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Takahiro Nishijima, Hikari Mitsushima, Sakura Ando, Makiko Watanabe, Atsurô Watabe ... see more see more... , Keisuke Horibe , Hiroyuki Onoue , Mami Nakamura , Yutaka Shimizu , Yűko Genkaku , Itsuji Itao , Mitsuru Kuramoto , Shinji Miyadai , Nana Nagao , Koji Ohguchi , Jai West , Mitsuru Fukikoshi , Motomi Fukami

Tokyo teen Yu Honda (Takahiro Nishijima) is the traumatized son of a widower-cum-Catholic priest (Atsuro Watabe), who begins a sexual liaison with parishioner Kaori (Makiko Watanabe). When Dad's affai... read more read more...r comes to a halt, he begins admonishing his son to confess to so many sins that the 17-year-old takes up new ones to appease his father's increased religious zeal. One "sin" - surreptitiously taking candid photographs of panties worn by female pedestrians - becomes a vocation. Unfortunately, a deal with a porn company comes undone when Yu turns down starring roles, because he admits he's saving himself for a Virgin Mary-like ideal woman. On cue, the narrative introduces feisty schoolgirl Yoko (Hikari Mitsushima), who loathes men and enjoys beating them up for their moronic attitudes... -- (C) Third Window Films

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88% liked it

1,888 ratings

Critics

90% liked it

20 critics

Unrated, 3 hr. 57 min.

Directed by: Sion Sono

Release Date: September 2, 2011

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DVD Release Date: December 19, 2011

Stats: 218 reviews

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Flixster Reviews (218)

  • aquateen2
    April 2, 2012
    aquateen2
    [img]http://images.rottentomatoes.com/images/user/icons/icon14.gif[/img]

    Love Exposure is one of the most interesting foreign works of the year. It's a movie about political, religious and social ideas, and there's a hell of a lot of them squashed together but it doesn't lack ... read morefor any heart, emotion and is never for one moment dull. The performances of the cast are amazing and in equal measure the direction is very precise. It's a very emotional film and i'd highly recommend it to art house fans because it's one of the most artsy films i've ever seen. The only problems with this movie are that it fails to maintain a consistent tone and a lot of the scenes in it were unnecessary. This can all be ignored though, because it is still immensely entertaining and will take you on a stylishly surreal ride if you have an open mind for films. To put it simply, weird but undeniably wonderful.
  • deano
    August 28, 2011
    deano
    Really weird and 4-hour Japanese comedy-action-drama film about the three emotionally abused individuals from the fringes of society get locked in a convoluted love triangle. I couldn't believe this ridiculous story is true and this mix scenes didn't work very well for me. The ov... read moreerall story about love and religion lacks a bit, but the worst thing is how it's played out. There are so many weird scenes that the overall story gets a bit lost on the way, and you have a hard time appreciating the movie as a whole.
    But I liked the last confrontation scene while Yu gets crazy, Yoko cries, and Aya kills herself, and then there's no sound, everything was in slow motion. That was very momentous.
  • skactopus
    October 25, 2009
    skactopus
    Sion Sono's Love Exposure is a comedy romance that isn't afraid to go there.

    With a run time of just under 4 hours, yeah that's right, this film comes down to being a love story. However, this movie is far from romantic. Sion finds a way to tell the story in a religiou

    ... read mores sexually offensive way.

    There is no nudity aside from a few fake male nudity shots, but there are tons of panty shots as well as some passionate lesbian scenes. The violence is also pretty bloody when it shows up.

    The film is told in chapters and the first 3 are entertaining. After this, the film slowly loses its entertainment value. The second half of the film is basically one long chapter, which makes one wonder why there were chapters in the first place. Nevertheless, it isn't necessarily the long run time that hurts this film because every thing that happens is integral to the story. It is the second half of the film where it loses the pizazz from the early going that disappoints. That's not to say that the film gets boring, but it sure as heck isn't exciting.

    Takahiro Nishijima, Hikari Mitsushima, and Sakura Ando are the 3 actors to look out for, as all put on good performances. Takahiro and Hikari stand out the most, since their characters morph as the film progresses.

    Take caution when viewing this picture. Put aside all values and take the 4 hour ride of love.
  • lesleyanorton
    May 4, 2010
    lesleyanorton
    Yu has promised his dying mother he'll marry someone like the Virgin Mary. Yu' must start sinning so he can confess properly to his priest-in-crisis father. That's the initial set up but from there on in it gets more involved (but not more complicated) than that. There's sex an... read mored violence. There's cheesiness and Japanese schoolgirls and what wikipedia quaintly calls "upskirt photography". There's a religious cult, "The Church of Zero". There's bloody mayhem and erections and an alter-ego The Lady Scorpion and an audacious and wonderful soundtrack including a full forty minutes non-stop rendition of Ravel's Bolero (not heard tn such excess since Bo Derek swung her cornrows at Dudley Moore) .If you thought the title meant a cute and cuddly teenager Asian romantic comedy, think again.

  • cacutshaw
    April 16, 2010
    cacutshaw
    Absolute brilliance!  An epic story of love and the boundaries we construct to deny ourselves it?s wonder.  Vulgarity, sincerity, humour, melodrama and much more are in the fastest 4 hours you?ll ever spend.  A great film.
  • stabino
    March 21, 2011
    stabino
    The longest romance I ever seen, and I saw Titanic. This movie is 3 minutes under FOUR HOURS. The worse part was that it felt like 8. Sure, the story was intriguing and it exposes some of the most taboo subjects in Japanese (and modern) society and has a lot of young talented act... read moreors to anchor the film, but I couldn't stand it at times. Sprinkled with too many WTF moments, I had to drag the score down. Definitely a great movie for drinking games or sadistic torture. In the end, you're not going to champion it, you're just going to say, "I made it through".
  • sitenoise
    August 8, 2010
    sitenoise
    If you like Sono's work you will not be disappointed by this. If you haven't seen anything by him, why not start with a four hour movie? The music is great.
  • Bancho
    November 9, 2009
    Bancho
    The most shocking thing about this 4-hour film isn't the run time. It is isn't the sparse, yet explicit violent and sexual imagery. And it isn't the biting commentary on Christianity. The most shocking thing about Love Exposure is the way the characters evolve. The sto... read morery flows better and moves quicker than most 2-hour films out today.

View All Love Exposure Reviews

Critic Reviews

Jeannette Catsoulis
September 1, 2011
Jeannette Catsoulis, New York Times

Exhibiting astonishing dexterity, Mr. Sono shapes all this trauma into a narrative that's completely coherent and surprisingly touching, never more so than in Yu's struggle toward sexual maturity. Full Review

Mark Jenkins
September 1, 2011
Mark Jenkins, NPR

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. Full Review

David Lewis
September 1, 2011
David Lewis, San Francisco Chronicle

As the old cliche goes, you will not have another moviegoing experience quite like this one all year. Full Review

Mark Olsen
May 12, 2011
Mark Olsen, Los Angeles Times

Would the film be easier to take in a more condensed form? Of course it would, but then it wouldn't be the singularly overwhelming oddity that it is. Full Review

Donald J. Levit
December 1, 2011
Donald J. Levit, ReelTalk Movie Reviews

Manga-indebted but without lens trickery, this is exhilarating cinema experience. Full Review

Sara Maria Vizcarrondo
September 22, 2011
Sara Maria Vizcarrondo, Boxoffice Magazine

This four-hour opus about the fury of love and the love of fury is ritually fascinating, often excessive and, with a caution the film wields like a blade, achingly poignant. Full Review

Jeffrey M. Anderson
September 2, 2011
Jeffrey M. Anderson, Combustible Celluloid

The more you can let this amazing, unbelievable film overwhelm you, the better. Full Review

Simon Abrams
August 31, 2011
Simon Abrams, Slant Magazine

Love Exposure is, in a sense, Shion Sono's equivalent of the Great Russian novel. Full Review

David Fear
August 31, 2011
David Fear, Time Out New York

Love Exposure plays like a marathon greatest-hits-and-misses mixtape. If you see only one Sono film, check out this flick; you will have then seen them all. Full Review

Edward Porter
November 6, 2009
Edward Porter, Sunday Times (UK)

It's different, but it's exhausting. Without ever being funny, it keeps up a strident, cartoonish tone for all of its four hours. Full Review

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