X
- 2011
- Unrated
- Olive Films
- 3 h 57 m
- 2011
- Unrated
- Olive Films
- 3 h 57 m
Summary Yu is the son of a widower turned priest who is having an affair with one of his followers. When the affair ends, the priest begins pressuring his son to seek absolution for all his sins. The pressure to confess to his father becomes so demanding that Yu has to commit new sins to have material. This leads Yu to find porn stardom and me...
- 2011
- Unrated
- Olive Films
- 3 h 57 m
- 2011
- Unrated
- Olive Films
- 3 h 57 m
Love Exposure
78
8.2
Where to Watch
Summary Yu is the son of a widower turned priest who is having an affair with one of his followers. When the affair ends, the priest begins pressuring his son to seek absolution for all his sins. The pressure to confess to his father becomes so demanding that Yu has to commit new sins to have material. This leads Yu to find porn stardom and me...
Where to Watch
Top Cast
Metascore
Generally Favorable
Based on 11 Critic Reviews
78
73% Positive
8 Reviews
8 Reviews
27% Mixed
3 Reviews
3 Reviews
0% Negative
0 Reviews
0 Reviews
Metascore
Generally Favorable
Based on 11 Critic Reviews
78
73% Positive
8 Reviews
8 Reviews
27% Mixed
3 Reviews
3 Reviews
0% Negative
0 Reviews
0 Reviews
The movie’s invigorating discourse on sin, lust and love is propelled by a kind of Dionysian glee which keeps it airborne almost constantly.
Merging the sacred and the profane, the bloody and the batty, Love Exposure tunnels into serious topics - warped parenting, sexual intolerance and the way religious cults enslave damaged souls - with a hilariously blasphemous shovel.
User Score
Universal Acclaim
Based on 37 User Ratings
8.2
84% Positive
31 Ratings
31 Ratings
5% Mixed
2 Ratings
2 Ratings
11% Negative
4 Ratings
4 Ratings
User Score
Universal Acclaim
Based on 37 User Ratings
8.2
84% Positive
31 Ratings
31 Ratings
5% Mixed
2 Ratings
2 Ratings
11% Negative
4 Ratings
4 Ratings
The amount of madness that this movie throws at you for four hours straight is incredible.
It has religion, martial arts, upskirt photography, brainwashing, lesbians, cults, kidnapping, crossdressing, massacres, castration and so much more.
If you told me to take all those elements and make a movie out of them, I'd call you insane. Well, here it is, and it is insane, and I love it.
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Japanese poet and cult filmmaker Shion Sono defines himself as an anti-establishment artist partly out of cynicism and partly thanks to his romantic concept of libertarianism.
These dysfunctional, hypersensitive Japanese teens and their quest for erotic and spiritual enlightenment make for a swooning, often riotously funny melodrama charged with a refreshingly perverse undertow.
Complicated and long but deftly handled adventure/caper/satire that ends up being thoroughly entertaining
Deeply strange and politically incorrect, baffling, and often funny.
It's a campy rampage that runs a few minutes shy of four hours, dooming what otherwise would likely be a bright future as a midnight movie.
Before I started watching this film, I received warnings about how exhausting and overwhelming it could be.
From the outset, I can say that these are not things that one as a viewer expects to hear about any film, because no matter how hard you try, it's very difficult not to mentally predispose yourself when you're expecting something that will obviously demand a lot from you.
And the thing about this 4-hour epic is that it certainly gets overwhelming, but that feeling has nothing to do with the themes and the tone of it.
Above all, I must emphasize that because much of the narrative feels quite light, which I must say surprised me, and more than anything because you can follow the line of events without them feeling as scrambled as they usually do in the other films of Sion Sono.
Love Exposure is not a film that challenges you as a viewer.
The story is not intended to be one that becomes a vehicle for some kind of philosophical, religious, or moral revelation.
It's simply a love story that involves idiosyncrasies that you will never see in the mainstream, both for its violent exploration and its sexual exploration without taboos that range from religious fanaticism to child abuse.
The reason Love Exposure is overwhelming is that it never justifies its duration.
It's true that this allows Sono to give his characters a bit more background, but it's not something that Sono takes much advantage of.
Especially since there are many parts where, even with violence, they feel cartoonish.
I could hardly treat what unfolds on screen as something more serious than it actually is, but I would also expect the matter to be more focused and concentrated.
Knowing how to be concise is not a bad thing, and even with his achievements, Sono fails again in that important aspect in what is considered his magnum opus.
Still, it's well worth it, and on my part, I can truly say this film is not an exhausting and overwhelming experience, but it definitely does need patience.
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Love Exposure würde ich als Glücksgriff bezeichnen, als ich mal wieder mir dachte „Hay schau doch mal wieder ein Film“ zog ich mir eine noch ungeöffnete Blu-Ray aus dem Regal. Ohne irgend eine Erwartung schaute ich Dießen Film und war überrascht. Kaum ein Film hat mich so geflasht wie dieser. Nicht nur das Themen behandelt werden, wo mancher Deutsche Filmemacher schreiend wegrennen würde, nein auch noch wegen seiner Typisch Japanische Art wirkt er wie eine Traum eines Verrückten. Teilweise fragt man sich, was man rauchen muss um auf so eine Idee zu kommen. Trotz seiner Länge wird einem nie Langweilig. Ich kann Dießen jeden nur wärmsten ans Herz legen.
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Awards
Fantasia Film Festival
• 4 Wins & 4 Nominations
Mainichi Film Concours
• 3 Wins & 3 Nominations
Berlin International Film Festival
• 2 Wins & 3 Nominations
