Content warning: this post deals with topics like religion and sexuality.
There are movies that are quite easy to write about. You watch them, have some thoughts about them, write it down, post, done. There are also movies that are horrible to write about, because no matter how long you will sit at the computer, thinking, you can't form any coherent sentences. Sometimes it's because they make no sense at all. Sometimes there is so little content in the film itself, it's impossible to write about it at all.
Sion Sono's "Love Exposure" doesn't belong to any of these categories. I mean, it is a reviewer's nightmare, but for completely different reasons. It makes sense. Painfully a lot of sense. And yeah, it has loads of content. Four hours of content so tightly packed that after I finished watching, my only thought was "how the fuck am I supposed to write about it?!".
To be honest, I don't know if I should put spoiler alert here. I mean, yeah, I will probably give out some plot twists... But it's hard to pinpoint what is a spoiler and what is not when the film is that long and has so many subplots, so... Nah, let's just state you're proceeding on your own risk, okay?
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To be honest, this is one, big "Proceed at your own risk: The Movie", but for different reasons.
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In the beginning we're introduced to Yū – a boy living with his loving parents, who also happen to be devoted Catholics. They bring him up in faith, his mother even tells him that he should find himself a girlfriend, who is like Virgin Mary. When Yū is still a child, his mother dies. Some time later, his father, Tetsu, becomes a priest and they both start living at the presbytery. However, family bliss gets disrupted when Tetsu falls for a new worshipper in his church, Kaori, with whom he starts secretly dating. Three months later Kaori gets tired of keeping their relationship secret and leaves him for a younger man. Heartbroken, Tetsu changes and from loving father and kind priest he turns into a monster. Not only his sermons become more and more scary, he also starts pestering Yū to confess his sins daily. Having nothing serious to confess (he's just a highschooler, actually a very sensitive one), he first starts lying about it and committing petty mischiefs and then, when Tetsu still isn't satisfied, Yū starts committing crimes, so he would have sins to confess. This is how he meets Takahiro, Yūji and Senpai – three delinquents, who find his antics amusing and introduce him to the gang they're in. Later all four get involved in tōsatsu – taking photos of underwear of unsuspecting women. When, some time later, they're comparing photos, Yū loses a bet on whose photo is better. As a punishment he has to go out dressed in women's clothes, find a girl he likes, kiss her and confess her love. This is how he meets Yōko – a girl he falls in love from the first sight, his "Virgin Mary". However, there are two problems. Primo, Yōko falls in love with Miss Sasori – Yū's drag alter ego. Secundo, everything that happens seems to be overseen and partially orchestrated by Koike – mysterious second-in-command of a shady cult, Church Zero, who seems to be infatuated with Yū and, who swears to make Yū's family join Church Zero.
And if you think that I've already told you whole movie, no, I haven't. This is roughly first hour. First of four.
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Four hours and not a single minute of boredom! Amazing, isn't it?
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While Yū is the main character of the movie, during first half the point of view alternates between him, Yōko and Koike. All three talk about their pasts and narrate through several events. Thanks to that we quickly learn that, despite coming from completely different families, they have a lot in common. Firstly, they all got hurt by their fathers: Yū was constantly tormented to confess (actually, quite common thing in catholic church, but I'll talk about it later), Koike was beaten, because of her "sinful body" and Yōko was molested. Thanks to that, they all have problems understanding and expressing love and desire. What's interesting, Yōko is the only one from all three, who is able to come to terms with her sexuality. Of course, her hatred towards all men (except Kurt Cobain, he's cool) is very unhealthy, but understandable. Also, when she realises she may be a lesbian and is in love with Miss Sasori, after initial confusion (which is totally normal, it's her first serious crush after all) she calmly accepts it. More, she happily flirts with Sasori, wants to keep in touch with her and celebrates her feelings. She just behaves like a normal teenager in love, which contrasts a lot with Yū's and Koike's obsessions.
Generally, most of characters' problems come from their lack of sexual education and, generally, repressing their sexualities. The most obvious one is Tetsu. As a priest he has to live in celibate, but he's not capable of doing so and, when Kaori starts courting him, he quickly complies. Later he can't accept that he has so little self-control and lashes out on his son. Yū was brought up in a purity culture and has no idea what's going on with his body, mistaking desire and true love (especially visible in his monologues about erection and Yōko's panties). Also, instead of looking for a partner, a person he would like and feel safe with, he's fixated on a Virgin Mary archetype and, when he finally finds his "Mary", gets completely obsessed with her. He doesn't understand that Yōko isn't interested in him and, instead of telling her the truth about Miss Sasori and moving on, he keeps the masquerade. No surprise that later Yōko feels incredibly betrayed by him.
Koike is the most interesting case here. At first glance, she seems to be a typical antagonist. She's a cold-blooded manipulator, who plays with people like with puppets. She even sees other cultists as expendable resources. There is a reason for this, though: all Koike's psychopathic tendencies come form the fact she was abused as a child. Her father drove her mad and, later, Church Zero finished the job with their brainwashing. She finds Yū interesting, because of their similarities. She also develops an obsession with her object of desire and later, when she realises she can't get him no matter what, she breaks down violently. Damn, even before this she starts slowly losing her composure, the biggest example being the scene when she plays with her pet bird, repeating the same mantra her father used to make her say. However, at the same time, Koike often seems to be the only reasonable character in the movie. She is right, when she calls Yū out for his lies or blames Tetsu for his son's behaviour.
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For me, she's one of the most sympathetic characters here, just after Yōko.
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I like how this movie portrays most problematic parts of Catholicism. Actually, from what I've observed (I'm speaking from a perspective of a person living in Poland, I don't know how it looks like in other countries), this religion tends to be very guilt-tripping, and destroying people's sense of self-worth is a common practice. I can't count how many times I was told to go to confession despite having nothing to confess... And how many times I later heard, that something completely normal is deemed sinful. Like, you know, being young, full of hormones and being interested in sex. The "we're sinful and can't see this, which is even worse" approach is real and extremely toxic – instead of focusing on good things and our own personal growth, we have to constantly think about how horrible we are (even, if we're just being human), because if we don't do that, then we are proud and this is a sin. And we can't sin, 'cause even if we are good people, it'll send us to hell. Fuck, I'll be honest with you: thanks to constantly hearing things like that (and many other, but it's a story for different occasion) in young age, I developed some kind of Catholicism-related trauma, which I'm still fighting with. So yeah, despite the fact "Love Exposure" takes some things to its logical extreme (like Yū sinning just to be able to confess and please his father... Which can be an example of what blind devotion to the family can do to a person), its first act was uncomfortably relatable for me.
"Love Exposure" also calls out Church's hypocrisy. Firstly, we have Tetsu – a priest, who breaks celibate. Despite that, he still has no problem for yelling and even beating Yū, after he learns about his engagement in tōsatsu. Later, when Tetsu decides to leave priesthood, he isn't allowed to do that. You know, despite the fact he did more evil than good. Next, there are priests, whom Yū and his friends ask for help with freeing Yōko from Church Zero. They refuse, deeming helping her impossible. They also look down at boys, because they started working in porn industry some time earlier... Which is pretty ironic, given the fact that Takahiro, Yūji and Senpai are probably the most decent characters in the whole film. Of course, they aren't crystal clear: they commit various crimes, including upskirt photography, but at least they aren't malicious. They do that, because they are young, dumb and rebellious and probably don't understand fully the consequences. As people, Takahiro, Yūji and Senpai are really kind. Their friendship with Yū is genuine and they never stop supporting him (the scene, when they find Yū lying on the street in rain, take him to their hideout and comfort him, is one of the most heart-warming moments in the cinema). And call me naive, but I think that if, instead of just calling them perverts, someone actually explained them how harmful upskirting is, they would stop it immediately.
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A group of teenage delinquents being nicer characters than priests? Why am I not surprised?
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"Love Exposure" was meant to cross all lines and it does it perfectly. The most obvious is its portrayal of church and religion, which may be deemed offensive, even blasphemous. The movie also tackles really serious topics, like sexual abuse, and then drowns them in litres of fake blood and dick jokes. In general, nothing here is taken seriously. However, everything is deliberate. Immature humour is justified by main characters being horny teenagers. Exaggerated behaviour of Catholics points to real problems with religion. And shock makes it harder to forget, what the authors wanted to say.
The eccentricity is also evident in audiovisual side. Montage is very dynamic, which is amplified with a little bit shaky (and dirty. I caught myself trying to scrub a dirt from my screen, only to realise it was in the film) camera. The visual effects often look cheap and fake (fountains of bright blood are first thing that comes to mind). In general, there is a huge amount of staginess, with characters behaving over-the-top and unnatural. There is also pathos. A lot of pathos (Yōko yelling quoted from Corinthians with Beethoven in the background is unarguably my favourite moment). And weird, out-of-place visual metaphors. And it all somehow works perfectly, bringing a lot of enjoyment.
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Asserting dominance via T-posing? Yeah, sure, why not?
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While I enjoyed whole film, there is one thing that keeps bothering me: the epilogue. And I think it's a good moment to put here a big
SPOILER ALERT!!!
for obvious reasons.
Don't understand me wrong, the epilogue is fine... For most part. It slows down the story and smoothly closes the subplots. However, I don't like the fact that Yū and Yōko ended together. Yōko falling in love with Yū completely subverts what she was bringing into the story: an example of a person being happy with their sexuality. More, it almost feels like Yū's "true love" cured her from being a lesbian, which, even if it wasn't deliberate, still sounds homophobic (big "thank you!" to my ex-girlfriend for pointing it out, you're great). At the same time, whole Yū's character development went fuck itself: he lied and acted like a total creep and still got what he wanted. Of course, he went to hell and back for it, sacrificing his own sanity to expose Church Zero, but he did it because of his obsession with Yōko. Him getting the girl means that no matter, how much someone hates you, if you are persistent enough, you will make this person love you. Which isn't very healthy message. I think the ending would be much better, if Yōko found a nice girlfriend and moved on.
End of spoilers.
Actually, despite the ending, I really liked the movie. "Love Exposure" is a wild ride, definitely worth experiencing. However, I'm not sure if I can recommend it. If you aren't bothered by immature humour, explicitness and long runtime, then you can give it a try. But be prepared for everything.
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And don't even try complaining that I didn't warn you.
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Image sources:
Stills were screenshot from the official trailer and belong to movie's distributor, Omega Project.
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