Summary:
Japanese cult director Sion Sono’s take on the Kitakysushu serial murder incident.
My Thoughts:
Sion Sono is a director whom I respect immensely. Much like Takashi Miike, Sono is incredibly prolific, and his films, even when they aren’t great, are always incredibly entertaining. Both Sono and Miike’s films run the gamut as far as genre- they flit back and forth easily from mystery/thrillers (Sono- “Suicide Club”, Miike- “Ichi the Killer”) to sci-fi (Sono- “Tag”, Miike- “As the Gods Will”) to horror (Sono- “Cold Fish”, Miike- “Audition”) to comedy (Sono- “Love, Exposure”, Miike- “The Happiness of the Katakuris”) and every genre in between. While I really enjoy films from both directors, recently, it’s been Sono’s work that I’ve been most drawn to. Sono’s films are bizarre, violent, and sometimes hilarious dips into cinema, and every time I watch one of his films I honestly can’t predict what will happen next.
“The Forest of Love” is based on a (somewhat) true story. I say somewhat because the events that are depicted in this film did happen, but not in the totally bonkers way they are portrayed here. Sono stylizes his violence as much as Tarantino does in “Kill Bill Vol 1”, and while there might not as high of a body count, the amount of gore that Sono gleefully throws at the viewer makes it difficult to think of the victims as… well, victims. The way Sono kills people off in this film feels as if it would be far more at home in a Dario Argento giallo film (“Deep Red” or “Tenebre”) than it does in a biopic about a cult of personality gone awry. I had to keep reminding myself that these were real people, and some of the events they went through were incredibly disturbing. In a way, it’s weird to watch this film when it clearly finds joy in depicting some of the more graphic details of this murder spree. Usually, films that depict horrific events like this do so with a bit of reverence for the victims, and this film is anything but reverent, and that tone takes a bit of getting used to.
The irreverence of the film doesn’t wholly detract from the film either, though, which is why it’s hard for me to put a finger on how I fully feel about this film. Sono is a smart director, and he seemed to use the more irreverent scenes to show how the members of this group felt while they were inside it, trying to depict what their states of mind might have been while the madness was happening. Some of the stuff that happens in this film is absolutely insane, so I suppose in order for the members of the group to stick around, they might have had to have been insane themselves.
I feel like Sono’s directing style is incredibly Japanese, something that I also said when I reviewed “Tag”. Sono seems to lift a lot of his style from anime, and the way he translates those ideas into the real world is what gives the film its uniqueness. Characters all react to something at the same time, usually with huge overreactions; dialogue often sounds slightly stylized; male characters gape openly at female characters (whom are often more sexualized); the violence is graphic to the point of absurdity, and the way that violence is approached is often with a sense of black humor. While I have a hard time with some of the stylization because I feel like it’s less-than-respectful to the victims, from a cinematic standpoint, it’s completely captivating.
I think one of the reasons I keep coming back to Sono’s films is because, even when his movies are made on a lower budget, and they focus on some bizarre stories, they are never, ever boring. Every scene has something to grab your attention. This movie is two-and-a-half hours long, and to me it felt like an hour-and-forty-five minute movie, and this isn’t the first time Sono has pulled that trick either- “Cold Fish” is another epic film that feels about half it’s runtime. Sono just knows how to engage with the audience, even if he does so in a way that completely subverts expectations in a rather baffling way.
Verdict:
To me, watching a Sono film isn’t like watching anything else; he’s an auteur, and he’s an auteur that I really enjoy. Even though this film had a few moments that made me uncomfortable for the sake of the victims, I really did enjoy this film. I honestly think I would’ve liked it a bit more if the film wouldn’t have stated that it was based on a true story at the beginning, but as it was, this movie is incredibly entertaining, sometimes disturbing, but never, ever boring.
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