On Obsessions, Corinthians, and Parakeets

Location Info

Map

Roxie Theater

3117 16th St. (at Valencia)
San Francisco, CA 94103

Category: Performing Arts Venues

Region: Mission/ Bernal Heights

Photos

2 user reviews	Write A Review
Save to foursquare	0

Related Content

• "Love Exposure": Ninja Softcore Art Movie? Yes, Please
  August 31, 2011
• "Cold Fish": Japanese Thriller Shows the Making of a Killer
  September 14, 2011
• Chris’ Cross
  September 21, 2011
• The 13 Worst Songs to Listen to While High
  January 24, 2012
• The Great Unknown
  January 12, 2011

More About

• Sion Sono
• Quentin Tarantino
• Pets
• Pet Birds

Like this Story?

Sign up for the Events Newsletter: What's happening in town? From underground club nights to the biggest outdoor festivals, our top picks for the week's best events will always keep you in on the action.

Privacy Policy Cancel Continue

A four-hour film that zips by in a feverish dream, Sion Sono's ninja softcore art movie satire Love Exposure enlists viewers in its cult even as you're watching it. Which is odd, as among its accomplishments it mocks religion (Japanese Catholicism, and a Moonielike cult), and mocks the insane romanticism of its protagonists, while at the same time treating the spiritual love these characters seek absolutely seriously. And that's the secret of this 2008 Japanese film's success. Yu, a deluded teenage boy, seeks to win his priestly father's love by becoming the worst sinner he can imagine, which leads him from upskirt photography to eventual fame as the father confessor to a parade of fetishists. Half a dozen other major characters jostle for our attention, their doings cleverly organized by Sono in a chaptered structure laden with flashbacks and asides that owes not a little to Quentin Tarantino. Mass murder, child abuse, castration ... lesbians, transvestites, parakeets ... Yet the jokes stop when the film stops for several minutes to allow Yu's schoolgirl obsession, Yoko, to harangue his failure to truly love by shouting 1 Corinthians 13 at him in one long take: "Love is patient. Love is kind." Did I mention the parakeets?
Sept. 2-8, 2011