Based on the description of Love Twisted and the DVD keep case artwork, I expected this movie to be an offbeat, darkly comic Japanese horror film about a mad woman stalking a man. It turned out to be nothing like that at all, but I was not disappointed. On the contrary, I was very pleasantly surprised - and moved - by this film.

Yuko Yajima (Aoba Kawai in a stunning performance) is a young woman who works as a librarian in a huge public library, where she logs book returns into a computer, then places the books back on the shelves. Not exactly the most fulfilling career in the world. And, with no family or friends around, Yuko lives a bleak life in a world where it seems that nobody would care if she died tomorrow.

The only thing that makes Yuko's life worth living is her passionate love affair with Mamoru Kosino, (Masaru Engo) the young man who lives in the apartment beneath hers. There's just one problem - Yuko's love affair exists only in her deluded mind. Mamoru doesn't even know she exists. It's not that Yuko is unattractive - she is a very attractive young woman with a nice figure, a pretty face, and an achingly cute smile. She could easily land a boyfriend if she wanted to.

Unfortunately, Yuko is crippled by severe shyness to the point of psychosis. And with psychosis comes delusion - and obsession. When she's not working, Yuko spends her time laying down with her ear to the floor so she can hear her beloved Mamoru in his apartment below, comforted by the sounds of his footsteps, the water running in his sink, the flushing of his toilet. She talks to herself as if she were carrying on a conversation with Mamoru.

Yuko keeps a spare key to Mamoru's apartment. Whenever he goes out, she goes into his apartment and gets a giddy thrill out of touching his things, using his bathroom, and such. She also terrorizes the woman who lives next door to Mamoru. When she finally drives the woman out, Yuko moves into her apartment. Now, she shares a wall with Mamoru. She sleeps next to it and listens at it endlessly. In one sad scene, Yuko takes two plates full of food and sits next to the wall, imagining that she's eating dinner with Mamoru.

The tragic irony here is that Mamoru leads just as bleak and lonely a life as Yuko. If only Yuko could overcome her mental illness and introduce herself to Mamoru, they would be perfect for each other. Instead, Yuko's psychosis gets worse. She terrorizes the other woman who lives next door to Mamoru, and she too decides to move. Yuko thinks she has Mamoru all to herself, but when Mamoru sees the other woman carrying boxes of her belongings, he offers to help her. And though she does move, she and Mamoru fall in love.

Yuko is shocked to hear the woman's voice in Mamoru's apartment, and listens to their date, which ends in some very passionate lovemaking. Yuko is aroused at first, then the shock hits her like a punch in the face: she has lost Mamoru forever. This sets up the powerful, emotional ending. No, there is no typical murder, suicide, or both, but the ending still packs a wallop.

Writer-director Ryoko Yoshida delivers a powerful meditation on the human condition. Even though the movie runs just 80 minutes, it seems much longer due to the deliberately slow pace. There is very little dialogue. The story is purely visual, conveyed mostly by facial expressions and little behaviors that add up to a lot.

Yoshida also delivers a stinging commentary on modern Japanese society and the increased dehumanization in a country that prides itself on its technological advances. Yuko and Mamoru are two very human people whose lives have become small cogs in a large and indifferent machine. Watch for the exterior shots of their apartment building - every apartment looks exactly the same.

While the exact cause of Yuko's mental illness is never shown, Yoshida strongly suggests that a dehumanizing society is partly to blame. Yuko is a tragic, sympathetic character, not an evil person. Yoshida has avoided all the trappings this story could present. Instead of being a cold and cruel horror film or a kinky, voyeuristic exploitation film, Love Twisted is a sad and moving story about love and longing.

The Report Card: A+

The Last Word: Love Twisted is a haunting, emotional story - a modern tragedy about love and longing and the greater need for human contact in a dehumanizing modern world. Brilliantly and sensitively written and directed by Ryoko Yoshida and superbly acted by leads Aoba Kawai and Masaru Engo, this is a must-see film...