Love Exposure

Seen for the first time in October 2012.

This film was a revelation. It’s a four hour epic movie with a mish-mash of styles and a stunning display of craft. In this regard it’s reminiscent of a seamless viewing of the “Kill Bill” movies. And though it delivers the same rare, once in a decade cinematic experiences, thematically it’s completely different. It’s about love, religion, and perversion. Everything comes together perfectly in this amazing movie that’s an equal blend of seriousness and sillyness; of high brow concept, pop-culture entertainment, and cheap thrills.

It’d be a cliche to say this film could only have come from Japan, but it’s true. It has that unique mix of the good, the violent, the silly and the pervy, but also with an ambition and a depth that is essential to the most serious movies. This film is about love at its most powerful as a concept. It is about religion. It is about family. It’s about sin. It’s about peeking at Japanese girls in their panties. It’s about being human. There are tonal shifts throughout. A serious movie turns into a silly movie, turns into a disturbing and sad movie, turns into a triumph.

Jaw-dropping. Spectacular. This movie cannot be praised hyperbolically. It delivers and delivers and delivers. The depth cannot be neatly summarized. One scene of particular note is the recitation of Corinthians 13. Holy Shit. Holy Shit. That scene… I’ve heard those verses before, whatever… I never realized before that it was such poetry. Such beautiful language. Such beautiful thoughts. What a powerful fucking scene. And that such a scene can fit so seamlessly (and seemlessly) and relevantly in a movie about a guy who’s the master of upskirt photography… Only in Japan? Words fail me. Grade A.