Mamiko Kikuchi

The story of the other side of love


Countless love stories are born every day in movies.
I don’t dislike ordinary love stories either, but I’m more concerned about the other side of love stories.
In the five stories I’m going to introduce from now, ones that show craziness from the beginning,
and others that became abnormal love before they noticed them.
Even if humans look decent, there is a possibility that anyone can become a pervert.
Sometimes a side that I didn’t know appears because loving too much.
That’s why love is a monster.

Mamiko Kikuchi

BAD GUY

Korea(2001)
Directed by Kim Ki-du

Hangi, a thug man, fell in love with a college student Sona at first sight and fell in love.
This is a story of the cruel love of a man who can only be involved by submerging his beloved woman into the world he lives in.
I don’t understand that love that can only be conveyed by tattering and hurting the other person. There’s no way I can understand something like this.
A woman standing at a dead end has no choice but to hate or love the man drives her in.
From the standpoint of a woman, it’s really a crazy story until the end, but I wonder how many people might understand this somehow? I’m very interested in it.

Mamiko Kikuchi

Blue Velvet

America(1986)
Directed by David Lynch

An ear cut out in a strange vacant lot.
It’s a gateway to another world that’s too deep for young adolescents.
True love was hidden in the love triangle that began to move imperceptibly, and each was looking for something else to replace, and emptiness was floating.
Unique, racy, and erotic.
While giving a moderate sense of disgust, it grabs the audience with a strong impression of images and music that draws them in and does not let go.
It is a truly unique work that leaves an impression that all the balance is exquisitely combined and sticks to the viewer’s memory.
Maybe it takes a while to wake up from such a deep mysterious world?

Mamiko Kikuchi

The skin I Live in

Spain(2011)
Directed by Pedro Almodóvar

This is an amazing movie full of immoral and insanity.
He is betrayed by his beloved wife, rejected by his daughter, and lost them at last. The madness to fill this cruel sense of loss keeps Robert alive.
But no matter how much it looks like the face of a loved one, the essence of the soul cannot be remodeled.
If you interpret this as a perverted movie full of fetishism by a mad scientist, this is definitely a disgusting movie,
Actually, it gives meaning to the crazy love with a solid mystery suspense plot.
The wrong form of love only leaves emptiness.
Even so, people foolishly want to drown in abnormal love.

Mamiko Kikuchi

Nocturnal Animals

America(2016)
Directed by Tom Ford

A work with a sense of tension that fuels a sense of anxiety even in a quiet state. Anyway, I had the impression that it was a cinematic story, with attention to detail in both visual beauty and plot.
Suddenly, the world of the novel sent by her ex-husband Edward entered the perfect bourgeois life of Susan, and I, along with Susan, was drawn into the deep world of Edward and entered the story.
Is it love? Is it revenge? I felt that this is a strong revenge from Edward to Susan, which seems to be enough to remain for a lifetime.
On the other side of love, it is possible that there will be only hatred, not love.

Mamiko Kikuchi

Birds she doesn’t know their names

Japan(2017)
Directed by Kazuya Shiraishi

This is a story of the other side of love with an ugly, vile man and a disgusting woman.
Everyone has a vulgar other face, and that side of face does not hesitate to hurt people.
It depicts a lot of disgusting duality of humans that I don’t want to know, but I have to know. Even though it’s the ultimate love story, there’s a lot of cruelty scenes until the end that makes me want to run away.
What is particularly impressive in this movie is their eating scene. The yakiniku scene was pretty scary.
It’s looks an normal scene if I cut it out, but when I watched this movie, I was convinced that the they are not normal after all.