True crime cinema has always been an easy sell in Japan, with some titles becoming instant classics. Shohei Imamura's "Vengeance is Mine" ("Fukushu Suru wa Ware ni Ari," 1979) is acknowledged as the pioneer of that genre. Based on a real-life serial killer case from the 1960s, it combined flashy murder with explosive sex.
Ever since, though, directors have tended to go overboard with the true crime formula — does anyone remember "The Devil's Path" ("Kyoaku," 2013)? — and Kota Yoshida's "Love Disease" ("Ai no Yamai") is no exception.
The film is based on a 2002 murder case in Wakayama Prefecture that began with a dip into the world of online dating. "Love Disease" is brutal and crude, but nevertheless sports a streak of likable naivete. After all, this was back when the internet was still young and mobile phone dating was the hot new thing — I can definitely remember the days when texts from unknown "dates" showed up on my phone's screen and, unfortunately for us women, the job offers from dating sites that flooded our inboxes.