The Forest of Love

Joe Murata (Kippei Shiina) sits in a restaurant. A television report details the latest misdeeds of a serial killer. Murata carries an all-girls school yearbook with numerous photos crossed out. He tells the waiter he's a screenwriter, and asks if he knows what it's like to kill someone. The waiter, being a conscientious human being, isn't sure how to reply.

Two young men, Jay and Fukami meet another young man, Shin who is playing guitar on the street in Tokyo. They take him back to the vacant warehouse where they're living. Jay tells Shin about his desire to make movies, where one can explore all kinds of criminal behavior, legally. Jay hopes to make a film with their video camera, and win at a film festival, guaranteeing him a career as a director in the film industry.

Shin later reveals that he's a virgin and Jay takes him to meet a girl he knows to lose his virginity. The girl, Taeko, despite her promiscuity, refuses but, offers to take him to meet a high school classmate, Mitsuko. Mitsuko is a shut-in with well off but, strict parents who are obsessed with maintaining their social image. In Mitsuko's bedroom Mitsuko says she, too is a virgin but, isn't interested in Shin. Mitsuko disregards Taeko's arguments that she should forget the past, "make some scars and move on."

The scene reverts to when the girls were in high school. Mitsuko, Taeko and other classmates are working on a production of Romeo and Juliet for a school festival. Mitsuko was to play Juliet opposite another girl, Eiko as Romeo. Being students at an all girls high school with little experience with boys they explore sexuality and romance among themselves. Eiko (who the girls refer to as Romeo) is killed after being hit by a car. The play is cancelled. Inspired by the romanticism of the play, five of the girls decide to drink a "sleeping medicine" and play a game by standing on the edge of the school roof. Taeko swears that if she survives she will become a slut. Mitsuko is distracted by a vision of Eiko behind her, calling to her and does not fall. The others fall to the parking lot below. Taeko survives, landing on the roof of car. This leaves her with a limp and a scar on her right thigh. She has "Romeo" tattooed on the scar.

The scene returns to the present. At home Mitsuko receives a call from Joe Murata, a man claiming Mitsuko had lent him 50 yen years before, when she was in high school. Mitsuko doesn't recall any of it and is suspicious of Murata. He insists that now, he is very successful, having graduated from Harvard and MIT and it's very important to him to return the money she lent to him in his time of need. She agrees to meet him in a public park. Murata drives up in a sports car and begins to charm Mitsuko and express attraction for her. Shin, Jay, and Fukami watch their meeting and video record it. Later, watching the video with Taeko, she says she recognizes Murata as a con artist who had attempted to con her family out of money, saying he wanted to marry her sister. Taeko recalls having had sex with Murata and seeing him trying to seduce their mother and kissing her in the hallway of a restaurant. Murata was rejected by her family when it was discovered he had been checking into the family's finances. The boys obtain a film crew and begin making a film about Murata's con game, with Shin playing the role of Murata.

Meanwhile, Murata begins taking Mitsuko out on dates and begins seducing her younger sister Ami. Murata also, is meeting Taeko at a hotel. Murata stages a concert as a singer. A large group of Murata's previous female confidence game victims show up and are still competing for his affection. The three film makers, Mitsuko and Taeko meet Murata at a restaurant afterwards in a private room. Mitsuko reveals that she has started having sex with Murata and shows them that he's a sadist revealing scars from cigarette burns and electric burns and displaying obedience to him. Murata is pleased by this and lifts Taeko's shirt revealing electric burns he had made on her, as well. Jay and Fukami are sickened by this. Murata says he can help them make their movie, as he is wealthy and interested in the project. They agree believing Murata can finance the film. Fukami decides to quit and leaves.

It is soon revealed that Murata really has no money. The film crew all quit leaving Jay, Shin, Taeko and Mitsuko, who want to continue working on the film with Murata. Murata, now takes control of their film. Murata revels in cruelty to all of them. Mitsuko reveals to Taeko that she is pregnant with Murata's child. Murata takes them to a country house to work on scenes. Murata coaches Mitsuko in a scene where she is strangling Jay. Jay dies. Murata convinces them that they must dismember and pulverize Jay's body and dispose of him in a lake. Taeko jumps from the boat and attempts to escape but, is killed by an unknown gunman.

They all then go to Mitsuko's home where Murata uses Mitsuko's involvement in Jay's death to blackmail her parents. He begins forcing her parents to drink alcohol and tortures them with electric shock. He has them all dress up in punk garb. He video records it. Shin begins taking notes. Murata convinces them to use a relative to fund the remainder of the film. Mitsuko's younger sister, Ami revels in the sadistic torture of her parents and Mitsuko. She has frequent sex with Murata.

Mitsuko begins to rebel after watching Ami having sex with Murata. She attempts suicide. Murata, Ami and Shin decide, "tomorrow will be Mitsuko's death scene." Mitsuko and Ami go to buy a dress for her death scene. Mitsuko attempts to escape in a taxi but, Ami prevents it. Later, Mitsuko has a miscarriage and is hospitalized. In the hospital, the doctor wants to contact the police about Mitsuko's bruises and electric burn marks. Ami calls Murata who then pretends to be their father. He convinces the doctor that Mitsuko is abusing herself.

Their relative discovers that their film company is a sham and returns to demand his money back. He walks past the bottles and garbage in the yard and is met inside by Mitsuko's drunken parents who begin to rave about their situation. Murata and Shin return finding Mitsuko's father has hanged himself and sees her mother and relative lying on the floor with a bloody knife, nearby.

Ami continues being cruel to Mitsuko in the hospital. Mitsuko is confused and only wants her 50 yen. Ami returns home to find her dead parents. Murata and Shin have already dismembered her relative. They tell her to dismember her parents. She saws off her father's head and discovers her mother is not dead but, at her mother's request, kills her. Shin begins helping dismember their bodies.

Murata, Shin and Ami pick up Mitsuko from the hospital and take her to a forest. Shin informs her that they are planning to kill her. Mitsuko consents to it. Mitsuko begins reading an essay she had written in the hospital. She explains she had not drunk the "sleeping medicine" and hoped Taeko would die, that she was not a virgin after high school and had sex with all her friend's boyfriends as well as Ami's boyfriend. She says she knew from the start that Murata was a con artist and that Shin was a killer but, hoped they would kill Ami, her parents and Taeko (who she'd hated for stealing Eiko's attention from her). Shin pulls out a gun and shoots Ami at Mitsuko's request and then shoots Mitsuko. Shin gives the gun to Murata and demands he kill Ami who has been shot, but is begging Murata for her life. Shin berates Murata for being unable to kill her. Shin takes the gun from Murata and kills Ami. He reveals himself to be the serial killer reported on news broadcasts throughout the film and that he's going to kill Murata. They struggle and Murata escapes through the trees.

Murata waves down a car being driven by a woman with a striking resemblance to Eiko. When asked where she is headed, she simply responds "to hell." Shin then drives off in the car they'd come in and gives a lift to an attractive woman with car trouble. He sees a girl by the side of the road in high school uniform, Eiko. He stops the car and runs into the forest after her, leaving the woman wondering what's going on.

Text reveals that the people behind the murders that inspired the film were caught in 2002 and sentenced to life imprisonment.

• Kippei Shiina as Joe Murata
• Shinnosuke Mitsushima as Shin
• Kyoko Hinami as Taeko
• Eri Kamataki as Mitsuko
• Sei Matobu as Mitsuko's mother
• Denden as Mitsuko's father
• Young Dais as Jay
• Natsuki Kawamura as Eiko/Romeo
• Yuzuka Nakaya as Ami
• Dai Hasegawa as Fukami

The Forest of Love was released on October 11, 2019 on Netflix. The Forest of Love: Deep Cut was released on April 30, 2020 on Netflix. An extended cut limited series with 7 episodes, was released on April 30, 2020 on Netflix, featuring an extra 2 hours and 15 minutes duration in addition to the original film.[3]

Brian Tallerco of RogerEberts.com wrote, "It is a movie that wallows in its excess, undeniably long and repetitive and somewhat nonsensical, but never boring." With regard to the film's length, Tallerco wrote, "There’s no reason for this movie to run over two-and-a-half hours. Some of the scenes wallow in their length like they're challenging you to switch away." Nevertheless, he wrote, "There’s too much filmmaking craft on display to care that this movie seems to go on forever. Hardcore Sono fans may wish it was longer."[4]

• The Forest of Love on IMDb
• The Forest of Love on Netflix