Strange Circus (4½ Stars)

What is real, and what is not?

This film by director Sion Sono plays on different levels of reality. It opens with a 12-year-old girl called Mitsuko being taken to a circus where she is invited to place her head in a guillotine. This is a dream. Or is it? From here we move to reality, where we see Mitsuko at school. Her father is the school's headmaster (Am. principal). Her father calls her to his office and forces her to watch pornographic films that he's projecting onto the wall.

At home the situation is far worse. Mitsuko's father makes her hide in a cello case in his bedroom so she can watch her parents having sex. Later he begins to rape her in front of his wife. Mitsuko is confused and sees her mother as a competitor for her father's love. She begins to take her mother's place, wearing her clothes and using her name.

But then we find out that this is only a story being written by Taeko, a wheelchair-bound authoress. Or is it? Her assistants suspect the novel is autobiographical, so they ask a new member of the team to find out the truth from her. But is he prepared for the secrets he will find?

The film is visually dazzling despite the sordid subject matter of incest and child abuse. Shocking and beautiful.

Click here to view the trailer.

P.S. Please only buy the American edition I link to in the picture above. This is the uncut version. There is also a censored version on sale.