Very very predictable, including the post credit scene !!!

Pretty Good

Great Film overall

An old-fashioned movie made with new-fashioned finesse.

Before I go into any level of detail about this movie (which honestly won't be much), I should say upfront that I expected more from this since it's supposed to be part of this New French Extremity. What I ended up getting was rather tame and, worst of all, just plain boring at times.The plot, if one can call it that, revolves around several people who work for a few different companies. One is TokyoAnime, who specialize in animation and manga; the second is the titular Demonlover, a website where people can watch hentai; and the third is Mangatronics, Demonlover's primary competitor. There's also a torture site called Hellfire Club which may or may not be run on the sly by Demonlover. I suppose that last site could have made for a more graphic and explicit film if they'd chose to focus on that, but no, all you get is a dull slog about corporate spying among companies who just happen to deal with some rather sleazy stuff. However, there's only really one scene where you get to see exactly what this content is and a lot of it is blurred out.Moving on, the acting in this movie was passable although it's not what I would consider great by any means. Connie Nielsen and Gina Gershon, in her limited screen time, come off the best but mostly because their characters were the least annoying. Another major fault of this movie is writing. Aside from a lack of coherence in the general storyline, the characters are all varying degrees of unsympathetic and, at times, grating to the ears. Chloe Sevigny is probably the worst offender, as there are scenes where she'll lurch from calm and sedate to bitchy and screechy without much motivation or reason. On the whole, there is not a likable character to be found and the confusing plot didn't do them any favors at all.On a technical level I can sort of give this a pass because it was low-budget, so it wasn't too unexpected that most of the film was shot up-close and hand-held. Most of the time, they gave you enough of a look at what was happening so that it wasn't visually disorienting. Still, there are a couple of scenes in which this filming style is detrimental. One was a catfight between Connie Nielsen and Gina Gershon's character in which it's often hard to tell who's hitting who and where they exactly are at any given moment. The other was a chase scene towards the end.Overall, given the subject matter, or at least what I thought the subject matter was going to be, I have to say this film was a disappointment. It was overly confusing, poorly written with unlikeable characters and, worst of all, rather boring. With such sleazy content involving animated porn and torture sites, they chose possibly one of the worst angles to approach it from and certainly one of the least compelling. It kind of improves in the last 30 minutes or so, but that doesn't excuse the nearly 90 minutes that came before it. If discussions about contracts, clauses and market share are your cup of tea, by all means check this out. For me, however, it was just a dud and waste of my time and money.

Much has been said about this film in other high-rated user review that need not be repeated here. Assayas has obviously seen a whole number of Hong Kong movies as this is nothing less than a French HK thriller. The themes may have been a bit old and trite even as the film came out ("You don't have that in France yet, right" as the Americans remark at one point) but there's always a trade-off to be made between elitism and populism. Certain media events concerning real torture that shape our perception now had not transpired either, and even the fictional internet doesn't appear totally made-up yet.Contrary to what some reviewers thought, the plot didn't have any holes that I noticed. In the second half (after the fight with HK style near-deadly deception) the pace merely accelerates and showing every step of the development would have been even more populist. In the end, as HK cinema fans know very well, the dark decisions and desires of the human soul let everything go to hell.The cinematography is faultless, and the actors - especially the main anti-heroine - express everything in a very non-extreme but nonetheless crystal-clear way. This is a great film that does not overstep the boundaries of entertainment, as there are really no explicit scenes to be seen, yet it leaves a very strong message about the life people are creating (or rather destroying) through their decisions and actions.

"Demonlover" has an intriguing and interesting beginning, with betrayals in a corporation that is disputing a porn Manga site with a competitor. All the characters are "bad guys", and their motives are basically one: dirty money. The first hour of this movie is attractive and original, without clichés, and due to the lack of development of the characters, I was curious to know where the screenplay was going. The next thirty minutes becomes absolutely boring. However, the last thirty-nine minutes is pointless and confused, with lots of plot points, making the story completely disconnected and too long. A friend of mine recommended this movie, but in the end I was totally disappointed. My vote is four.Title (Brazil): "Espionagem na Rede" ("Espionage in the Net")

Recap: Diane is in the middle of concluding a deal, buying and selling the rights to some popular anime-porn. But Diane is really playing the game, really working as a spy for a competitor to both parties of the deal. What Diane is to find out, is that she is not the only one playing the game. Or something.Comments: First, for a pretty good review, as someone said, read Charles Taylor's at Salon.com (can be found under "external reviews"). Second, and most importantly, yes this might very well be an imaginative, creative and unconventional movie that also makes a statement about what might happen in a commercial global internet-based market. But mostly, and above all other, it is boring and confused. There are no plot-holes in the story, no, there are only plot islands, where the story briefly touches down after making a random and unexplainable jump. And don't expect to figure out along the way, or that the movie will offer some explanation. No, on the contrary it becomes more confusing. The director, or whomever for that matter, might say that this is intentional, and just a new way of making movie. It's artistic. To me, it is an attempt to justify a complete mess. And if you're making a statement, why make it in a way that people will lose interest and get confused half way, and couldn't care less at the end.Connie Nielsen, or her character, is in focus of the movie. And she does somewhat of a good job trying to keep it together. But it must be hard when the director intentionally cuts crucial parts of the story, leaving the audience guessing, and the character development nonexistent. Instead we get unmotivated scenes with porn or nudity. I guess the director wish to say something with that, but to me this is not more of an intelligent challenge, it is far less. It took me all about 10 minutes to get bored.So, my recommendation is. If you wish for something different, sure, go ahead. I do give a small plus for the unconventional thinking. But don't say I didn't warn you. It is boring.3/10