It is a Japanese melodrama towing the line between treating the subject of the incest mom with dramatic seriousness, and turning her into a creepy psychopath, without abandoning either genre. In this way it is much like a prototype Almodovar film, and is an interesting character study constantly watching and wondering when she is going to start killing people, or eating people. The fascination of the film is how it crosses back and forth.
Interesting to compare it to La Luna which I watched last year. The difference is Bertolucci has this Catholic obsession with how taboo that is, as well as the Marylike love of the act. That entire film is one long erotic build up to the moment, it expects you to know what you are getting into so that you are bringing that anticipation with it. And when it gets there, the moment has a ton of quotation mark and punctuation around it.
This film on the other hand could not be more open about it, it's very matter of fact, never questions or discussed, just is. It is almost as if the Japanese Furuhata is answering that film saying, "What's the big deal? It's shocking, but what next?"
Not only that, but it seeks to understand it in a frank, factual way. She abandoned him, now she is back. I am always impressed how Japanese directors handle erotica with none of the baggage the west does.
More of the film itself, it is really fantastic how well told it is, through the performances... it is based on a novel so there is this detective element, that is less strong, but necessary. Then there is the rivalry with the girl his age, that is building to a boil. It is unexpectedly good, if good is not the right word, it is thorough, the mark of a great director on some tangent. It is only let down by the creepiness of the subject.
