The collaboration between Hitomi Kanehara, a leading and controversial young Japanese writer, and the Japanese play director Yukio Ninagawa made the top news. The original novel, full of body defilation, tattoos, and sadomasochistic sex is regarded as a successful illustration of the psychology of a wandering young woman. The movie Snakes and Earrings visually realizes the heroine’s psychology, reproducing the original novel’s powerful impression and unique personality. For a young woman named Lui, pain is the only thing that makes her feel alive. She meets a young man, Ama, with a pierced tongue like a snake’s. Ama introduces her to Shiba, a tattoo and piercing artist. Lui is attracted to the strong impression of the two young men and has sex with both of them. But their love triangle is complicated when Ama commits murder over a trivial matter. The director Ninagawa persuasively illustrates the life of a young woman who seeks human touch in a desolate city, and is never overshadowed by the sensational subject matter. The 3 actors should also be acknowledged for playing such difficult characters. (KWON Young-min)