Overview

21-year-old Kyoko humiliates 36-year-old Noriko sexually in front of staff. "Cut!", someone says suddenly. Just then, it is Noriko that begins to berate Kyoko in violent terms.

• Review

  When the film starts, half-naked Kyoko walks around, going into a long monolog. Kyoko’s day begins when her manager Noriko comes. While Kyoko delivers a lengthy, philosophical speech on freedom, her customers have sex without hesitation in her house. Then someone yells, ‘cut’ outside the frame, revealing that they were shooting a film. All of a sudden, Noriko slaps Kyoko’s face, denouncing her acting skill. Like the twist from the beginning, the reality and fiction continue to intertwine to exhibit an eruption of formidable emotions. While condemning the freedom of expression as trash and arguing that the idea of freedom is a cliche, the film questions if the concept of humans as the subject of desire has been indoctrinated. The film wildly expresses sex through the structure-defying experiment unique to Sono Sion. [KIM Youngjin]

• Credit

  Director	SONO Sion
  Screenplay	SONO Sion
  Producer	KOMURO Naoko, TAKAHASHI Masahiko
  Cinematography	ITO Maki
  Art Director	MATSUZUKA Takashi
  Editor	ITO Junichi
  Sound	ITO Hironori
  Music	KIKUCHI Tomonobu
  Cast	HOSOKAWA Kumiko

Director

SONO Sion

Born in 1961, Aichi, Japan. He came to the public eye when he won the Pia Film Festival Grand Prize in 1987 for A Man´s Hanamichi(1987). He directed Love Exposure(2008), Cold Fish(2010) and The Whispering Star(2015). The success of Cold Fish marked an even greater interest in Sono’s work and was screened by numerous festivals, including the 67th Venice Film Festival, and the 2010 Toronto International Film Festival.