The Forest of Love

Writer/director/editor Sion Sono's latest is based on convicted serial killer Futoshi Matsunaga, here renamed Joe Murata in the film and played exquisitely by Kippei Shîna with Sono's direction. Murder, masturbation, mutilation, self-harm, s&m, torture, gore, sex, control, extortion and more occur with irony, inevitability and imagination. Sono's masterpiece Cold Fish (2010) and grim & beautiful Guilty of Romance (2011) are also based on true stories, but let's be clear, his take on these stories are most likely far from reality. He is able to twist the facts to create details, dialogue, themes, strong characters and storytelling. Antiporno (2016) and Noriko's Dinner Table (2005) are his best stories not based on circumstantial facts and are perhaps even better because of it, although Cold Fish will remain one of the best and shocking movies for decades. (See my 2010 review: https://www.imdb.com/review/rw2469898/) The movie is slow to start with a prologue and long chapter 1. We get to know the characters and dig into the childhood of two friends from an all-girl school. Some scenes are reminiscent of Suicide Club (2001) and Love Exposure (2008) yet darker and deliberate. On the other side, we are introduced to three young men filmmakers and finally, properly to Joe Murata after 20 minutes. Joe is both charming and alarming. An important scene from the shared childhood happens just before the 40 minutes mark. Chapter 2 (from 52 to 60 mins) is where the filming of Joe Murata's life begins for the film festival contest the students want to enter and is also where this film starts to take a new beginning by finally exposing Murata's penchant and proclivities. Chapter 3 (from 60-70 mins) is perhaps the best chapter as it confirms the power and powerlessness at play and will set the tone for the rest of the movie. Chapter 4 (from 70-127 mins) is a descent into depravity, absurdity, pity, envy, sadness and self-delusion with events after events of evocative imagery and daring directing. Finale (from 127-148 mins) still has plenty of surprises and worthy twists. The story will reveal more from all the chapters and the extent of the well-crafted piece will come to life. The second half and ending are positively well-worth to longish running time. Still, if you have not seen a Sono film with sex, violence and gore or are opposed to these ideas to be depicted in your living room, skip this Netflix Original and find something tamer. Thank you, Mr. Sono for staying true to your vision with this one. Now let's see what will come out of his first English-language film Prisoners of the Ghostland (2020), already in post-production, and how he uses sexy and talented Sofia Boutella to tell a tale he didn't write for once.

Guilty of Romance (2011)

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.

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).

Sono Sion is a prolific filmmaker. Ergo they can't all be hits. This one is deck definitely a miss. The lack of story is not conducive to the film's 2 hours and 40 minute runtime. The cinematography is not on par with his other films (ie: Cold Fish). The ending is also very disappointing. If you haven't seen any of his films, I recommend starting with Suicide Circle. Cold Fish and Why Don't You Play in Hell? are also good in different ways.

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