Jaime Rebanal 🇵🇸’s review published on Letterboxd:
Love Exposure is cinematic lunacy at perhaps some of its most wonderful. A near four hour long romantic comedy that features cross-dressing, is packed with action, or just insanity all around, it's enough to have someone like me sold in. If I'm not mistaken, this also can go into contention for being one of the most intricate portraits of the state of mind from the 21st century, and probably one of the finest films of the decade even. Insanity at its absolute most wonderful. Perverse it is, yet similarly it is quite a wonder.
There's a way one can think of something like Love Exposure, it's not merely a film that shows a teen's sexual discovery but also detailing what characterizes Japan as a nation, at least through the insanity of their cinema. Given its near four hour length, the film never stops to let anyone take a breath, it just keeps going on and on, willing to let all of its lunacy explode on the screen and I ask for one thing, more. What I love is how freely Sion Sono goes on with the style. He doesn't care, but no matter how over-the-top it can be, it's all glorious.
Sion Sono manages to justify a near four hour long running time by filling it up to the brim with what's necessary, all these themes regarding lust, betrayal, religion, soon one asks, what is Love Exposure, really? Is it a comedy? A drama? A romance? An action film? Or perhaps it's something blending all of these kinds into one, creating some sort of celebration for insanity? It forms something that shows so much freedom and creativity, some of the most that I've ever seen in the last decade.
Even with all of this insanity at hand, Sono fits in what also appears to be an interesting commentary on religion. At least, given the idolatry that is shown by the fanatics, Sono's means of satirizing their ways is absolutely wonderful. It's absolutely wonderful especially considering how unafraid Love Exposure is to go with its portrait of the fanaticism. Given how insanely everything flows, it's amazing how clever and biting it all sounds.
With the odd balance of just about everything, it's also amazing how well Sion Sono goes ahead to handle what appears to be the more melodramatic aspects to the story he's telling within such a sprawling epic. At least, it's easy to tell with the soundtrack choices he offers, which compliment the film's style so perfectly. The soundtrack carries a specific mood to be embraced within the scenario, but it is never manipulative for it doesn't dominate what takes place on the screen - it's only there as a guide for emotion.
Given how unafraid it is with its portrait of perversity especially among adolescents, it's simply something wonderful on many counts. Within the near four hour running time, it's amazing how well it manages to justify such a length by making the ride feel like such a breeze to sit through. In fact, by the time it all ended, I wanted much more. It's about time a film has ever been so unafraid in all its glory to go all-out just everywhere. Love Exposure embraces what is absolutely fantastic about such insanity. Something like this comes once in a lifetime, and it's not to be missed. In a sense, it can be said that Love Exposure is the "most Japanese" film ever in terms of capturing the sheer insanity that they can expose.
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