Love Exposure (2009-Japan)

Takahiro Nishijima Yu Tsunoda - 17 year old high school student. Yu looks for love from his father (who is a priest). but his father has become emotionally detached from him. Because of this Yu starts to commit sins to regain his attention. During this time, Yu falls in love with a girl named Yoko. Yoko will later move into Yu's house to become his possible future step-sister.

Hikari Mitsushima Yoko - As a young girl Yoko was emotionally & perhaps sexually abused by her father. When her father brings home a new woman named Saori, Yoko becomes attached to Saori's free spirited ways and follows her when she leaves her father for the Roman Catholic priest Tetsu.

Atsuro Watabe Tetsu Tsunoda - Yu's father and a Roman Catholic priest. After he loses his wife to a terminal disease, he finds love once again with a fee spirited woman named Kaori. But, Kaori eventually leaves Tetsu and Tetsu falls into deep despair. During this time, Tetsu becomes emotionally detached from his own son Yu.

Makiko Watanabe Kaori Fujiwara - Kaori is a free spirited woman who one day appears in Tetsu's church. Kaori then throws herself onto Tetsu and they eventually become a couple. Because of Tetsu's refusal to reveal their relationship to the public at large, she leaves Tetsu to find a new boyfriend who has a teenage daughter named Yoko. Later, Kaori leaves her new boyfriend to return to Tetsu, but brings along Yoko.

Sakura Ando Aya Koike - Aya Koike was emotionally, physically, and sexually abused by her father. She eventually joins a religios cult group named "Church Zero." Saori then comes across Yu Tsunoda and becomes attracted to his unique mannerisms. Saori later hatches a plan to bring Yu's entire family into the Church Zero clan.

Additional Cast Members:

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lurazop May 01 2017 11:19 am I watch this movie not knowing that it is so long, I kind of wonder why the development part is too much, so detailed & everything & then I check the duration. what the. I kind of love it and now I wish it will be much longer, I kind of hate the chapter about Zero Church because they are so annoying. Btw, highly recommended!

Obviously, you have sinned in writing such an awful comment. so, I forgive you

topaz Nov 30 2016 9:31 am Ai no Mukidashi. What a great film. Sion Sono's works are underappreciated masterpieces, with great story and design. The character development is quite intruiging and shows how well the actors have done in portraying their respective character in the film. 9.5 / 10 film. Would definitely recommend to others if they are looking to watch japanese films.

Hey mofo! Jul 10 2016 2:00 am Hey Clarkdale, you phucker, even if this movie is ridiculous it is quite funny, and fairly interesting. I'll admit it's a little boring towards the end, but still one of the best Japanese/asian movies I've seen even at 4 hours. Plus, there's always a cute girl to look at (and I count Takahiro Nishijima as a cute girl).

Liked Degrassi, this movie goes there.

Roberta Jun 29 2016 2:13 am Clarkdale, this is obviously one of the most interesting modern movies ever. It encompasses almost every subject about human life, from psychology to erotism. I think you've simply watched another movie instead of L.E.

Clarkdale44 Mar 29 2014 1:05 am Well all i can say is this is the most worst and senseless movie i have ever seen so far. I don't understand the purpose of making such thing. Worst casting, worst story, worst cinematography. I don't know what was the writer thinking when such story was being written.

Only watch this if you have plenty of time to waste. I will give it 1/10(Bad casting, stupid and senseless story)

Kai Dec 05 2013 8:05 am that is a strong one. not surprising, that it has so many awards.

Takahiro is fantastic actor!

debt consolidation Aug 05 2013 11:46 pm Hello mates, how is all, and what you want to say about this piece of writing, in my view its truly awesome in support of me.

raghad May 10 2013 11:18 am his dad is the worst how could he do that to his son and after yu entered the hospital he didn't visit his only son

this is great movie :)

Ilovejapan movies. drama. music. all about japan i love them <3 someday i will go there :)))

internet Nov 14 2012 2:44 pm Yоu сould certainlу seе уοur enthuѕiasm in thе work you ωrite. The sectоr hopes foг more passionate writers such as you who aren't afraid to say how they believe. At all times go after your heart.

maisie Sep 17 2011 10:53 am hi, i was having a aleepover with my bestfriend, We were up till nearly 4 in the morning watching this movie! Its amazing and we laughed and cryed and went awww like a million times, then all we were doing from 4 in the morn to 5 was looking for asian movies.  :D Wo ai nee. (( i love it! )) I watched it on the 16th september, grt movie, and the boy is super cute! :D

Aaronation84 Sep 16 2011 4:27 pm I saw Love Exposure on Film4 via SKY Television in the United Kingdom and its real moving, Hikari Mitsushima and Sakura Ando are so cute in the film and they're both sweet.

ayanib Sep 11 2011 1:17 pm this is my favourate film. when i first watched this movie,,there was something wrong in subtitle. now again willing to watch it. it is a great movie that i ever had seen till now.

Rodge Jun 03 2011 8:52 pm Just seen this movie on Freeview Film 4 (UK), and found it spellbinding. Takahiro has brilliant career ahead of him if the scripts come his way. A long film, but worthy of it's length and thoroughly engaging to watch.

salvador Mar 23 2011 1:38 am Hace unos minutos que termine de ver la película, quede en "shock", tenía la pinta de una película más de acción y perversión y nada más, pero realmente toca, aspectos "débiles" de la religión; altamente recomendable y sobre todo la duración permite al espectador entender más el punto de vista de los "creadores" del filme

Hidetaki Maruyama Feb 13 2011 8:01 am This is bad film because content pornography of teenager. Japan is good culture dont break all kindness by this sin on this film, any picture that Yoko pant's look when she fighting the gangster. Sion sono how are you? Why your name sion? Are you Jew?

Pekka Jan 10 2011 3:23 am Pretty much best movie ever to me and believe me i have seen quite a lot of movies considering my young age. Everything was perfect in this epic japanese movie: acting, plot, music, directing, flow and all other things that just now don’t come to my head. I’m shocked that this didn’t even win an japanese academy award or if it was even nominated in one? Still, this is my favorite movie of all time now and i’m finding it hard to believe that there ever will come a movie that’s equally epic, funny, sad, crazy, twisted and beautiful as this one. Saying all that, it doesn’t come as an upset that this movie deserves the full score 100% imo. Oh, and i admit that i did drop a few tears at the end of this movie. It was just so beautiful and mesmerizing. this was more than just a movie.

amy cherry Nov 06 2010 8:34 pm This movie has totally moved me-it is amazing. It's a pity it isn't in English and normally i won't watch a movie with subtitles but as soon as i put this movie on i had to watch the rest-it caught my attention straight away. The fact that it is based on a true story is unbelievable-it shows how twisted this world really is. watch this movie i promise you will not be disappointed.

jerrick panlican Oct 06 2010 7:24 am i love yoko ilove youuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuu

jerrick panlican Oct 06 2010 6:51 am Watashi wa sore ga pinikulangda wasurenai Hikari no yĹŤ ni lallolalo koto YĹŤko Mitsushima

jerrick panlican Oct 06 2010 6:45 am this movie is fulltime awarded. all cast wast amezing ameze ameze. ilove this movie specialy for yoko=hikari mitsushima.

sellykinz Aug 20 2010 8:41 am This movie was so crazy! Based on what I read in the plot, I was completely taken by surprise. This is the kind of movie that I'll never forget.

A British R2 dvd by Third Window Films has just been released of this if importing is an option.

eric Jan 10 2010 2:24 am Legit DVDs with English subs are out in a few weeks: Third Window Films in the UK is releasing a 2-DVD set. I saw the movie last September at Fantastic Fest, and it is amazing. There was an intermission at the 2-hour mark, and when the screen went dark for a 10-minute break, no one could believe it was half over. Don’t pass this one up because of the length, you’ll never notic

honzo Nov 05 2009 2:28 am Love Exposure – Ai no mukidashi is one of them rare treasures that come along only so often. A movie experience not to be missed.

Hikari Mitsushima = Yoko. absolutely beautiful

I don’t know… I’m frequently annoyed by films that are longer than they need to be. Love Exposure isn’t too bad on this front; it certainly didn’t have me looking at my watch, but I would disagree that it would hard to trim this film down. I think you could quite easily re-make this as a two hour film and really not lose all that much.

The cinema I saw this at give it an arbitrary interval at the two hour mark and the first half was definitely the strongest. The zany, quick fire first two hours were pretty great. However, thereafter, I don’t think the director does anything all that meaningful with the cult aspect of the film which takes centre stage and he writes himself into a corner with the film’s main relationship (to the extent that it’s rather laughably resolved).

Okay, maybe focused on the negative here. But if the first half of the film was four star worthy, the second half was probably nearly two stars, averaging out at three overall. Given this film’s running length I wasn’t too hopeful, but I went to watch it because of my curiosity. So it exceeded my expectations, by just being good, but, yeah, I do think it’s a bit unbalanced in its quality.

I thought somebody could help me to find this movie with english subtitles in Europe! I saw it in Germany even with german subtitles but i can´t find it with english ones;-( If somebody knows where to buy. thanks!

Ryuuji Sep 30 2009 2:33 am Just watched this. Truely an amazing and moving film. A lot of the film was quite disturbing and there was quite a lot of comedy in it. But it was very well put together.

I also have to applaud the soundtrack, it really added something to this film.

Mike Sep 29 2009 1:05 am I saw Love Exposure at the Melbourne International Film Festival this year, was absolutely entranced - an amazing experience I won't forget for a long time. And now I'm searching frantically for some way to see it again (with English subtitles).

Canberra Film Festival in October? Fingers crossed. Japanese Film Festival in Sydney? Fingers crossed.

I will travel interstate if I have to. Or do I have to wait for the UK DVD release and order it from overseas? I'm hoping instead an Australian film distributor will look past the 237 min running time and see it as a beautiful, funny, engaging, moving, engrossing cinema experience which will surely get a cult following.

skoubri Sep 23 2009 8:34 am I bet everyone happened to choose a movie just on a whim and get surprised by it in the end. This is what happened with this film. I was mesmerized by the characters, the simple yet powerful plot, the combination of image and sound. I found myself laughing, crying, being furious, desperate, frustrated. I caught myself hoping for the characters' happiness. A movie that can give birth to so many feelings is definitely a must-see movie. Unfortunately I'm not an expert to talk with the right words about it, but I can say that this is a treasure. One of those movies you watch once and remember your whole life. One of those movies you watch once and the next day can watch it again. Once of those movies you want to share with the people you admire. One of those movies that give you something even though you are unconscious about it. One of those movies that can describe through simple words the substance of a human being. One of those movies that land in the depth of our heart.

the soundtrack was amazing. DOES SOMEBODY KNOWS WHERE TO GET THE SOUNDTRACK. OR THE NAMES OF THE ARTISTS.

would really love to get the information. didnt find anything in the www.

great movie : ) cheers priska

Ki Sep 12 2009 6:13 pm Well, there’s epic films (think “Red Cliff” and “20th Century Boys”) and there’s epics of the unexpected kind that leaves you with the feeling of seeing something profound. Without a doubt “Love Exposure” lies in the latter category. The movie is ambitious, at times gratuitous, but always mesmerizes with a labyrinth like story that also has this yin and yang like simplicity to it. From the get go, you’ll know “Love Exposure” isn’t your run of the mill film with its mammoth 237 minute runtime. While some of the runtime could have been trimmed if absolutely required, the movie in its final form doesn’t seem to have many wasted moments. The film’s pacing is swift and able to become more intriguing as the story progresses. With “Love Exposure” you can’t help to note the film director, Sion Sono, making a Takeshi Miike like quantum leap from indie cult film director (”Suicide Club,” “Strange Circus,” “Hazard”) to a maestro able to take on all comers.

“Love Exposure” is broken down to individual chapters and to summarize the film its easier to understand if broken down into two main parts. The first half (pre “The Miracle”) deals with 17 year old teenage boy Yu Tsunoda (Takahiro Nishijima) and his relationship with his father Tetsu Tsunoda (Atsuro Watabe) – who becomes a Roman Catholic priest. Their relationship becomes fractured after the introduction of a care free woman named Kaori (Makiko Watanabe). Kaori doesn’t beat around the bush in her desire for Catholic Priest Tetsu Tsunoda. It also doesn’t take Tetsu Tsunoda long to succumb to Kaori’s temptation and they quickly fall into a heated relationship. Eventually Tetsu, Kaori, and Yu move in together as family. Unfortunately, Tetsu must hide their relationship from the Church and public at large – which means they have to live in secrecy. This becomes a huge turn off to Kaori and she leaves Tetsu because of this. After Kaori leaves, Tetsu becomes a shell of his former self and falls into deep despair. Tetsu’s disillusionment with himself then becomes projected onto his own son Yu. Yu sensing the growing distance between himself and his father does everything he can to regain his father’s favor. Eventually Yu realizes the only way to get Tetsu’s attention is by committing sins and confessing these sins to his father.

Now a full fledged bad boy, Yu looks for any means to commit sins. He then takes up the odd preoccupation of snapping panty photo’s of unwitting girls walking down the street. He becomes incredibly proficient at snapping these photos and even trains two of his new friends. One day, Yu accepts a bet from his friend on who took the best panty picture. Yu is then blindsided by a near perfect picture taken by his friend. Having to fulfill the bet, Yu now goes into the city dressed in drag and attempts to kiss the first girl he comes across.

Once Yu and his friends enters the city they find a feisty high school aged girl surrounded by a group of thugs. The girl is about to take them all on and Yu jumps in to the fray to help her. After Yu and the girl obliterate their opponents, the girl thanks Yu and reveals her name, which is Yoko. At this moment, Yu receives an erection for the first time in his life and he falls instantly in love with Yoko. For Yoko, she also falls in love, but not with Yu per se. Yoko is in love with the tall women she sees whom Yu calls “Miss Scorpion”.

From here we get the second act of the film known as “The Miracle” which covers Yu and Yoko’s mistaken identity relationship. Yoko is so smitten with “Miss Scorpion” that she becomes convinced she is a lesbian. Meanwhile, Yu is unable to reveal his real identity to Yoko because Yoko has moved into his house as his future step sister! This occurs because Kaori (who left Tetsu earlier in the movie) comes back to Tetsu and brings along Yoko, the daughter of her prior lover.

Things become even more complicated by a stalking woman named Aya Koike who is a member of the cult group “Church Zero”. She has eyes for Yu and devises a plan to get Yu’s entire family to join the Church Zero.

As the scenario unfolds (which just may be the scenario of the decade), Sion Sono embellishes his mind boggling tale with charm, violence, perversity, romance, and questions of faith. Visually, the film isn’t as special with its nondescript HD camera work. The film really shines because of its script and the more than capable performances by all five main actors. Takahiro Nishijima as main protagonist Yu Tsuonda has the looks to become a huge star and he does everything right to become one in “Love Exposure”. Sakura Ando also turns in a head turning performance as the main antagonist in the film. She easily evokes the disparate emotions of hatred and pity from the audience. Lastly, Hikari Mitsushima as the sailor moon like character with karate chops provides the needed edge to balance out Yu’s more good natured personality.

With Sion Sono’s background as indie cult director and his propensity for shock, “Love Exposure” also contains moments of shock value which will appeal to a certain group and put off other groups. The panty snapping vignettes (having a Stanley Kubrick “A Clockwork Orange” like feel with its well laid out choreography aligned to tranquil classical music), the kung fu elements (a nod to all the foreign film goers who soaks up “The Machine Girl” and similar films), and the running erection gag with Yu are all examples of this. With all of these moments I held a sense of ambivalence and opted to take in those moments as bit parts to the larger puzzle of “Love Exposure.” One group of scenes that I did feel could have been entirely stricken out of the film was “Chapter 2″ and its background on Aya Koike’s early life. The sadistic nature in which her father punished Aya almost seemed to invite snickers from the audience with its repeated chants of “give it to me”. Sono’s goal with these scenes were most likely to lay the seeds of Koike’s sad state of affairs in the movie’s second half, but this could have been as easily accomplished with just a few words. This is only a minor quibble as those scenes only takes up a fraction of the movie’s runtime.

Make no doubt it, when watching “Love Exposure” you’ll likely encounter feelings of awe from its all encompassing story. You’ll also find bits and pieces of Sono’s earlier work from “Suicide Club,” “Strange Circus,” and “Hazard” within “Love Exposure” – but there’s also that extremely rare feeling of watching something truly unique unfold in front of yours eyes. With all that said, Sion Sono also lays the simplest of love stories within its epic story that all teens can relate with. To think of it another way, how often will you come across a four hour film that’s fun, fast paced, and beefy enough to satisfy the art house crowd? None that I can recall.

Phil Aug 19 2009 12:01 pm It was screened at the Fantasia film festival here in Montreal in July. but I was too late. Oh well, i'll watch it eventually !!

Raku Aug 16 2009 8:37 pm Alex there's been no screening of Love Exposure in any English film festivals yet, it has it's English premiere in October which I'm definitely attending!

stalker Aug 15 2009 8:51 am how come it's not shown in other parts of Asia? i'f it has been release on theaters even for a short while i'll definitely watch it even if i have to read the subs the whole time. it's hottie Nishijima Takahiro for crying out loud! >_<

Alex Jul 23 2009 10:15 pm I saw this movie at the NY premiere of it. Definitely worth buying

You can purchase the Japanese version, but it will without a doubt have no subtitles (though there will be some great extra features that won't be available on any Western version of the DVD).

There have been a few people saying the film won't be released in the USA, but I'm pretty sure it will come out on DVD here--the film proved popular in the Australian, English, Canadian, and American film festivals, and the film was subbed for those. Without a doubt though, if it IS released on DVD, the DVD won't come out until at least a year after it has been shown at the festivals. =/

(Let's wait for it anyway!)

Pierre Jul 15 2009 6:04 pm I saw this movie at Fantasia Festival a few days ago. It's simply a terrific movie. The DVD is being released in Japan at the end of july 2009 but there are no subtitles on the discs.

Leah Mar 30 2009 3:14 pm OMGOMG MUST SEE! TAKAHIRO-SAMA IS MY FUCKING LOVE! BUT I DONT WANT TO SEE HIM FUCK ANOTHER GIRL!

And Howard, I highly doubt it will come out anywhere in the states. You'll have to wait for a subbed version online or buy the original copy and see if it has english subs.