Sion Sono, the director of Suicide Club, returns with a beautifully complicated and deep film that deals with taboos such as pedophilia, abuse, suicide, and voyeurism-- and what a perfect director to make such a film. Sono goes about addressing these subjects in such a uniquely crazy yet mature way. He doesn't make fun of pedophilia, he blows it out of proportion to show how monstrous and damaging it is. This film studies the essence of life itself, and what reality truly is in a world without mercy. Much of its imagery is striking and will stick with me for a while. It is absolutely riveting and fascinating and I highly recommend it if you can stomach its content. Though it is not as profound as Suicide Club or Tag, it is certainly worth a watch.

"Strange Circus" starts out as the story of 12-year-old Mitsuko,who's being sexually abused by her father Gozo and terrorized by her jealous mother Sayuri.Mitsuko is imprisoned in a cello case and forced to watch her parents' intimate liaisons through a peephole.The strange abuse causes Mitsuko to blur the distinction between her mother's pleasure and her own pain.When her mom dies after falling down the stairs,Mitsuko starts believing she is her mother.Sion Sono's return to ero-guro tradition is very stylish and sexually perverse.This strange film even offers lashings of paedophilia on display,fortunately they are not graphic.The carnival atmosphere of circus is well-developed and there is a nice amount of grue.Fans of more dream-like transgressive cinema should give it a look.

This plays like an unearthed Nikkatsu shocker from the early 80's. Sion Sono, the director of "Suicide Club", has thrown his ero-gro hat into the ring and delivered a very impressive, incendiary shocker that blends Norifumi Suzuki with David Lynch. A twelve year old girl (Rie Kuwana) is being sexually abused by her monstrous father (Issei Ishida) and forced to watch her parents screw while locked inside a cello case. As the abuse intensifies, the girl copes with it by mentally becoming her mother. At the same time, the man's wife (Masumi Miyazaki) is becoming insanely jealous of the girl and has started to abuse her, too. This simple set-up is merely the launching pad for an operatic, grotesque, confronting shocker. The "strange circus" of the title is literal and metaphorical. There is a burlesque-style club where an MC introduces the film's major characters; there is also a wild sexual circus happening in the abused girl's home after her mother mysteriously bows out. "Strange Circus" is confusing at times and a little too clever for its own good, but it is a true sexual horror film that goes places few films do. It has a score and tone that reminded me of Norifumi Suzuki's masterpiece, "Beautiful Girl Hunter", and Sono contrasts grisly depravity with great beauty. The film won me over and I'm jaded as hell.

This movie is about a young girl who is the victim of (violent and gory) parental abuse. Later the story focuses on the female writer of the girl's stories who may or may not have been involved with them personally.Incoherent and haphazard scenes have been thrown in to suggest flashbacks between reality and fantasy. Plenty of blood and blood-stained interiors have been used to heighten the drama without achieving this aim and becoming comical. Weak acting, weak scenario, emphasis on unnecessary gory scenes unrelated to the plot. Cannot recommend this film.