The Forest of Love 2019

Kippei Shiina Murata sits in a restaurant as the misdeeds of a serial killer flood the TV in the background. He clutches a yearbook from a girls’ school, its photos crossed out in ink, a visible symbol of erased memories. Murata tells the waiter he’s a screenwriter and softly probes whether someone who can kill might understand what it means to take a life. The mood is uneasy, and the scene quietly Sets the stage for Murata’s chilling manipulations.

Two young men, Young Dais Jay and Dai Hasegawa Fukami, meet Shin’nosuke Mitsushima Shin, and bring him to the vacant warehouse where they’re living. Jay, with a lamplit curiosity, explains his idea: he wants to make movies to explore every kind of criminal behavior, and he intends to do it legally by documenting what people do. When Shin reveals he is a virgin, Jay guides him to meet Taeko, a free-spirited girl, who in turn introduces them to Mitsuko, a shut-in with wealthy but stern parents. Mitsuko claims she’s also a virgin and has no interest in Shin, while Taeko pushes her to embrace life’s harsher edges and “make some scars and move on.”

In a flashback, Mitsuko and Taeko star in a high school production of Romeo and Juliet, with Mitsuko playing Juliet and Eiko playing Romeo. Beside the unfamiliar world of boys at their all-girls school, the girls explore sexuality and romance among themselves. A tragedy strikes when Eiko dies in a car crash and the play is canceled. Five girls stand on the edge of the roof after taking sleep medication; Taeko vows to become a “slut” if she survives. All five fall except Mitsuko, who sees a vision of Eiko and chooses not to join them. Taeko suffers a limp and a scar from her fall, and she tattoos the word “Romeo” on that scar as a constant reminder of what could have been.

Back in the present, Mitsuko receives a call from Murata, who claims she lent him 50 yen years earlier and now wants to repay the debt because he’s become successful. They meet in a park; Murata arrives in a sleek sports car and shows an unsettling attraction to Mitsuko. Shin, Jay, and Fukami watch and record the meeting, setting the stage for the film they’re about to make. Mitsuko watches the footage with Taeko and recognizes Murata as a con artist who previously claimed he wanted to marry her sister. Taeko recalls sleeping with Murata and seeing him seduce her mother. The trio then gathers a crew to begin filming a movie about Murata’s cons, with Shin stepping into the role of Murata.

Meanwhile, Murata seduces Mitsuko, her younger sister Ami, and Taeko, leaving Mitsuko to self-harm with yen. He stages a concert where many of his former victims appear to vie for his affection. The young filmmakers, Mitsuko, and Taeko rally around him as their project gains a dangerous momentum. Murata proposes that he can finance their movie, using his supposed wealth to grease the gears; Fukami quits and leaves, but the others stay on board.

It soon becomes clear that Murata has no real money. The film crew collapses; Jay, Shin, Taeko, and Mitsuko remain, still trying to complete their project. Murata takes control, reveling in cruelty as he manipulates the women. Mitsuko reveals she is pregnant with his child. Murata leads them to a country house, coaching Mitsuko in a scene where she pretends to strangle Jay; Jay dies for real. He then convinces the group to destroy and dump Jay’s body in a lake. Taeko attempts to escape by leaping from a boat but is shot by an unseen gunman.

The group returns to Mitsuko’s home, where Murata uses Mitsuko’s role in Jay’s death to blackmail her parents, torturing them on camera to extract money for the project. He orders the family to find a relative to fund the film, while Ami enjoys watching the cruelty and even participates in the abuse. Mitsuko tries to kill herself after watching Ami have sex with Murata; the group decides that Mitsuko’s death scene will happen the next day. Mitsuko and Ami go dress shopping, but Ami sabotages Mitsuko’s escape. Ami detonates a shock of electricity that leaves Mitsuko miscarrying and hospitalized.

A relative arrives, revealing that the film company is a sham. Inside the house, Murata and Shin return to find Mitsuko’s father dead by hanging, while her mother lies injured with a bloody knife nearby. Ami returns to discover Murata and Shin have dismembered the relative. She decapitates her own father and finds her mother alive, and at her mother’s urging, Ami kills her mother as well.

Murata, Shin, and Ami drive Mitsuko into a forest to finalize her fate. Mitsuko explains she had not taken the sleep medication and had hoped Taeko would die, having slept with several boyfriends and Ami’s partner as part of a deeper game they played. She knew Murata was a con man and Shin a killer, yet she believed they would kill Ami, her parents, and Taeko as part of a dangerous, twisted ending.

Shin shoots Ami and Mitsuko, then hands the gun to Murata and orders him to kill Ami, who begs for her life. Shin scolds Murata before killing Ami himself. Shin reveals himself to be the serial killer the news had reported. A struggle ensues, Murata escapes, and he flags down a car driven by a woman who resembles Eiko. When asked where she is heading, she replies, > To hell. Murata slips away, while Shin takes the car already in their possession and heads into the forest, chasing Eiko’s semblance.

On-screen text closes the film, stating that those responsible for the real murders that inspired the story were captured in 2002 and sentenced to life imprisonment.