"Liverleaf" could have been a whole lot better. It just goes on for so much longer than it needs to that you completely lose interest, and the violence, which is probably the film's main draw, just gets tiresome.
The movie makes you wait quite a while for its first foray into amateur surgery, and it is truly shocking. But after a while it just becomes dull. Material that should pack more of a punch does not, because you get so used to the blood and guts that you stop taking it seriously.
The plot is about a girl who attends a small rural school in Japan, where she is sadistically bullied by the other girls. Even her father is assaulted by boys at the school when he meets with one of her teachers.
The movie COULD have been a kind of meditation on bullying and revenge, and at times it feels like it's trying for that. But it's far too long, and far too violent, to really take seriously, and whatever moments of seriousness are fleeting.
The movie makes you wait quite a while for its first foray into amateur surgery, and it is truly shocking. But after a while it just becomes dull. Material that should pack more of a punch does not, because you get so used to the blood and guts that you stop taking it seriously.
The plot is about a girl who attends a small rural school in Japan, where she is sadistically bullied by the other girls. Even her father is assaulted by boys at the school when he meets with one of her teachers.
The movie COULD have been a kind of meditation on bullying and revenge, and at times it feels like it's trying for that. But it's far too long, and far too violent, to really take seriously, and whatever moments of seriousness are fleeting.