Berlinale 2009, Day 1 (Ai no Mukidashi)

The first day started off okayish. First of all, we did not get into the screening of a short film compilation, because it was nowhere written on the internet that it was only for journalists. (Damn, I want to be a journalist.) Then, we easily got tickets for the film we wanted to see, but then, about 40 minutes before the scheduled start of the film, people started lining up for entering. Then, perhaps 10 minutes too late, the screening actually started.

At that point, however, my impression of the Berlinale turned very positive. The movie was totally the kind of action-packed thing you should watch in a cinema (so it was a good choice to see it) and surprisingly, the director and the actress for the main protagonist were present and it was actually very interesting to hear them talking about the movie. It’s too bad that they looked totally jetlagged and utterly not interested in this event at all, but I can’t blame them.

Ai no Mukidashi (Love Exposure)
Japan 2008, Sono Sion, 237′

First of all, I was obviously a little worried about spending 4 hours in a movie theater and already prepared myself to fall asleep. For a few moments around the end, I felt a little tired, and especially so when we left around 11.30pm, but the movie itself actually did not feel long at all.

In a silly way, I find it really difficult to talk about the movie this time, because I seriously want to promote it. It was that that good! Surely it’s a movie for, erm, people who are familiar with Japanese subcultures, but if you are, you will wholeheartedly appreciate it, I am sure. It just has everything: Cute girls, a wicked character, a sympathetic loser who keeps fighting for his love (amazing, isn’t it?) and finally, quite a bit of splatter, action coupled with some witty dead pan comedy. Oh, I forgot to mention that the movie is visually absolutely stunning.

The main story is about this catholic raised boy whose father (a priest) got lovesick and so made him confess his sins everyday. To cope with that, he had to, well, actually commit sins. And so he came into the world of taking panty shots of girls. This is how a seemingly rich girl took an interest on him and devised an evil plan, during which he meets his sister, the girl he comes to love. It turns out that the rich girl is the head of some evil sect, trying to lure his family into it. She begins with hooking up with this sister and making out right next to his room…

I have researched Sono Sion and saw that he directed “Suicide Circle” (the movie to a manga scanlated by Omanga), and that he worked on Beineix’ “Otaku” movie, which already shows how familiar he is with the world of, well, perverts. It is so obvious how the director is not just doing something random with this movie, no, the world of otaku is the main audience of his movies and the movie is a laudatio on the social outcasts. Every single of the characters is perverted in a sense, and it becomes quite clear throughout the movie that

During the interview session, we asked about the end, whether the director intended it to end it as such. Furthermore, another person asked what the director wanted to convey with the movie. Despite his reluctant and somewhat vague replies, we could easily see that the main point about the movie is that it’s a love story, no more and no less. That love is something beautiful, even (or especially?) when it comes from a pervert who takes panty shots, and that a movie mainly has to be a lot of fun. Now, at this point of my life, I must admit that I wholeheartedly agree. If these were his intentions, he absolutely succeeded in my book.

In my opinion, the best character is Koike, the evil rich girl. The main character and his sister/love interest are pretty cute together, but Koike is the one who makes you think. Now here’s my interpretation: She fell in love with the main guy, but since she hates men and how she lusts for him, she feels disgusted with herself and wants to hurt him. This gives her a reason to stick with him and stalk him the whole time, but at the same time feel superior over him. That is why she makes him fall in love with another girl and then takes this girl away from him. Then, in the end, she realizes that she is never going to get him and his love for this girl drove her so crazy that she finally freed herself by, well, killing herself? This still makes her death feel wrong and does not seem to do justice to her rather complex character, but the explanation sounds somewhat consistent, I guess. The best scene is the one in which she sits on this half-dead bodyguard and says “Now go die!” And then she dips her cigarette into his blood.

So yeah, my only irks with this movie is that it lacks a certain depth in its meaning. The only comedy that has made it into my all time top 10 is “To be or not to be”, and that is mainly because most great comedies don’t really have a very great message, and I guess for me, a movie that enters into the top 10 has to have everything: A sophisticated meaning, great execution and a good story. “Love Exposure” only fulfills the latter two, when it comes to the meaning, I guess it would be “Perverts are the greatest and nicest people in the world” and “If you have any serious problem in your life, just take some knives and bombs and go berserk, then everything will turn out fine”? I’m joking, but really, there isn’t much behind this.

But who cares? Perhaps I was just pleasantly surprised by a movie that I didn’t know much about before I watched it, but it was a lot of fun. If you enjoy Japanese movies in general, I think this is a gem that should not be overlooked.

PS. Oh yeah, there are pictures of Sono Sion, but I doubt you can even recognize him on the cellphone pictures. XD It also feels like there were many more things I wanted to say, but I forgot about them. Well, I might consider adding some comments later.