Movie

(Ab)normal Desire

2023 · 134 min

A quiet, uncomfortable look at people hiding their true selves, asking you to sit with their loneliness and shame.

Overview: Director Yoshiyuki Kishi and screenwriter Takehito Minato—the team behind acclaimed boxing epic Wilderness—reunite to adapt Ryo Asai's prize-winning novel. A sensitive drama about the aberrant in a society without regard for diversity, the story unites characters trying to hide abnormalities: a prosecutor who is worried that his pubescent son is a shut-in, an introverted saleswoman with a peculiar habit, and a student tortured by feelings she can’t express. In a world fill with abnormalities, what if it’s actually normal to be abnormal?
How it feels: Melancholic, tense, dark and earnest. Slow-burning and demanding.
About: Identity, isolation, family, sexuality
Content: Mild sexual content and language. No violence or gore.
Note: Written by AI, so it can be wrong. Full breakdown

Your rating is saved. See your suggestions, or find titles like this one below.

Rate it, and Mesmero finds titles that feel like it. You do not need an account.

Add to a list: (Ab)normal Desire

In the USNo streaming, rental or purchase options known.

In your watch list

More like this

Like (Ab)normal Desire, but

Written by AI. It can be wrong.

Full breakdown

Tone: melancholicstrength 2 of 3
tensestrength 2 of 3
darkstrength 1 of 3
earneststrength 1 of 3
Pacing: slow-burn, 1 of 4, from slow-burn to relentless
Attention: demanding, 4 of 4, from background-friendly to demanding
Themes: identity
isolation
family
sexuality
loneliness
Places: big city
home
workplace
Era: contemporary
Audience: adult
Form: ensemble
Content intensity: Gore none
Language mild
Violence none
Sex mild