Love Exposure

[GeneChing]

I doubt any of us will see this as it's 4 HOURS LONG. Nevertheless, it's worthy of archiving here. Maybe someone will bite the bullet. Who knows? It might be good. The S.F. Chron gave it their highest rating (wild applause)

'Love Exposure' review: Divine mix of plots in epic
David Lewis, Chronicle Staff Writer
Friday, September 2, 2011
Olive Films

Underpants photographer Yu (Takahiro Nishijima, right) is a teenager who falls in love with martial artist Yoko (Hikari Mitsushima) in "Love Exposure."
View Larger Image
Love Exposure

WILD APPLAUSE

Romantic epic. Directed by Sion Sono. With Takahiro Nishijima, Hikari Mitsushima. In Japanese, with English subtitles. (Not rated. 237 minutes. At Bay Area theaters.)

"Love Exposure," a roller coaster of a film with a big heart, has many unusual distinctions: It contains more crotch panty shots than perhaps any other movie in memory. It mixes martial arts, voyeurism, sexual perversion, humor, romance and religious meditation. And it pays homage to countless other films while still having a unique voice of its own.

Did I mention that it is four hours long?

Don't let the running time, or the subject matter, scare you: This intricately plotted Japanese epic has so many twists and turns - not to mention bizarre characters with even more bizarre backstories - that the time will fly by. As the old cliche goes, you will not have another moviegoing experience quite like this one all year.

The saga begins as the young Yu agrees to his devout Christian mother's dying wish that he marry a girl just like the Virgin Mary. Yu's grieving father enters the priesthood and after a guilt-inducing affair eventually forces the teenage Yu (an impressive Takahiro Nishijima) to confess his sins on a daily basis. But no sin seems sinful enough until Yu takes up the perverse hobby of photographing up the skirts of unsuspecting women on the streets. Then Yu falls in love with the man-hating martial arts **** Yoko (his Virgin Mary!), who responds to Yu only because he is dressed as a woman at the time (another long story). Then a diabolical cult member enters the fray ...

You get the picture. Suffice it to say, there is plenty going on in director Sion Sono's ("Suicide Club") film. And there are plenty of visual and musical styles to savor. You won't soon forget it.

[doug maverick]

I doubt any of us will see this as it's 4 HOURS LONG. Nevertheless, it's worthy of archiving here. Maybe someone will bite the bullet. Who knows? It might be good. The S.F. Chron gave it their highest rating (wild applause)

id watch it...i watch once upon a time in china at least once a month and its a six hour movie.

[SimonM]

Maybe I'd watch it if I had no better way to kill an afternoon.

I generally don't go for art-house... and this looks art-house.

[GeneChing]