Third Window Films Release Love Exposure on Blu-Ray!

A Blu-Ray re-release of Love Exposure had to happen. At four hours the film has to be split up on to two discs when it is transferred onto DVD which means breaking the magic of a viewing experience by getting up and changing discs. Love Exposure is now on Blu-Ray (its release coincides with the DVD/Blu-ray release of Sion Sono’s newest film Himizu). You can hear what Goregirl and I thought about the film in our next Sono podcast next week. By the way, four hours was not the total running time of the film and a lot of it was cut but thanks to the storage capacity of Blu-Ray you get all of that cut footage amidst an awesome set of extras.

Here are the details!

Love Exposure

 

(CERT 18)

 A film by Sono Sion
(Himizu, Noriko’s Dinner Table, Suicide Circle)

One of the most talked-about Japanese cult films of the last decade finally makes its way onto blu-ray featuring a new high definition transfer supervised by director Sion Sono along with brand new extra features!

Starring

Hikari Mitsushima (Hara-Kiri, Sawako Decides, Villain)

Sakura Ando (Crime or Punishment?!?, Our Homeland)

Atsuro Watabe (Black Dawn, Three…Extremes, Zebraman)

Japan / 2008 / 237 Mins / In Japanese with English subtitles / Colour / HD

 

DVD/BLU-RAY RELEASE DATE:  6th August 2012

Extra Features:

1 hour long ‘Making Of’

Additional 30 minute ‘Making Of’ featuring interview with Sion Sono

Sakura Ando Deleted & Extended Scenes

Hikari Mitsushima Deleted & Extended Scenes

Zero Church Deleted Scene

Theatrical Trailer

Yu (Nishijima) lives the life of a devout Christian. After his mother dies his father Tetsu (Watabe) becomes a priest but is soon seduced by an emotionally volatile woman named Kaori (Watanabe) who then proceeds to leave him. A heart-broken Tetsu begins to torment the spiritually and morally innocent Yu by forcing him to confess sins on a daily basis.  To appease his father Yu begins to sin and on the advice of delinquent friends he trains to become an expert in up-skirt photography and becomes a master at getting panty shots. One day, while dressed as a woman, he witnesses a beautiful man-hating girl named Yoko (Mitsushima) get into a street brawl. He instantly falls in love with her and decides to intervene. Little does he know that a cult leader in the Zero Church named Aya (Ando) is manipulating them for her own purposes.

Signal – Monday’s Ruka, The Way – Man of the White Porcelain, Hotaru The Movie: It’s Only A Little Light in My Life, Library War: The Wings of Revolution Trailers and Japanese Charts

A mixed week in movie terms. Himizu flopped on its opening weekend leading Third Window Films to suspend future theatrical releases. It didn’t deserve to happen because it’s a brilliant film. Seriously, everybody needs to support labels like Third Window Films, Terracotta, Masters of Cinema, Artificial Eye so they keep releasing great gilms. In other news I started my Korean movie season and reviewed Arirang which was interesting but the best high? I went to see Prometheus yesterday and I absolutely loved it. Speaking as a fan of the Alien franchise I loved it. Sir Ridley Scott has delivered another classic – anybody who disagrees is wrong.

What do the Japanese movie box-office charts look like?

1.  Men in Black III
2.  Thermae Romae
3.  Dark Shadows
4.  The Final Judgement
5.  Girls for Keeps

Will Smith proves he is still a global superstar but Thermae Romae is still in the top five! After dropping to number three last week it clawed its way back up to two. Nikkatsu’s The Final Judgement enters at four while Black Dawn entered at seven. What Japanese films get released today?

Signal – Monday’s Ruka                                                    

Romaji: Sigunaru ~ Getsuyobi no Ruka

Japanese Title: シグナル月曜日のルカ

Release Date: 09^th June 2012 (Japan)

Running Time: 112 mins.

Director: Masaaki Taniguchi

Writer: Hirotoshi Kobayashi, Yoshinobu Kamo,Hisashi Sekiguchi (original novel),

Starring: Azusa Mine, Takahiro Nishijima, Kengo Kora, Ken Utsui, Shunya Shiraishi, Yurie Midori

A mystery/romance film based on Hisashi Sekiguchi’s novel of the same name the lead role is taken by a new face in the form of Azusa Mine while Takahiro Nishijima (Love Exposure, Himizu) provides the male romantic lead. Other big names include Kengo Kora (Norwegian Wood), and Yurie Midori (GANTZ).

 

Ruka (Mine) is a young woman who has not left the theatre where she has worked as a projectionist for the last few years. This is set to change when university student Keisuke (Nishijima) arrives to work at the cinema oer summer and becomes attracted to Ruka.

Love Exposure 愛のむきだし (2009)

Sion Sono’s Love Exposure is a tale of lust, obsession and religious ferour which has a four hour running time but breezes by quite happily.

Yu (Nishijima) lives the life of a devout Christian. After his mother dies his father Tetsu (Watabe) becomes a priest but is soon seduced by an emotionally volatile woman named Kaori (Watanabe) who then proceeds to leave him. A heart-broken Tetsu begins to torment the spiritually and morally innocent Yu by forcing him to confess sins on a daily basis.  To appease his father Yu begins to sin on a daily basis and on the advice of delinquent friends he trains to become an expert in upskirt photography and becomes a master at getting panty shots. One day, while dressed as a girl, he witnesses a beautiful man-hating girl named Yoko (Mitsushima) get into a street brawl. He instantly falls in love with her and decides to intervene. Little does he know that a cult leader in the Zero Church named Aya (Ando) is manipulating them for her own purposes.

Sion Sono has directed and written a story which is bursting with ideas and good humour. It is delivered in a non-linear manner from multiple viewpoints. Unlike Cold Fish there is no grit here and instead what we get is a bright and goofy story that satirises cults, high school romance, martial arts and ‘tosatsu’ – the art of taking pictures of girl’s underwear.