This wonderfully weird Japanese indie is a teen love story, but only in the sense Carrie is a high-school melodrama, with director Sion Sono using bloody carnage, Catholic guilt and the odd ‘bobbiting’ to subvert the genre. Innocent albeit male teenager Yu (Takahiro Nishijima) is driven to extremes by a devout parent, embarking on a rite of passage that takes in panty-peeping, cross-dressing vigilantism and the beautiful Yoko (Hikari Mitsushima).
Set against a backdrop of cult leaders, porn barons and tortured clerics, Sono wraps religious satire, kung-fu capers and a tongue-in-cheek sensibility into an entertaining tale, although at four hours, you’ll need annual leave to see it.