Ai-naki Mori de Sakebe (The Forest of Love)

THE FOREST OF LOVE - NETFLIX

If a viewer will get anything out of Japanese director Sion Sono's Ai-naki Mori de Sakebe — otherwise known as The Forest of Love — in its enthralling one-hundred-and-fifty-minute running time, it is that they will be put off red meat for some time. While undoubtedly there is some merit to Sono's phycological thriller that tackles deceit, torture and mind games — to name a few — it is undeniably the mass amounts of gore that takes centre stage and, by virtue, digs deep in the psyche for far longer than it should do.

The Forest of Love is a film that either is continually evolving or free-falling upon a concrete slab, depending on the viewers' opinion. There is no in-between and, for most of Sion Sono's filmography, his latest feature is entirely on-brand. It is both intimate yet extraordinarily unsettling. "Graphic" is perhaps an understatement and in such an excessive nature, much of the performances on show are lost in the hectic intensity.

Kyoko Hinami and Eri Kamataki have much of the film to develop their integral roles and their resulting performances are standouts as Takeo and Mitsuko, respectively. Both actresses put forward outstanding, compelling parts in a truly physical and demanding film. The emotional intensity and range they both bring are staggering to behold.

There is a lot to cover in Sion Sono's sprawling epic — a factor that is the film’s most problematic and yet most intriguing notion. To put it simply, it is just far too long for its own good. Sono throws everything he can at this to make something stick and give a sense of a grand crime epic but before long, it becomes a gigantic mess and an incoherent story with multiple dumps of expositional scenes in the way of flashbacks and a dire "plot twists" thrown in for good measure.

The material at hand is quite inviting with multiple dynamic characters and resulting arcs with individual, engaging trajectories. Sono, along with editor Takayuki Masuda, can't quite find a balance between necessity and self-indulgence, ultimately plaguing this feature as a nonsensical collection of thoughts and ideas rather than a strong indication of conviction.

Ai-naki Mori de Sakebe (The Forest of Love) is released on NETFLIX October 11th, 2019.