The Forest of Love

“Is it love or is it a lie?”

The man who walks into the lives of two grieving young women is not who he says he is, and the film makes you wait to learn what he wants. Joe Murata (Kippei Shiina) is a con man who arrives with a would-be filmmaking crew, including Shin (Shinnosuke Mitsushima), and settles in as though he belongs there. Sion Sono, drawing on the Matsunaga case in Kyushu, keeps Taeko (Kyoko Hinami) and the others tied to Murata by a trust that pulls tighter with each day.