Love Exposure

Madman

R4 DVD

English subtitles

This is one of the strangest, most perverse love stories I have seen in a long time. It is about Jesus freaks – devout Catholics but the sort who use Christianity to justify all sorts of perversions and distortions like incest and panty fetishes. It is hard to describe the film’s underlying motifs so I will just run through the plot – that’s weird enough.

Chapter 1 introduces Yu, a young boy whose hyper-religious mother is dying. She makes him promise that he will marry a woman like the Virgin Mary. His father Tetsu becomes a Catholic minister, a gentle and understanding man. One day a woman named Kaori comes into his congregation. She is a shallow self-centred amoral slut and she soon sets her sights on Yu’s father. She becomes a Christian to get closer to Tetsu but does not change her wild lifestyle – after all, she now only has to confess her sins to be forgiven. Tetsu rejects her – he is a priest after all and sworn now to celibacy. Following the rejection Tetsu’s performance starts to slide downhill. He becomes obsessive about his son’s sins. Yu can’t remember committing any, but his father takes this as a sign that he is forgetting his sins and this, too, is a sin. He bullies his son until Yu has only one choice left – he must commit sin so he can confess to his father so his father can forgive him. On this basis both will be happy.

But what sin should Yu commit? He tries shoplifting and street brawling but he finds that he excels at Tosatsu. Translated this means “to steal with a camera” In practical terms it is taking surreptitious photos up girls’ dresses. He and his friends have weekly meetings to decide who has the best panty photo. He loses a dare at one of these meetings and must dress up like a schoolgirl, walk through town and kiss the girl who looks most like his beloved Virgin Mary.

As they go through town they come across a girl being hassled by a group of youths. He joins in to protect her but finds to his surprise that she is a pretty good street brawler herself. Then in a moment of divine revelation her skirt is blown upwards, flashing her panties, and he recognises his Virgin Mary in the girl fighting beside him. She in turn sees Yu, dressed as a woman, as the girlfriend she wants. Yu has his first erection, which fortunately the girl doesn’t notice. He introduces himself to her as “Miss Scorpion” before being dragged away by his friends.

Chapter 2 introduces Yoko, the street fighting girl. She is the daughter of Kaori. She is disgusted with her mother’s behaviour and constant string of boyfriends. She was molested by one of them. She has grown up tough, independent and a manhater. One day she turns to Jesus. He sounds like someone she could respect. “Jesus, I approve of you as the only cool man besides Kurt Cobain.” She is worried that her feelings for “Miss Scorpion” may mean she is a lesbian, but goes to church to thank Jesus for giving her the friend she wanted.

Kaori is tired of her current boyfriend and decides to get back together with the priest Tetsu. He will not have his life and his son’s life destroyed again and he rejects her but after a nearly suicidal car chase he takes her back. Yu can feel Hell coming back into his life. Yoko, however, refuses – she doesn’t want another “family” since her family experiences so far have been negative.

Meanwhile Yu searches for his Virgin Mary the only way he can – by taking many more panty photos in the hope that one will reveal his Maria as he remembered her in the brawl. Then the miracle happens. Yoko’s mother moves closer to the church. Yoko in turn must move into a new school. She is put in the same class as Yu. He recognises her instantly but she still hates men and longs for her female friend Miss Scorpion. Yu is having serious erection problems at the thought of her. He must tell her who he really is, but how do you confess to the girl you love that you are a pervert who likes to photograph girls panties and cross dress as well? And all the while sporting a huge erection?

Before he can tell her, the situation gets worse. His father announces that he is going to leave the priesthood and marry Kaori. Yu and Yoko will then be brother and sister and any further relationship will be out of the question.

The whole family is under surveillance by a group of girls from the new cult “The Church Of Zero”. The girls’ leader, Aye, has the idea that she can bring in converts more efficiently if they can first convert Tetsu. Convert the man, then use him to convert his family, then use them to convert his congregation. This should bring in the large amounts of donations that the cult is after.

Can an innocent young Catholic cross-dressing pervert with a panty fetish find true happiness in an incestuous relationship with a street brawling lesbian and at the same time spoil the cult’s evil plot?.

Chapter 3. Aya makes her move on Yoko by pretending she is Miss Scorpion. In a mock attack on the school she routs a bunch of “gangsters” and wins Yoko’s admiraton. Tetsu’s resignation horrifies his Bishop - how can Tetsu place mere love ahead of God? Only Yu is suspicious. But then Aye springs her trap to completely discredit him. He loses his family, his place at school and the girl he loves. They are completely alienated from him and join the cult as Aye planned.

Only Yu’s friends stand by him, and one of them guesses correctly that the Zero cult may be involved. What can Yu do about it? He stages a murderous attack on the cult headquarters. This doesn’t win Yoko to him but it certainly gets the attention of the police and they break up the cult.

Chapter 4 brings the aftermath of Yu’s attack. He has lost it completely and is in an asylum, now convinced he is Miss Scorpion. Yoko is staying with relatives. Yu’s father and his girlfriend are in rehabilitation to deprogram them from the cult. Can Yu be saved from a lifetime of madness?

The film leaves you in a state of shock. It’s certainly not your average love story.

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This review will appear in Volume 3 No. 4 of the digital and print edition of Synergy Magazine.

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