Review | Netflix movie review: Parasite in Love – strange Japanese romance stars Nana Komatsu and Kento Hayashi as a pair of young obsessive-compulsives
- Komatsu excels as Hijiri, a schoolgirl with a fear of being stared at who meets a fellow obsessive-compulsive, germophobe Kengo (Kento Hayashi), on a bus
- Romance follows and inspires them towards an act of cyberterrorism. Surrealist imagery and a propulsive soundtrack mask a confusing storyline
3/5 stars
Parasite in Love opens as germophobe loner Kengo (Kento Hayashi) looks on from his window at the city exploding in a fireball of his own creation.
It is an image that immediately recalls the finale of David Fincher’s Fight Club and, whether intentionally or not, the arc of Kensaku Kakimoto’s romantic drama follows a similar trajectory as a pair of outsiders find a kinship in one another that inspires them towards an act of cyberterrorism.
Kengo’s mysophobia prevents him from forming any kind of physical relationship, and he has become a shut-in. Determined to vent his frustrations on the outside world, he busies himself developing a computer virus.
After passing out on a bus, Kengo comes into contact with high-schooler Hijiri (Nana Komatsu), who suffers from scopophobia, a similarly dissociative condition in which she fears being stared at – apparently caused by a worm in her brain that is slowly killing her.
