This review may contain spoilers
Well, it made the final shortlist in the Best Foreign Film category of the 83rd Academy Awards for a reason. From Kamikaze Girls and The World of Kanako director, Tetsuya Nakashima, Confessions is considered his opus. And with good reasons. This is based on the thriller novel by Kanae Minato.With a strong 20 minutes opening monologue, Confession quickly establishes itself. It sets up the scene, introduces characters and creates conflict within 20 minutes with elaborate control and pristine intrigue. It's not perfect. It's not as detailed or as convincing especially actions coming from mere junior high school students but it enters a new type of fascination as a viewer. While the immoral practices presented in the film will make you question, it delivers the shock factor it needs. Perhaps the reason why it chooses that age group as its major protagonist (or should I say, antiheroes).
Confessions is a revenge thriller that is cleverly wrapped into a psychological film. Yes, the actions will cause shock (perhaps not even for the lighthearted) but it's the mental manipulation, the monotone, the poker face and the polite words that Moriguchi (played by Takako Matsu) that makes everything a perfect blow, up until the end, almost pulling a perfect Chekhov's gun.
While the intertwining confessions benefit viewers in giving a different perspective and a two-side of the story narration, it suffers from inconsistency especially in terms of clarity and length. Given the context of the story though, it makes you question how plausible the writing is. You can applaud Moriguchi's clever plotting but you question just how much, especially having junior high school kids here, how of much of what happens makes sense...in reality (being vague to avoid spoilers).
A contrast in terms of style with Nakashima's The World of Kanako which incorporates fast cuts and heightened overtones, Confessions is slow, filled with slow motions that adds dramatic effect but renders the stab to the heart effect. Irony and contrast is a recurring theme. Lots of irony. Contrast in overall cinematography with dark colors against white background reflect the melo-dramatic feel, sometimes emo ballad curled in psychological mindfuck that the film tries to take. Lots of dark gray tones creating a gloomy ambiance. Contrast with English music with ironic lyrics and dramatic scenes make the scenes stand out.
Ai Hashimoto, often called as an acting prodigy because of the massive pool of films under her belt at the age of 20 puts on her signature smug look that shows a character filled with secrecy. Yukito Nishii executes his character well, playing an innocent genius with dark secrets. His actions surprised me and I least expected that. He has great chemistry onscreen with Hashimoto. It's probably mean to say but Kaoru Fujiwara fits the stereotypical wimpy loner look which makes his acting effective and his eventual collapse all the more heartbreaking.
Overall, Confessions is not a perfect film but the acclaim it gets is the way it handles the psychological factors it imposes on its viewers. It tries to ask you teach you a lesson about life, but actually you don't need that lesson. That's a red herring in the film. Everything it "tries" to tell you, you already know. And I think the film is just showing these underlying "lessons" out in the open using young teenagers for elaborated effect. It's not a film about evil per say but the little hidden dark side in all of us. But I'm just glad that it wasn't the least bit romanticized.
Was this review helpful to you?
I can simply not find any fault with this film; the story, acting, music, and simply everything was perfect. It's one of those rare films that renders you speechless due to the beauty in the way in which it was executed. I strongly recommend this to anyone about 15 and up and hope that you enjoy this masterpiece as much as I.
I apologise for not being able to write more but I feel that words cannot express just how great this film is.
Was this review helpful to you?
I got up to take a glass of water and just wavered, because my head was full of the scences that 've watched.
The story was really ... Yeah it was... In my opinion this story...
Okay, just say it damaged something in my brain. I liked it and it has many facets. Even in the begining it has many confusing parts in it but, in the end you can put all togethere and thats what I liked. Even it is a confusing movie you aren't totally: what did he say? what did he do? why did he do that? Please someone tell me why he is what he is!
Every character at this film is reasoned, still in a crazy way, but it is alright.
The actors act really amazing. I mean the most of them seemed pretty young so thumb up! I could feel their emotions and they made their job seriously.
Hmm.. Music..Yeah.. Music.. I think it was a little bit to mixed up, on some parts it really fits and on some parts it doesn't..
I think I will rewatch it, maybe tommorow, maybe in a year.
It is really a movie which you are not able to pause,because every minute there is a new exciting scene that makes you want to watch more .
Was this review helpful to you?
Was this review helpful to you?
It made me hide behind my cushion, bite my nails, shout at the television excitedly and nervously; it was very thrilling throughout the movie!
There was some violence, some blood and gore, and some heart-break and tears, all wound up in a very mind-twisting and emotional story. You need to pay attention to the small details because if you don't, you won't understand the movie as much. Even now, I need to re-watch it again because I feel there are some parts I need to understand a bit more but I can't bring myself to, because it has generally scared me to the core xD
You know when there are some movies that need to be seen in a cinema? Well, this doesn't. You can watch it at home at medium-volume (or how loud you like it) and you will still feel the hairs raise up on the back of your neck, the chilling whispers and screams..
So watch it, you won't regret it :)
Was this review helpful to you?
The story is as the summary describes: a teacher grieved by the loss of her child decides to take matters in to her own hands. The mystery of how this murder was committed is revealed in the first twenty minutes of the movie; and if you're wondering what material that leaves for the rest of the movie, rest assured it is phenomenal. What follows is a story pieced together through the perspectives of various partakers of the crime, and a story so engrossing you cannot tear your eyes off of it.
The cast did a great job bringing their characters to life in this movie, and portrayed the raw emotions that makes the movie the masterpiece that it is. Our protagonists who were acting out the role of middle school kids specially deserve a tonne of praise for their commendable acting.
What I liked the most about the movie is how invested in the story I was till the very end. No matter how disturbing some of the events were (and there are a few hair raisers in this one), the quest to find out how this entire saga concludes was a tremendous driving force. This movie makes you feel a roller-coaster worth of emotions; you start off feeling sad for the tremendous injustice, somewhere in the middle you feel righteousness exists in the world, down the road you wonder if the characters deserve some sympathy, and by the end all these emotions just jumble up together! I liked how there were so many layers to this movie, every arc of the movie felt like completing a puzzle, only to find out in the next arc that you were using the wrong picture for the puzzle reference to begin with.
The story unraveling makes it hard to stick to one side for the entire movie, humanity wins somewhere in the middle and makes you sympathize. Was there one character who was the ultimate hero? I'll let you be the judge. I think I ping-ponged around too much to say yes to this question. I guess the essential question is, how many lives is one life worth?
If I could pluck one thing in the story for which the movie is a point short of full, it would be due to the fact that I found Yoko Moriguchi staying off the law enforcement radar a little hard to believe.
All in all it was an interesting watch (albeit not worth a re-watch). I would recommend this to anyone who's up for a little psychological gamble and can handle an hour and three quarters of a thrilling ride. One thing's for sure, I will be looking at middle-school kids in a whole new light after this movie.
Was this review helpful to you?
You could find everything from little bloody, mess up your mind, and in a way blow your mind too, also some sicked scene that you expected to see in this type of genre, this movie give you all of those feeling.
It might started out slow pace but once you realise, you will get hook in with this slow pace but building up some psychological emotion on you. Very clever story telling i would say.
The actiong was great for the female lead but i didn't like much about those kids who play in this movie, maybe they still yound but they have potential anyways.
I would recommend this movie to anyone who like thriller and psychological genre, which giving you something that will remind in your feeling deep down in your mind after finished watching it.
Was this review helpful to you?
This review may contain spoilers
"The Importance of Acknowledgement" this movie told us human beings will do everything for their loved ones either it's good deeds or sins. Shuya planned his game and schemes all the incidents to hit the news and get popular. Apart from doing that, his main purpose is to get acknowledged by her genius mother.
The movie has intriguing story and very compelling to watch. Cinematography has dark, cold and grey palette tones. Most of scenes are stylish with slow motion. We could see single details of droplets whenever it splashed. A movie with an ultimate and elegant revenge with cold-blooded psychological thriller, dark and savage humor with variations of cruelty in the horrible classroom. The characters are pitiful, pathetic and understandable for some points.
Was this review helpful to you?
I am the type of person who can solve mystery/psychological movies easily because i'm a book nerd and stuff. But...holy-moly this movie took so many surprising twists and turns it left me breathless.
I RECOMMEND THIS MOVIE TO EVERYONE!
Was this review helpful to you?
Was this review helpful to you?
PROS:
+ Powerful story, told in a beautiful way with the perspective shifting the focus among the different characters
+ Strong themes that are potent enough to learn from in real life
+ Wonderful balance of elements of beauty and terror in the cinematography that reflect the themes
CONS:
- Some of the soundtrack choices seem poor and become irritating; however, this may have been an intentional stylistic choice
- With the indirect method of plot progression, the first 2/3rds of the film is difficult to conceptualize themes and purpose for actions (this is all resolved nicely by the conclusion though)
I had no idea this movie would be so impacting. I hope you watch this right now!
Was this review helpful to you?
But what I love the most of this movie it is how, even in the midst of a heavy revenge, they show us as a message the importance of life: how much we should value life. It is a must watch film if you like psychological, avenge theme movies!
Was this review helpful to you?
