Clocking in at 237 minutes, Sino's film possesses a rambling, free-associative structure.

Exhibiting astonishing dexterity, Mr. Sono shapes all this trauma into a narrative that's completely coherent and surprisingly touching, never more so than in Yu's struggle toward sexual maturity.

It's a campy rampage that runs a few minutes shy of four hours, dooming what otherwise would likely be a bright future as a midnight movie.

A film about being overwhelmed, as much as it's an overwhelming film, and it's the most excitingly exhausting kind of too much.