I watched Love Exposure on a 11 hours plane ride to Vancouver (my first ever out of Asia trip) so the thing is 1) I was sleepy 2) I was sleepy 3) I was sleepy. I watched Love Exposure knowing absolutely nothing about it except two things: it's by Sion Sono and it's 4 hours long. But other than that, I don't know anything else. And boy, was I in for a surprise. 4 hours didn't feel like 4 hours at all. In fact, it made my 11 hours flight seem...so short. To summarize what Love Exposure is is difficult. But that's very Sion Sono-like anyway. He's an auter that way. I enjoyed Love Exposure because it was different, because it was refreshing. It's a combination of all these things that normally don't fit well together but Sono does just that -- very Sono-like again. You have religion in one area and then sexuality on the other. You have panty shots on one hand and blood on the other. You have sinning in one hand and confession on the other. They're not things that go hand in hand yet Sono makes a perfect combination out of them. I don't know what Love Exposure wanted me to get out of it. But it doesn't matter. In fact, I think Sono doesn't even want to make you think too hard. You're not suppose to undergo some epiphany just because of it. It's just a mash-up of different things that keeps you entertained and also think but not to the point of overanalyzing -- much like Sono's other works anyway. Sono doesn't try to hard to insert things, he shows it to you. The divisions of 4 chapters was cleverly done and balanced well enough. There are loads of characters but each of them are given their own screen time that it doesn't seem so lopsided. It's 4 hours alright, but I felt like everything mattered and needed to be there...no matter how bizarre and weird they seem. Truly, it's a romantic comedy that isn't subtly one. Above all, I think it aims to reflect the whole parent vs. child conflict of how parents carve their children into their own ideals, ultimately abandoning who they truly are in the process. It's about bad parents raising "bad" kids. But mostly, it's about how love, above all, conquers. At the end of the day, you lose your memories, you fell out of the line...but love it could save you. Great soundtrack, exciting, funny, amazing cast and acting and most of all entertaining without trying too hard. 4 hours? It'll pass by so fast you won't even notice it.