Title: 愛のむきだし (Ai no Mukidashi) English title: Love Exposure Release Date: January 31, 2009 (Japan) This was my first introduction to both Sono Shion and Hikari Mitsushima. Sono Shion is also famous for the movie Suicide Club, amongst many others. Hikari Mitsushima bursts on the screen in an incredibly unforgettable role; Yuu, played by Nishijima, is in love with Mitsushima’s character Yoko. But this isn’t your typical love story, just like this isn’t a typical movie. Yuu has been operating under the impression since he was a child that, someday his Mary, (like the Biblical Mary) will come along. However, from childhood his images of the Virgin Mary have come to dominate his focus, creating an imagined ideal that, for him, all other girls just don’t live up to. Until, that is, Yoko comes along. The Biblical themes in this movie are far from subtle. In fact, you sometimes feel like you’re being beaten over the head with them. Interestingly enough though, this is what the movie is going for – most of the main characters are struggling with faith, religion, sin, and the loss of belief. This is also a story of separation, and things, for most of the film, do not turn out how the characters hope. Yuu becomes trapped in his enthusiasm to “create a lot of sin” as he at one point enthusiastically calls it. Yoko also, for most of the movie, fears and despises Yuu (with fairly good reason) yet at the same time is in love with one of his alter-egos. The loss of innocence is another powerful theme in this film. The protagonist is physically and possibly sexually abused from a young age. She then vents this anger and her desire for revenge by inflicting similar suffering on others. Yoko also becomes one of her victims. The young and innocent Yoko, also has faced similar problems of abuse, which makes the actions of the antagonist all the more despicable, as she deceives and brainwashes Yoko, eventually succeeding in getting her to join her cult. One of the most touching and memorable scenes comes when Yoko (Mistushima) screams a part from Second Corinthians in the Bible dealing with love, to Yuu. Yoko has been deceived by the protagonist into joining a dangerous religious cult. Yuu then kidnaps her and locks himself up with her in a van on a deserted beach until the “brainwashing” wears off. At one point, she escapes, only to be chased down and tackled by Yuu. With Beethoven’s Symphony no. 7 playing in the background, Yoko shouts out a beautiful description of love, revealing to Yuu his own lack of consideration for this most basic and fundamental thing and also revealing that she might be less “brainwashed” than Yuu had thought. It’s very easy to become confused when writing essay and trying to explain this movie, simply because of the amount of themes that are touched on. In addition to this, the movie spans almost 5 hours, on two DVDs. Two things that are important to note though, are that no matter what scenes appear (and some of them are pretty shocking) or what themes are dealt with, at its core this is a love story; and, the great thing is, the movie never loses its focus – all of the scenes in this movie, work to excel the plot. Finally, although the movie is long, there isn’t a single point where it becomes bogged down, or uninteresting. It keeps, and even forces the viewer to keep watching – something which I feel the audience will gladly oblige to.
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Title: 愛のコリーダ (Ai no Koriida) English Title: In the Realm of the Senses Release Date: 1976 (France) Director: Oshima Nagisa Cast: Matsuda Eiko, Fuji Tatsuya This movie was my first introduction to director Nagisa Oshima. As an interesting afterthought, I found parts of In the Realm of the Senses to be similar to the Tanizaki novel Quicksand. What can I say about this movie? Is it pornography? …I would say no. But are parts of it pornographic? …Definitely. Here’s the kicker though – it’s based on a true story. Sada Abe and Kitchizo Ishida were real people. This story, or at least similar events, actually happened during the late 1930s. So a couple of reasons why I want to give Oshima a lot of credit jump to mind. The first is that he was trying to portray an actual event – one that is, without a doubt, a difficult event to discuss or cover in any form of media. The next thing that really struck me about In the Realm of the Senses was the central plot element – the gradual and growing obsession of Sada and Kitchi toward each other. It’s not just that they’re addicted to sex, (which might be a simple and probably accurate way to put it), but there’s something deeper in their smothering affection for each other. Possibly this could be something that we often see reflected in ourselves, the feeling of desire for someone. Unable to escape desire ourselves, we can almost see ourselves, or at least a piece of ourselves, reflected in the main characters. If we look at the movie in this way, we begin to sense that Oshima had more of a humanistic than simply pornographic tone in mind, as he was making the movie. Passivity, aggression, a physical inability to detach from someone – all things that come into play within one’s life. And yet, Oshima shows us what a fine line these can ride on, when the main characters finally decide to cross it. For a while they’re a little out of control, then really out of control, and a process is set in motion which can hardly be stopped. Noriko's Dinner Table Title: 紀子の食卓 (Noriko no Shokutaku) English Title: Noriko's Dinner Table Release Date: 2005 “I took Psychology at school. In class, a bully and his victim reversed roles; and the bully felt the victim’s pain for the first time and wailed. The bully learned his lesson, and never bullied again. So someone has to play the role of victim.” This is the key motivator behind Noriko’s Dinner Table – a father who doesn’t listen to his daughter who wants to leave the house; a father who imagines his daughters happy even when they aren’t. In order for him to feel their pain, he must be put in their shoes (or so at least some of the movies characters think.) A truly amazing concept – that suffering can never really be known unless you witness something from the viewpoint of the person suffering. All of your actions must come back to you in the form of a circle – not a perfect circle, but one which, if drawn with thick enough lines, will look perfect. A lot of the elements that I thought were going to be continued from the first movie, Suicide Club, were, to my surprise, not mentioned at all in this movie. Instead, some of the incidents from the first movie were viewed in a completely different light, using different characters. “And just what is the Suicide Club!”, we want to yell out, along with some of the main characters who are searching for the true meaning of the club. And we’re simply told over and over, that it doesn’t exist. New avenues to its workings and organization however, are opened in Noriko’s Dinner Table. While the first movie seemed to tackle issues of suicide and group thinking, in a somewhat violent way, this movie deals more with concepts of family and the roles that we play for other people. This is turn, draws out on the question that was asked repeatedly in the first movie “How are you related (or connected) to yourself?” Disturbing, thought provoking, unforgettable – all describe Noriko’s Dinner Table well. A watch that will take the mentally unprepared off balance and leaves us all asking the question, “Just how much are we really considering the feelings of those around us, especially our loved ones?” |
AuthorMy name is Alina Tytarenko. I am a movie lover and soap maker. My website is Dobre Mylo (natural cosmetics). ArchivesCategories |