The Virgin Psychics (2015)

It's complicated... I really like the directing, acting and writing but, there are issues with the way it's shot that I just can't deny. As much as I love the storytelling and the fantastic performance but, there are also certain scenes that didn't need to exist.

It really made me laugh, but for some moments I was tearing up because I could relate so much.

Through painfully honest and emotional moments, the movie becomes irresistibly relatable

This is one of the best movies I’ve seen in a very long time. You have to go and see this on the big screen.

I'm not a fan of most teen sex romps (like American Pie) but I found this film rather enjoyable to watch. Sure, it's silly but that's part of the magic. It's sort of like if Love Exposure had a baby with Why Don't You Play in Hell with people running around in their underwear thrown in for good measure. If that sounds up your alley, definitely check out The Virgin Psychics. If you didn't like either of those movies, you may want to skip this one.

I see a lot of people write off the movie as a simple sex comedy. But I think the movie is about more than that. Japan is a shame society and has very conservative views on sexuality. Gay people are written off as perverts. People that masturbate are written off as perverts. Horny Teens are written off as perverts. You don't want to rock the boat- sexuality stays indoors. If you take another look at the movie we can see what Sion Sono is doing here. Like many of his movie they are light entertainment if you just watch them but if you start thinking about them there is something more to it- something that questions the status quo. Here are some of my thoughts about the movie so I've you haven't seen it I'll warn you:** SPOILER ALARM **Now that we got this sorted out, I'll talk a bit about the beginning because I think it puts the movie into perspective. It starts with our hero fantasizing about his dream girl- the one he will have to meet because of destiny. After seeing the whole movie I think this part is beautifully placed. It show the mindset of our hero. From birth on this idea of meeting the perfect girl has been implanted into his head. The one perfect girl to make a family with. Much like society puts this pressure on young adults and especially Japanese boys to find a girl. Then we get presented a shot that relativizes this ridiculousness. The camera cuts to outer space and shows us how arbitrary our rules look from the outside. Why should people hide their sexuality they are just animals like every other animals on the planet earth. Why don't we have sex all the time and enjoy ourselves why do we put so much pressure on us, when there is no reason to? Now we're at the dinner table with Yoshio (our hero) and his parents. His parents are seducing each other in very obvious ways- sexuality stays indoors but is very obvious to our protagonist. He masturbates and gains his special power, through a cosmic event. The movie has a pretty silly plot at it's base. We come to schoolyard which shows the teacher checking if people come dressed correctly to school but she is not dressed appropriately at all. Yoshio reads her mind "I want to be the sexiest". This is how Yoshio perceives the situation. She is the one with power and in control and can do what she wants but no student is allowed to look sexy. This show how hypocritical Japan's society is. Throughout the movie there are very obvious scenes Yoshio hides his boner/sexuality. I don't want to over-analyze every scene now, I think you get the idea- so I'll cut straight to the end. Julie uses her purify power on the 'evil' teacher from America (notice something???) that want to sexualize everybody in Japan and 'ruin the world'. But now come the key line in the movie. "What you have no evil intentions?". We realize that the American teacher never had evil intention so she wasn't the villain we were made to believe. In the end Yoshio rejects her and this is the moment of true liberation for him. Maybe Japan doesn't have to go the same way as America (btw did you notice that a lesbian was her puppet? I think that was a genius touch) and certainly they were all shocked by Yoshio honesty that he just like to masturbate to girls. They are ashamed and don't want to hear it. Western society just seems more sexually accepting because it's seen more but just used him to push their morals onto Japan's society. He never wanted to play a bigger role in putting the sexuality out there and certainly never wanted to be used. In the end Sion Sono reminds us that boys and girls mastrubate and that we are all born with a sexual drive. Every girl that is born in that city is part of his fantasies and this is completely normal human behaviour and we see how ridiculous society's rules and expectations can be if we look at is at a whole (finial zoom into space to emphasize this point).

Director Sion Sono takes a break from his auteur movies and delivers a teen sex comedy with heroes (the TV series) like superpowers. It seems like a great idea, but the final result doesn't live up to the the expectations from a great director like Sion Sono. It does look like the people involved had fun making the movie and by the acting standard, it seems that everyone knew what they were making and did not try very hard to impress. There are a lot of shots of panties and cleavage, but no nudity... The biggest problem with the movie is that its about two hours long and it feels even longer. I would not recommend this movie, but I would recommend other movies from Sion Sono's Filmography, especially Love Exposure (2008) and Cold Fish (2010)