Love Exposure (2011)

Best movie of this year hands down!

This story has more twists and turns than a second-rate soap opera.

The film never slows down or bores, plunging from one harrowing sequence to the next.

One of the worst ways to make a cult movie is to set out to make a cult movie.

Everything about this movie screams ''not worth watching''. It is totally unconvincing and the only group that might find this interesting is people between 12-16 year old that are idolizing Japanese pop culture. I never seen something so cringe worthy. I have no clue why it is ranked so high, but i guess that there are a lot of fanboys from this 'genre' that rank it up.

Sion Sono's 4-Hour Masterpiece .. Instantaneous classic .. Action, comedy, romance, martial-arts, religious undertones, and the art of panty shots .. Sono outdid himself with this oneA story about the meaning of love - both perverse and religious ----- M A J O R S P O I L E R A L E R T -----The Boy (Master Sinner): raised Catholic . Mother tasked him to find his Virgin Maria . Father goes to the dark side after being dumped by hooker . Boy commits "sins" to get his father's attention and love . Becomes a Master at Upskirt Panty photography , the ultimate sin of "Obscenity" . Becomes the guru sensei for a group of ambitious men . Loses bet and becomes Lady Scorpion for the day only to find his Maria his love ,,The Girl (Maria): Grows up hating men after being sexually-assaulted by father . Fights and confrontational on a regular basis . Falls in love with Lady Scorpion and believes she's a lesbian . Becomes the sister of Master Panty Shooter , whom she's groomed to hate by ,,Zero Church Recruiter Girl (Original Sinner): Insane since birth and recruited by a cultist leader "for her worthiness as an original sinner" . She too had an abusive father who's penis she severed . She falls in love with Master Panty Shooter and decides to bring him and his family into Zero Church . She poses as Miss Scorpion , seduces Maria , and exposes Master Panty's photo business . She kidnaps his girl and his family and makes them new recruits for the Zero Church ..To get the love of his life back, Master Panty Shooter goes undercover as a porno-cameraman and Zero Church recruit .. Only to one day set the bomb off in everybody's face10/10

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.

For me, "Love Exposure" is something of a terrific one-off experience. How to begin to describe with any degree of rationality the extraordinary effect of bewildering excitement it has had on a near octogenarian, is a task I find daunting. And yet for a work unlike any other in its helter-skelter delivery of an adolescent's quest for romantic fulfilment ( which I suppose is what it is all about), I feel I should at least take up the challenge. With such an engagingly innocent central character as schoolboy Yu, it seems completely natural to suspend disbelief and go along with everything he experiences, including his hilarious initiation into the skills of a panty photographer, his role as father-confessor at a perverts' convention and his attack with explosives and much blood letting on the HQ of a brainwashing religious cult. Buried beneath it all there could well be many serious messages (you get a big chunk of Corinthians!) or it could be just a pile of tosh. But in the end, who cares, such is the delirious pleasure that just under four hours of outrageous goings-on have delivered. I suppose I just love the theme of innocent youngsters taking on the wicked world. Gosh! I am still reeling, my critical faculties all but shattered!