Sion Sono
dir. Sion Sono
Japan 2008, 237’
Subtitles: Polish
Screenings
02.10.2023, 19:00
Cinema Muranów
Yū is a lonely teen whose Catholic faith has cast him into inner turmoil. After the death of his mother, his father became a priest and has his own church. He tries to force the boy to confess his sins. When he doesn’t have any to confess, he thinks some up, but they don’t sound convincing enough – so he embarks on an adventure to really and truly besmirch himself.
“What would Jesus not do?” Out of a need to rebel and revolt, Yū engages in some perverse pornographic activity. On his path he meets Yōko, who becomes his Virgin Mary, and Aya, who attempts to ensnare him in the cult of the Zero Church. The resultant love triangle goads the young people on to ever more drastic acts, with unforeseeable consequences.
Love Exposure brought Sion Sono well deserved fame and recognition. It is held up as one of the most outstanding and unforgettable productions of the early 20th century in Japanese cinema.
Prizes and festivals
Berlin International Film Festival 2009 – Caligari Film Award, FIPRESCI Prize: Sion Sono
Fantasia Film Festival 2009 – Best Asian Film, Most Innovative Film, Special Jury Prize: Sion Sono, Jury Prize: Best Female Performance: Mitsushima Hikari
New York Asian Film Festival 2008 – Grand Jury Prize: Sion Sono
Bucheon International Fantastic Film Festival 2009 – Netpac Award (Special Mention): Mitsushima Hikari, Ando Sakura
Tokyo Filmex 2008 – Audience Award: Sion Sono
Kinema Junpo Awards 2010 – Best New Actor: Nishijima Takahiro, Best Supporting Actress: Mitsushima Hikari
Yokohama Film Festival 2010 – Best New Talent: Mitsushima Hikari, Best Supporting Actress: Ando Sakura
Sion Sono
“I believe that people should engage with this film as if they were watching a wrestling match,” Sono once joked. On the festival circuit, Love Exposure was received with the full gamut of emotions. It delighted and excited both young audiences and discerning critics, and saw its director showered with prizes and accolades.
Love Exposure is a film about young people in which Sono, like many Japanese directors before him, uses Catholicism, a system with only a marginal, even ephemeral presence in the country, as the basis for a provocative critique of religion as a dangers system of values incompatible with life. Its paradoxes disorient Yū, and in time deprave him entirely, which shows the destructive influence of fanaticism, particularly on young people vulnerable to manipulation. It is also a gripping example of a series of Japanese films addressing the phenomenon of “new religions”.
Watching this over four-hour work is often described as a very physical experience. Despite its unusual length, its fans aver that it is something to return to over and over again, preferably in a circle of like-minded people.
Production team
director: Sion Sono
screenplay: Sion Sono
camera: Tanikawa Sōhei
editor: Itō Jun'ichi
score: Morinaga Yasuhiro
costumes: Hakamada Chiyoe
cast: Mizuno Miki, Togashi Makoto, Kagurazaka Megumi, Kazuya Kojima, Nikaido Satoshi
producer: Chiba Yoshinori
distributor: Omega Project
language: Japanese
colour/ BW: colour
