Director – Sion Sono – 2008 – Japan – Cert. 18 – 237m
*****
Originally published in Third Way to coincide with the UK DVD release date 11/01/2010.
Currently streaming on BFI Player as part of the Cult Japan section together with a much wider selection of Japanese movies.
Blu-ray on sale for a bargain £10 in Arrow Video’s sale.
There are very good reasons why this has an 18 certificate in the UK; younger readers should probably stop reading this review NOW!
A four hour marathon which races past the viewer at breakneck speed covering father-son relationships, Catholicism, sin, teen gangs, martial arts stunts, upskirt photography, violence, swordplay, castration, porno movie production, religious cults and more will sound to many like a film to avoid at all costs. Viewing, however, reveals a must see religious movie. (And many other things too – compelling comedy action drama, for instance.)
A Tokyo family of devout Catholics is emotionally ripped apart when the young mother dies, leaving teenage son Yu (Takahiro Nijishima) with instructions that the Girl Of His Dreams will appear to him as the Virgin Mary. Husband/father Tetsu (Atsuro Watabe) compensates for his loss by entering the priesthood and forcing the boy to attend confession regularly.
Lacking any impressive sins, Yu starts to first invent then enact some in order to retain his father’s affection. He scores highly by taking stills photographs up girls’ dresses, which practice possesses the required degrees of offence and taboo (and is hilariously realised here with an ingenious use of martial arts techniques). Owing to a bet with mates, he is cross-dressed (“Miss Scorpion”) when he realises, via his first erection, that the schoolgirl he’s just rescued from a street beating is his Virgin Mary. Unfortunately for him, object of desire Yoko (Hikari Mitsushima) hates men (except for Kurt Cobain)!
Subsequent scheming by bad girl – and regional official of religious cult Zero Church – Aya Koike (Sakura Ando) complicates the plot considerably. But ultimately, it leads to a form of personal redemption involving, among other things, a lengthy citation of 1 Corinthians 13.
I’ve left out a lot, but events are brilliantly and seamlessly woven together by writer-director Sono to more than justify his considerable running length. He seems to have a great and genuine understanding not only of what makes his characters tick, but also of the Christian religion (at least in its Catholic variant) as practised in Japan and, indeed, of issues theological in general.
Nor is he afraid to jostle the Sacred with the Secular. One minute you’re in church grappling with the problem of a short-skirted party girl convert who fancies the celibate priest, the next you’re watching a teenager fall in with a street gang. You’ll be hooked right up to the transcendent finale involving a broken cop car window. Throughout, the piece brims with provocative and intelligently thought out ideas; as a plus, it’s hugely enjoyable. A work of genius.
The UK DVD comes with a second disc featuring an hour long Making Of feature.
Currently streaming on BFI Player as part of the Cult Japan section together with a much wider selection of Japanese movies.
Here’s the trailer:
Blu-ray on sale for a bargain £10 in Arrow Video’s sale.