Love Exposure (2011)

Instant Favorite.

Fun premise, good actors, bad writing. This film seemed to have potential at the beginning but it quickly devolves into a trite action film. Ultimately it's very boring.

The acting is good, and the firecracker script has some excellent ideas.

This is a small, humorous movie in some ways, but it has a huge heart. What a nice experience.

We are talking psychological drama hidden in light and humorous atmosphere with a fantastic delivery! Although light, eccentric and even absurd, the general feeling of the film doesn't seem parodic (for the most part!).Everything that happens, looking from a psychological aspect, kind of makes sense. All the characters' (which you are so easily drawn by) reactions, development, morale behind their actions add up to where the plot leads them.What Mr. Sion Sono wanted to do (and succeeded in) with this movie is tell a story about actions and reactions, about how people from similar backgrounds can easily be both same, yet so different. It's a story about love, pain, strength, devotion, kindness and ultimately, morale.4 hour length of the movie is very justified by the complexity of the plot. Not only we are able to connect to characters, the storyline picks up many turns and twists we never expected and changes genre as the story progresses.I must not fail to mention, if you aren't open minded, skip it. If you get triggered by people not being heteronormative then skip it. Dislike Japanese cinematography and humor? Ehh, maybe skip it as well. Hardcore religious? Yeah, definitely skip it. Fetishism makes you uncomfortable? Hard skip, otherwise, you are in for a treat, especially if you have been enjoying a lot of movies and a lot of genres (it would definitely help if you watched some film festival movies featuring different cultures). Fantastic work Mr. Sion Sono, for this movie I thank you sincerely!

Love Exposure is one of the most entertaining Movies i have seen jet.You may think 237 Minutes is a long time but this Movie is not a single second to long , the Story is thrilling and the Charackters are fantastic. The idea is amazing and you wont see such a Movie ever again.The Story is about Yû a Son from a very strict Priest that wants him to have committed sins. But Yû actually searches for his own "Maria". The Music is extremely well chosen and so are the cuts.I don't want to say to much, this stunning Film should offer his own secrets.

A young boy named Yu, after the passing of his mother, dreams of finding his perfect "Virgin Mary". But years later, and racked with the displaced guilt being piled upon him by his failing priest father, he becomes, naturally, the leader of a martial-arts panty-shot photography gang, and his antics bring him to the attention of both a cult-leading psychotic with an abusive past, and the kick-ass girl of his dreams who falls in love with his cross-dressing alter-ego.At this point we are about fifty minutes into the set-up of Sion Sono's epic Japanese misfit soap opera, and now the opening titles roll. This is not your traditional romance. It's overlong, undisciplined, funny - both ha-ha, and peculiar. But, almost sneaking it in under the radar, unexpectedly affecting.As Geoffrey Rush once sagely observed of his punters' entertainment needs in Shakespeare In Love, "You see - comedy, love, and a bit with a dog", and he was nearly right. Just add Catholic guilt, cult brainwashing, terrorism, madness, bobbitting, upskirt-fu, blood-soaked chopsocky vengeance and a lot of awkward erections. Oh but leave out the dog. At four hours running time there's only so much you can fit in.

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.