The Forest of Love: Deep Cut

This Japanese series is an extended cut of the film 'The Forest of Love'. In the opening scene, set in the '90s, a couple get out of a car, leaving a woman in the back, and find a body in the woods. We return to these people at the start of each episode but for the most part this film isn't about them. Shin has just arrived in Tokyo, where he meets young would-be film makers Jay and Fukami. They tell him how they are planning to make a film featuring criminal behaviour, without breaking the law themselves. When they learn Shin is still a virgin they introduce his to their promiscuous friend Taeko; she rejects him but suggests going to see her reclusive school friend Mitsuko. Later they meet Joe Murata an older man who seems to seduce every woman he meets... they decide to make a film where Shin stars as Joe; in this production they imaging Joe is the serial killer they'd heard about on the news. Intercut with this we see scenes of Taeko and Mitsuko's time at an all-girls school in 1985. Here we learn of a tragedy that led to them the people they are later. Things soon get quite insane. When I started watching this I knew nothing about it; it was just a Japanese series on Netflix... I had no idea what I was letting myself in for! The series is bizarre in a good way. There are moments of hilarity; often followed by scenes of disturbing violence. The characters are all fairly strange and the story about the making of a film feels like it is directly reflecting what we are watching. I was surprised to learn that this is an extended version of a film that is over two hours shorter as little seems superfluous. At first I was a little unsure about the acting as it often seems over the top but as one continues to watch it becomes clear that this fits the story perfectly. Overall I'd recommend this to people looking for something very different; be warned it won't be for everybody though. These comments are based on watching the series in Japanese with English subtitles.

The Forest Of Love: Deep Cut: An extended tv serial version of the film The Forest Of Love. Apparently this makes more sense than the film version but it's still a convoluted story as it flits back and forth between four time periods. Inspired by a real life serial killer this story adds a school production of Romeo and Juliet which has decade long consequences for the schoolgirls involved. Crazy film making within a film which sometimes break the fourth wall and a tinge of Twin Peaks add to the strangeness of this production. Quite disturbing as people are tortured and killed, bodies dismembered. But leavened by a strain of dark humour as it relates the tale of a womanising conman cult leader. Written and directed by Sion Sono (Tag). On Netflix. 7/10.