Love Exposure (2008, Dir: Sion Sono)

Of the 17 films I saw at the recent International Film Festival in Auckland, this was my wild-card. The festival brochure described Love Exposure as having “what must be the most upskirt panty shots in history.” Sounds good.

Love Exposure is a very odd film. It’s Japanese, deals with an extremely odd subject matter, and it runs from 3 minutes shy of a full four hours. It’s also fantastic.

We spend the first hour being introduced to Yu (Takahiro Nishijima). Overlaid with Ravel’s Bolero – which adds to the oddness – Yu’s story involves his despair with life in general. He finds that the only way he can spend quality time with his Priest father is in the confession booth, and that means committing sins. Yu’s initial foray into committing sins are relatively innocent, until he meets a local gang who introduce him to the self-styled “King of Perverts”. It is here where Sono’s film turns hilarious. Yu is shown how to use the speed and agility of kung-fu to take upskirt photographs of oblivious Japanese girls – what the film calls ‘Peek-a-Panty’ shots. At this point the sold-out audience in the cinema was roaring with laughter. We’re treated to a fairly lengthy montage of Yu putting his new skills to the test – all kung-fu sound-effects and crash zooms onto his posturing face.

Around the one-hour mark, Sono treats us to something: the title of the film onscreen. I know some of those James Bond pre-credit sequences can be quite lengthy, but they’re nothing compared to this. After Yu’s story, we learn about the other leading characters: Yoko (Hikari Mitsushima), the subject of Yu’s affection and the cutest thing to grace the screen this side of Thirst’s Kim Ok-bin; and Aya (Sakura Ando), the budgie-loving leader of a local girl gang. There’s even a nice dose of situation comedy thrown in for good measure, with the three narrator’s stories coming together just at the point where Yu, to satisfy a bet, happens to be dressed as a woman.

Featuring an eclectic soundtrack of classical, Japanese pop and – inexplicably - obscure early Pink Floyd (the gentler acoustic songs off Atom Heart Mother’s B-side), Love Exposure is definitely a film to see. Four hours is a long time to spend in a cinema, so it should be welcomed on DVD where it can be broken down to the viewer’s satisfaction (to enjoy it thoroughly though, you really need to see it in one sitting). Sono claims that this cut represents the shortest version he could edit it down to. I strongly disagree as there are some sections towards the end of the film which play out far too long. Although every film has a lull, Love Exposure has a few – all occurring in the second half of the film.

Apparently the film has been a cult arthouse hit in Japan – hopefully it will reach something close to that in the west.