“Love Will Tear Us Apart” (2023) [GenreBlast Film Festival]

by Joseph Perry and Mike Imboden

In our “The Good, the Bad, and the Verdict” film reviews, Joseph and Mike give their thoughts on a slice of cinema. For this installment, it’s Japanese auteur Ken'ichi Ugana’s mind-blowing slasher Love Will Tear Us Apart.

Synopsis

Wakaba Mashita is an ordinary elementary school student living in rural Japan.

One day, she saves her classmate Koki Kobayashi, who was being bullied.

From then on, people who are involved with Wakaba are killed one after another.

Who is the murderer? What is the purpose? When the murderer is found out, Wakaba realizes what true love is.

The Good

Joseph: Love Will Tear Us Apart mashes up stalk ‘n’ slash elements, coming-of-age and romance threads, and dark humor. Director Ken'ichi Ugana, who cowrote the clever screenplay with Hirobumi Watanabe, delivers a fun, gore-strewn take on movies that is loaded with mystery and surprises. Jaded fans of the slasher subgenre may guess the killer’s identity at some point, but even they will be astonished at the turn of other events. Ugana’s film is a wild ride that, like his previous work such as the decidedly bizarre erotic science fiction/horror outing Extraneous Matter Complete Edition (Japan, 2021), combines his vivid imagination with top-notch direction and editing. Sayu Kubota gives a fantastic lead performance supported by fine work from the film’s sizable cast.

Mike: I had zero idea what this was about when I had the opportunity to check it out via the GenreBlast Film Festival. Until now, the only tearing apart done by love that I knew about was the catchy-yet-awfully-depressing 1980 song of the same name by Joy Division. This Love Will Tear Us Apart isn’t about a relationship gone sour, but is instead a unique and rather weird slasher with some great performances by Sayu Kubota as inevitable “final girl” Wakaba and Mitsuru Fukikoshi who plays the father of one of the slain girls. Also worth noting is Tomoki Iwakura's cinematography that is especially engaging in the city streets during a fairly lengthy chase scene.

And of course it wouldn’t be a slasher film without some blood and gore of which there is plenty, a lot of it CGI but good enough that it doesn’t scream low-budget.

The Bad

Joseph: I have no complaints here. The film was far too fun of a viewing experience for me to consider any quibbles.

Mike: The abrupt tonal shift from the second to third act was a bit jarring as there hadn’t really been any type of indication that things would take a somewhat.. satirical turn. The first and second acts were as different as night and day, but they both had a seriousness about them - with the first act being quite somber and poignant. The third simply got a bit silly while still hanging onto its serious subject matter. Usually this type of juxtaposition sits well with me, but it just seems too abrupt and out of left field.

There’s also the issue of “whodunnit” that is about as surprising as finding out that water is wet. The fact they basically come right out and tell you who it is was a bit odd, but the subsequent attempt at a misdirect was poorly done and shouldn’t sway even the most clueless viewer. The thing is, the identity is pretty important and probably should have been completely saved for the final “unmasking”. Even Scooby-Doo, Where are You? would wait until the end of an episode to do this.

The Verdict

Joseph: Love Will Tear Us Apart is a strong contender for my list of 10 best horror films of 2023. I had a blast watching it, and I’m sure horror fans looking for a fun twist on slasher fare that provides plenty of originality and wicked humor will enjoy it, too.

Mike: It’s hard to really summarize my thoughts on this. On one hand I admire the dedication to making the film he wanted to make, but on the other I just felt a bit off-balance by the shift in tone that seemed like someone mixed up two different scripts. I won’t lie and say that Love Will Tear Us Apart is a bad movie - it’s not - but aside from some great performances and an interesting overall plotline, it feels a bit uneven. The shift from serious to satire seems to be an odd choice and had the entire film been one or the other I would have no problem recommending it. As it stands, I’d have to give this a big ‘Your Mileage May Vary’ warning along with a hesitant thumbs up.

Love Will Tear Us Apart screens as part of GenreBlast Film Festival 2023, which runs August 31–September 2, 2023, in Winchester, Virginia. For more information, visit https://www.genreblast.com/.

Love Will Tear Us Apart