If the saccharine excesses of St. Valentine’s Day have left you nauseous, then take refuge in Takashi Miike’s astonishingly grisly tale of crushed dreams, lost love and missing appendages.
Aoyama, a widower, is urged by his son to re-marry, so a friend organises a fake film audition to help him to find a partner. The plan seems to have worked when Aoyama becomes entranced by Asami, a demure young ballet dancer. But is she everything she appears to be?
Part-Vertigo, part-Misery, this questions our inability to move on from past events, and our irrational desire for perfection in others despite our own flaws.
Be warned, however: it is certainly not for the faint of heart or weak of stomach.