Confessions (Kokuhaku) Review

Movie: Confessions (Kokuhaku)
By: Maniac E
Date: December 28, 2011

Grieving mother turned cold-blooded avenger

The Japanese director Tetsuya Nakashima follows up his critically acclaimed cult hits “Kamikaze Girls” and “Memories of Matsuko” with something more dark and ominous. Confessions is based upon Kanae Minato’s award winning debut novel and dealing with themes of bullying, revenge and savage murder, the film is an exceptionally cruel affair, all the more so thanks to Nakashima’s typically idiosyncratic approach and gorgeous visuals. The film has gotten success after success with a lot of international film festivals. The film has even been selected as the country’s official entry in the Best Foreign Film category of the 83rd Annual Academy Awards.

The story:

On her final day as the teacher of her middle school class, Yuko Moriguchi (Takako Matsu) makes a startling confession in front of them—that two students from her class were responsible for the murder of her young daughter. Contemplating the boundaries of the legal system and their handling of underage child suspects, she explains that it doesn’t allow for true justice to be served. Knowing full well the consequences of her confession though, the remainder of the class begins to exact vengeance upon the two young killers through the act bullying, with the killers own personal confessions coming to light as they deteriorate mentally and physically from the systematic abuse. Slowly revealing their crushing agony, Moriguchi plots her next move to initiate her final plan for ultimate revenge.

After the opening music, the actual opening act is a stunning intense moving 30 minute scene revealing Yoku’s own confessions as she talks to her students with a calm & collective frame of mindset, no emotion or even a sense of remorse on what’s she’s started and about to do. Confessions is a revenge movie in the way revenge movies play out, it’s also a powerful message of social commentary of disaffected youth, self-centered young people who nowadays have more of a relationship with their gadgets than with their family. You could say it’s a cry out at the over commercialization of young people (or people in general) who bombarded with advertised to buy this, that, wear this, listen to them rather than giving them a choice to choose, brainwashing. What really hits you is that fact anyone under 14 can actually commit a cold blooded crime you won’t be punished by law, that brought a cold shiver down my spine. It’s not just the youngsters who are questioned buy even Yoku is questioned we only seem to feel empathy for her nor we judge her too, her pessimism for the teens is callous as she assumes they will see to her revenge on the culprits in their own meditated way.

After the opening music, the actual opening act is a stunning intense moving 30 minute scene revealing Yoku’s own confessions as she talks to her students with a calm & collective frame of mindset, no emotion or even a sense of remorse on what’s she’s started and about to do. Confessions is a revenge film in the way revenge films play out, it’s also a powerful message of social commentary of disaffected youth, self-centered young people who nowadays have more of a relationship with their gadgets than with their family. You could say it’s a cry out at the over commercialization of young people (or people in general) who bombarded with advertised to buy this, that, wear this, listen to them rather than giving them a choice to choose, brainwashing. What really hits you is that fact anyone under 14 can actually commit a cold blooded crime you won’t be punished by law, that brought a cold shiver down my spine. It’s not just the youngsters who are questioned buy even Yoku is questioned we only seem to feel empathy for her nor we judge her too, her pessimism for the teens is callous as she assumes they will see to her revenge on the culprits in their own meditated way.

As with Tetsuya Nakashima’s previous works, Confessions is a visually stunning film that plays exceptionally well to the backdrop the film’s themes. Mired in nightmarish imagery and a gloomy ambience, the film is aesthetically engaging, with Tetsuya’s wonderful implementation of slow motion to heighten the effectiveness of certain scenes. Tetsuya brings some very surreal images to screen, enveloping the viewer into a world that resonates visually with the pain, deceit, and suffering of its characters. Similarly, Tetsuya’s adherence for a temperate lighting scheme reinforces the bleak nature of the film, as well as perfectly encapsulates the entirety of the film’s messages. To say that the film is melancholy in appearance is an understatement, it readily captures the emotional stance of these characters as they face such dire consequences. But while the look of the film is certainly remarkable, it could also prove to be detrimental in terms of viewership. Considering that the visual quality of the film is at such a high level, Tetsuya’s artistic craftiness may prove to be over utilized to some extent, but while it undoubtedly remains a marvelous technical achievement, it may distract some viewers who may find his exercising of such technical prowess a little redundant. For other though, this won’t present a problem and it will prove to be quite effective.

Confessions proves that a revenge film doesn’t have to be a film of physical pain to be a dark disturbing piece but if you want to seek revenge through a psychological route can just be as powerful by destroying your victim by stripping away their sense of reality using mind games. Confessions is a rollercoaster of emotions which some viewers may find hard to take sparking some raw nerves, but what we get is compelling disturbing masterpiece that will attack your emotions from all angles. If the film will win at the Oscars who knows for all I know this goes right into my top5 list of the year. Beware this film isn’t for everyone it is not a slasher film it is a film about morals and judgment, what would you have done?