NYC Happenings: Sono's LOVE EXPOSURE Releases At Cinema Village Sept. 2nd!

Long been a favorite around these parts, Sion Sono's gonzo epic on love and madness, is finally getting a proper theatrical run in New York City thanks to Olive Films, which means...  press release!

New York, NY - August 8, 2011 - After an acclaimed one-week run at Cinefamily in Los Angeles, CA, Olive Films is proud to announce the New York theatrical release of the already-legendary Japanese film Love Exposure (2008), finally scheduled to open on September 2 at Cinema Village.

This bombastic feature film (clocking at a gargantuan 237 minutes) from director Sion Sono (Suicide Club, Cold Fish) ambitiously tackles life's biggest themes: love, death, sex, revenge, religion and up-skirt panty photography. Winner of dozens of international awards (including the FIPRESCI Prize at the 2009 Berlin Film Festival), Love Exposure tells the story of Yu (Takahiro Nishijima), a teenager driven to a life of sin, romantic extremes and sexual perversions by his father's desperate conversion into extreme Catholicism.

After losing his wife and a maniac-depressive lover, Tetsu (Atsurô Watabe) becomes obsessed with his son's spiritual (and certainly sinful) life. Pressed to confess a couple of dark crimes (and yet, as innocent as they come),Yu hits Tokyo's underground in search of a perfect sin - and in the process, joins a gang of teenagers training in the 'art' of panchira (clandestine panty snapshots!).

On his search for the perfect photo, Yu harasses enough girls to shock his all-forgiving, bible-thumping father, who finally behaves as such and punishes his 'perverse' son. Happy to have his father's attention, Yu decides to fully dedicate himself to the art of panchira - and he quickly becomes one of the very best. Yet, when Yun falls for the Virgin-Mary-like Yoko, he also gets involved with Zero Church, a fanatic religious group with a bizarre agenda of their own.

What comes next is a mix of apocalyptic fervor, pornographic empowerment and girl-power madness, in a film that unfolds into a mosaic of ecstatic narratives while remaining committed (and surprisingly focused) to its romantic main plot.

"At its heart," wrote film critic Hayden Maxwell, "Sion Sono's film is a demented romance movie where the adversities love has to face are Catholic guilt, Japanese perversion, mistaken identity, a cult, and mental illness." Not bad for a four-hour flick!