film and that is a great thing. Prepare to be offended, amazed and laugh.
lightwhitesky
Crazy, over 3 hours long mixture of themes and ideas by Sion Sono. The movie exposes not only love, but also faith, family, society and more. Despite exaggerated, insane style of the movie, it manages to capture character's personality, world view and emotions from this whirl and present them in a unique and interesting way. Storytelling in the movie might look chaotic, with all the distinctly different characters, crazy cults, up-skirt photography, and unexpected shifts of the perspective, but at some point it all comes together. Love exposure is a long movie, and changes of style and exposed themes make it almost feel like a few different films, and even though some moments of it are not quite as interesting and entertaining as the others, in the end you will still get one of the most enjoyable and unique experiences movie can provide.
George Roots (GeorgeRoots)
SPOILERS! for the entire movie follow. Read at your own risk.As you get older, I think many of us can agree that certain attitudes change towards things, and we become more open to ideals and other point of views. "Love Exposure" to this day, remains neither particularly good or bad in my opinion. I also think that no matter what grade I give this movie, it wouldn't really matter due to how diverse and "out there" it really is.The story follows Yu, a young teenage Catholic attempting to live his life in a faithful and orderly manner. His father Tetsu, has become a devout Catholic priest following the death of Yu's mother, and operates his own church. Yu's father asks Yu to confess his sins, but Yu believes he is a good person who has little to confess. At first he makes up sins, but his father sees right through him. Yu sets out to commit real sins and because of this, he falls in with a questionable crowd. Yu is taught by his new friends how to steal, fight and take stealth photographs up women's skirts. Yu promptly becomes a skilled "panty shot" photographer and he is perceived as a pervert, yet he is never aroused by these photographs.After Yu loses a bet with his friends, he agrees to go into the city dressed as a woman and kiss a girl he likes. Yu and his friends come across a young teenage girl named Yoko, who is surrounded by a group of thugs. Still dressed as a woman, Yu helps Yoko beat up the gang of thugs, kisses Yoko and runs away. He falls in love with her and it's the first time he's ever been in love with a girl, but Yoko falls for his disguise and develops feelings for his alter ego "Sasori". Meanwhile, Yu is being followed by Aya Koike, a member of the cult group "Zero Church", who has become infatuated with him after she catches him taking a picture of her panties. Aya devises a plan to bring Yu's entire family into the Zero Church, planning to gain the favour of Yoko by masquerading as Sasori.Eventually succeeding, Yu's family joins the church and abandons him. The film then follows Yu as he wanders around aimlessly. In a chance meeting of finding Yoko, he abducts her but then both of them are eventually caught by the Zero Church. Upon capture, Yu promises to stay with the Zero Church and study it's teachings, though secretly he plans to tear it down from the inside. Succeeding, Yoko is now with a new foster family where her new younger sister explains she likes a boy, though she acts socially awkward around him (A spitting image of the relationship of Yu & Yoko). Yoko finally realises she loves Yu, but finds out that he is in a mental hospital and has fully taken on the personality of his alter-ego. Yoko however, manages to bring him out of his mind state, and both presumably escape the compound together as the credits abruptly roll.Described as "quirky", to which I can agree to. This film features every taboo relationships can offer. The film has elements of child abuse, love, degradation, misogynistic, perverse, genital mutilation and to top it all off it was based on TRUE EVENTS! I've had friends and peers whose love life's can be described as "turbulent", but whoever's love life or general lifestyle is this utterly messed up that they would allow this all to happen is way beyond me.I don't hate the movie, but I would never condone it as an epic just because it runs at a staggering 237 minutes. What I can and will say is that it's beautifully shot, and every character is so strange it really crosses the border of what I would define as "quirky". I find that the script is lacking in some places that really hinder pacing, yet I've managed to sit through the whole movie twice, and it left enough of an impression to have some scenes remain particularly memorable.Final Verdict: This film is a wonder. Beyond the utterly laughable dialogue, TRUE storyline and downright cruel theme where in the end love (Or whatever the hell you can call this) conquers all. It's exactly what you'd expect from Sion Sono, and a film that only Japan can offer. 7/10. One to look for on DVD.
eternalkp
I feel envy to the people who haven't seen this movie; because you get to experience it for the first time. And what an experience. 4 hours of sheer craziness...in a very good way. The same feeling when I first see Battle Royale...in awe. "Time flies when you're having fun." How true. You would never know how long the movie is until it ends, and I wish it would never end. I hope the 6hours version will be released one day. I'm not going to bore you guys with the details of the movie. That's what google is for. Just go out and rent or buy it. I get to experience it on bluray. I became an instant fan of Hikari Mitsushima. A must see for Asian film lovers.
