Ai naki mori de sakebe

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.

Sion Sono is a special director. He does things his way and his movies are quite weird mostly to say the least. So the first review (if you can call three sentences a review) I read here did not surprise me. And I don't even mean the low score (1/10), but the argument that was made that there are too many characters and you could not concentrate on one individual (hero?).

Maybe that can work as a warning. Either that other "review" or me mentioning it. Whatever the case, if you go in this, be prepared to see a meta take on the very infamous forest (this is not the first movie about it and surely won't be the last). There are many things going on and some may feel supernatural (this is what the forest is famously know for after all) ... but what is the mystery and what will it all lead to?

Graphic violence, teenage characters, characters who are filmmakers, intense themes of suicide/self-harm, a plot that spans numerous genres, and unflinching looks at non-traditional (for lack of a better word) sexuality?

Yep, it's a Sion Sono film alright.

I worry for the guy sometimes, to be honest. I've said it before and I thought it again while watching this- so many of his films feel like cries for help, owing to just how psychologically tortured his characters are, and how disturbing the subject matter gets. It's reminiscent of dark films like Polanski's Macbeth and Chinatown; both made in the early 70s when he was trying to process the grief caused by wife Sharon Tate's brutal murder.

On the topic of The Forest of Love, though: I think this one covered a little too much familiar ground for me to call it one of his better efforts.

I also am continually frustrated by how his films alternate between looking beautiful and amateurish, sometimes from shot to shot.

But hey, it's unique, it's at he very least interesting, and I was mostly engaged for most of its runtime, so I still can't call it bad.

It also contains what must objectively be the most graphic "disposing of a body" scene I've ever seen (as a word of warning to anyone squeamish who may be contemplating watching this film).

This film is like a sort of Sion Sono starter pack for a generation that hasn't grown up watching his output from 2000-2015. Its characters, situations, premises, visual motifs, even locations are all taken from films (some, not all - since Sono has also made films outside his regular violent, emotive, hyperactive, bat-crazy signature fares) from this era: Noriko's Dinner Table, Strange Circus, Love Exposure, Cold Fish, Guilty of Romance and Why Dont You Play in Hell to be precise. These six films, along with minor references to his other films, form of the universe of "The Forest of Love". Its characters fluidly pass from one film to the other. And together they establish the ethos that is a standard Sono film. In the hands of any other director this idea would appear too self-indulgent to execute. But Sono introduces a self-conscious metaphysical angle that tries to posit all the violence and insanity and torture as services to cinema, or his kind of cinema. "Jinsei wa Eiga!"- its characters proclaim not-so-subtly.

With a premise that is interesting enough to get his fans and newer audience hooked right from the start (no matter what follows afterwards), this film has a lot of memorable moments to offer. But sadly, for a fan, there's nothing essentially new. We have all seen this before, done better. The six films I mentioned - each of them are brilliant in their own ways because they exhaust their respective ideas both philosophically and in craft. In comparison, this appears little more than a list of checked boxes, like an already-established band playing their greatest hits on an overseas stage, rather than a new album.

6.5/10

...I decided to write something regarding the 1 and 2 stars that others put. For what I read they do not aware of Sono s films and style. They do not understand Japanese pop culture too. How they can go to a film so blinded and then let a comment here as they kno w something about that type of cinema? I prefer to not comment about the plot but as mentioned is inspired in a serial killer from the late 90s. -The films is long; longer than most Japanese ones but maintain the expectations. Actors are pretty good in their rolls. Color palette and tense music are spot on.