User Reviews

Lionel Shriver's novel, We need to talk about Kevin, went places where few novelists had dared to venture; she did a great job - that entire stretch where Kevin goes crazy was skillfully written and Ms.Shriver deserved the Orange prize. However, director Nakashima has pushed the boundaries further in this impressively shot and directed movie.

Confessions begins with a long-drawn lecture from Yuko Moriguchi, a teacher at a school somewhere in Japan. Ms.Moriguchi is about to leave the school; but before that, she wants to impart one final lesson - on the value of life. In doing so, she shocks her students with a revelation: her young daughter (very young, heart-wrenchingly young), whose death the police concluded was an accident, was intentionally murdered by two of her own students. She not only reveals the murderers' identity but also explains how she plans to take revenge on those students. This brilliant monologue that lasts for half-an-hour is the best part of the movie; it is wonderfully held together by Takaka Matsu's restrained performance.

Acts II and III present details of Moriguchi's actual scheme; it isn't as pedestrian as announced in class - it is much more devious and cruel. The movie scores because it creates an uneasy tension in the minds of the viewer: we realize that the kids' deeds are evil and are worthy of severe punishment. Hence, we don't find fault with the Mother's acts. However, it is very difficult for us to believe that it is their Teacher who is orchestrating these devious acts of revenge. It is in creating this constant discomfort that the writer's genius shines through.

The director extracts brilliant performances from the entire cast. I wonder how he worked with those two kids - how did he train them? The cinematography is high on aesthetics and adequately conveys the required dark mood. I however thought the final sequences (flames, blasts) could have been toned down a few notches.

While some might categorize this as a psychological revenge drama (which it is), I tend to view it more as a strong statement on the mental state of today's children and how they are affected by developments at home and relationships at places of education. It isn't a pleasant state of affairs, and Nakashima has conveyed so much in his unflinching dark- dark-dark drama.

A surprise box office hit in Japan, 'Confessions' made its way to the Toronto International Film Festival, and also chosen as Japan's entry to the Oscars. However, it's a very Japanese movie I can only recommend to viewers who have seen over 50 Japanese films or prior experience with violent Japanese films. For everyone else, I would recommend less graphic Japanese value-of-life school films such as 'The Blue Bird' (2008) and 'School Days with a Pig' (2008).

Although there is a lot of blood spilled in the movie, it's still a mainstream picture with violence that's nothing compared to films directed by pre-2003 Miike Takashi, pre-2001 Kitano Takeshi, or most Japanese B-movies. What makes 'Confessions' a truly disturbing film, is that the horrifying acts of violence are done by teens, and adults' reactions toward them.

'Confessions' is the first non-comedy film directed by Nakashima Tetsuya, who is known for award-winning comedy films 'Kamikaze Girls', 'Memories of Matsuko', and 'Paco and the Magical Book'. The story is based on 2008 award-winning novel of same title, which tells the story of a teacher's revenge on two students who killed her daughter. The movie is thought-provoking as well as emotionally draining, and takes the saying "kids can be cruel" to a whole new level.

The Japanese term for teacher is "sensei", a title given not only to teachers, but also as suffix to other honorable occupations in society like doctors, writers, politicians, and lawyers. Teachers in Japan have traditionally been a highly respected occupation because they guide students not only in the subjects they teach, but also supposed to be mentors in life. In essence, a sensei performs the tasks of both teacher and student councilor for his/her class. The occupation has been glorified and beautified in abundance of modern literature with modern school dramas such as '3-B Kinpachi-sensei', 'GTO', 'Gokusen', and 'Rookies', where teachers connect with delinquent students by relentless trust and hard work. In 'Confessions', however, the teacher played by Matsu Takako is depicted as an emotionless and cruel individual who sets out to take the matter into her own hands by teaching the value of life through horrifying revenge. It even pokes fun at the glorified teacher's image in media with lines like "I don't trust any of you, you're all talented liars", and the absurdity of the passionate teacher who was totally unaware of the situation. The student violence and coldness of the teacher is very reminiscent of 'Battle Royale' (2000).

Acting and casting in this movie were superb. I have been a Matsu Takako fan for a long time, but it was by far her best performance ever, and handled her unlikely dark role surprisingly well. Her control of emotion was right on in the first half as a ruthless teacher who suffers from tremendous pain, but hides her feelings in front of her students. In the second half, her character break down a couple of times, and it wasn't very hard for me to sympathize with the character despite the horrible things she did. Kimura Yoshino, and Okada Masaki both played their parts brilliantly in supporting roles. The casting was ridiculously well-done because all the characters felt so real, which brings a chill down my spine because it seemed like such frightening events can actually happen in real life. The child actors also performed very well, depicting the ill state some of the classrooms in Japan, and the twisted thoughts juvenile minds can have. Teen model Hashimoto Ai, who played Student A's girlfriend especially shined. She definitely will have a great career ahead if she can continue to perform at this level.

The story is unveiled through confessions of various characters in the movie, sometimes repeating the same event from different perspectives. Everyone expresses their own hopes and despair, sadness and hatred. The fast narratives combined with hauntingly beautiful slow motion imagery and mesmerizing background music gave this film an eerie, gloomy atmosphere that complimented the story, as well as an exceedingly engaging flow of plot development. My only complaint is that the movie is slightly overproduced with excessive use of slow-motion throughout the film that offset the climax scene, which used high-speed camera and CG. But overall, extremely well-directed and bold art house human horror mystery.

The movie addresses common social issues in Japan, such as bullying, abuse of child protection act, discrimination, and suicide from a whole new angle. 'Confessions', like many fine traditional Japanese films, is very emotionally draining, but keeps up the suspense throughout the film.

By taking lives so lightly and easily in the film, the director conveyed the true value of one's life.

This film is about a teacher in Japan, whose daughter is killed by two students in her class. She sets out to seek her ultimate revenge, using an impeccable plan.

"Confessions" takes the form of various characters confessing their deeds and emotions, and it works very well. The first part of the film consists of the teacher, Miss Moriguchi, recounting the value of life and her pain of losing her daughter. Even though this lasts for 30 minutes, it is one of the most captivating monologues I have watched. Just like the students in the class, I went from being distracted to being completely engrossed by her confession.

The second part is about Boy B and his mother. The psychiatric manifestations of Boy B is realistically enacted, and the pain of Boy B's mother is fully displayed - which is a stark contrast to the apparently calm and composed Miss Moriguchi.

Part three tells a spine-chilling tale of Boy A. This bit is disturbing and thought provoking, and yet it evokes a slight bit of sympathy for Boy A due to his upbringing.

Part four is the finale, which one can only marvel at the complexity of Miss Moriguchi's plot. Everything makes so much sense, until the final word in the film which sparks a frenzy of mental activity about what really happened.

To complement the intriguing and captivating plot, the film is artistically shot and acting is top notch across the board. "Confessions" is a marvellous masterpiece that will be remembered for years.

The current hot ticket movie in Japan was the hot ticket at this years New York Asian Film Festival. How hot is the film in Japan? According to the pre-movie announcement at the Japan Society the special guests to the film festival were happy to come to New York because they could actually see the film. I'm not sure that the film is as good as the hype but at the same time it is a dark descent into hell.

The film starts off simply. On the last day of the term a teacher announces that she is giving up teaching. Her students for the most part couldn't care less. However her good bye speech begins to pick up steam as she explains why, it seems the recent accidental death of her daughter wasn't an accident but murder and that since the two students in the class who did it are too young to be prosecuted she would be getting revenge... and she does...and then things go even blacker than you can imagine.

Its a dark cruel film that will make your jaw hang open in disbelief. The level of cruelty in this film will make you head spin.

The question is how will this film effect you? Certainly this well made little poisoned confection will give you pause, but how hard it hits you is another matter. For some people in the audience it was like being hit with a truck. They were left reeling by what they saw. For me and a some others we liked the film, we admired it, but we found it kind of over produced and trying too hard to work your emotions. Yes it plays with you and yes you'll groan at some of the turns but the film is so slick that the emotional impact kind of slides off.

I do like the film but at the same time I wish it wasn't so perfectly made.

Definitely worth a look, I'd just try to steer clear of the hype and finding out anything about the film past the set up since the twists are too good to spoil.

Confessions opens with a scene depressingly familiar in contemporary Japan - 'classroom breakdown.' A teacher stoically maintains a teacherly disposition in the face of apathy and hostility from her 40-odd charges. They text, shout, fight, enter and leave the room, throw paper balls - and milk. Those splashes of white, slo-mo'ing through the grey-blue muted frame, are portents of a greater darkness to come.

The stylised rendering of this scene will fool some overseas viewers into thinking this is a heightened reality for cinematic aesthetics. As anyone who has talked to a secondary-level teacher out here will know, classroom breakdown is widespread and pernicious. Nakashima's visual rendering of this phenomenon in the opening 20 minutes seems unflinchingly accurate in capturing the dehumanization that mob rule engenders.

Social critique gives way to plot demands as the teacher's monologue reveals she is leaving, views her pupils with detached contempt, and has identified amongst them two killers of her own infant daughter. At this point the audience is wrong-footed into thinking the film will be a whodunit. Instead, we find out quickly that Naoki and Shuya 'dunit' (though who is the leader and who was led will throw up some intrigue).

The film then re-visits the scene of the crime Rashomon-style, offering up interpretations by the teacher/mother, both the perpetrators, and one of the perpetrator's mothers.

Nakashima seems less interested, however, in exploring the psychology of the child murderers, than in representing Japan's current social malaise in heightened, graphic terms. The 'reasons' given - striving for popularity amongst peers, lack of motherly love - are trite and hackneyed. Even the search for revenge by the teacher/mother is left unquestioned, serving as a motivation to drive the plot when it could be examined in more critical terms.

Perhaps, given the catalogue of matricide, patricide and random killings committed by juveniles in recent years, the very mundaneness and banality of such incidents is Nakashima's point. Perhaps, he seems to imply, the reasons are trite and insubstantial. Our incremental exposure to such amoral acts inures us to the next one.

The film achieves a balance in its representation of the horror and yet commonality of petty cruelties. The murder itself, while wicked, seems overtaken by the viciousness of the retribution dolled out by the classmates. When innocence and rationality assert themselves, in the form of Head Pupil Mizuho, the price paid for such naiveté is swift and brutal. This is a hard pill to swallow, but its resonance to greater concerns in contemporary Japan is undeniable.

Less of a success is the film's attempt to marry this to plot concerns. The teacher's partner died of AIDS (note the casual racism in pointing out that it was contracted overseas), a point thrown up merely to give the teacher a weapon to use against her tormentors. When Naoki, the pupil-murderer less vulnerable to the teacher's revenge, decides to turn the tables, he does so by constructing a highly sophisticated remote control bomb triggered by his own mobile phone. There are nation-states who cannot master such technology. There are enough genuinely terrifying acts of violence to be gleaned from the Japanese tabloids without resorting to such comic-book machinations. The social critique of the film is ultimately undercut by this 'stop-the-bomb' clichéd ending.

The blue-black-silver palette eloquently conveys the paranoia and social degeneration that classroom breakdown is the beating heart of. Unfortunately, Nakashima opts to eschew close-ups, a choice that distances us from any of the players. The still on the publicity shot is the clearest view you will get of Takako Matsu, who plays the relentless, chilling teacher. No doubt the lack of close-ups was meant to underline the dehumanizing effects of the actions portrayed, but cinematically it is less than satisfying. It is an annoying trope commonly found in contemporary Japanese film-making. I wonder if it is an aesthetic choice, or an element imposed by restricted budgets.

I usually despair of films where there is no one to like. However, there is something about Confessions that captures an ennui, a sickness current in Japanese society, and education in particular. Capturing that atmosphere is the film's main achievement. However, the dark frames and lack of close-ups ultimately meant I felt no emotional engagement with the characters. Lack of redemption I can live with, but these choices also imbibe the film with a lack of humanity that is less forgivable. Nakashima is a polished artisan, and he knows his society well. Based on this outing, I am less sure he is familiar with the human frailties of the people who populate it.

I absolutely loved this movie. In my opinion it is one of the best films that has been released in YEARS.

Remarkable filming style and celluloid beauty, gut wrenching story in parts, made me cry twice (at least twice, i would have cried more had I watched it at home instead of in a sold out cinema - I saw it at the London based 'Frightfest' halloween event), this story is soul destroying in places (spoiler - the mother looking at the photograph of her young son, and the stark contrast of the reality of coping with him in his teens in the present day) and spot on with the feel of how petulant and selfish teens can be.

Right from the first 5 minutes I was totally drawn in, I couldn't believe how brilliantly this was put together - the journey between childhood and adolescence absolutely perfectly portrayed in that first 5 minutes of the movie, amazing. I was gobsmacked.

I say now to everyone that hasn't managed to see this yet, see it now, see it at your very first convenience. This is one that will take pride of place among the best world cinema on my DVD shelf.

I cannot wait to see it again, beautifully shot and touching and repulsive......

Shortly... this is probably the most unexpected masterpiece I have seen in a while...

Talking about revenge looks like spoiling the movie but I guess many of those who watched it ended up like ''Maaannn...Revenge??!!!''...

Of course there are always some tiny points to be improved in the movie but I can easily say that this is the real real masterpiece...

First of all you see the difference in the directing when the movie just starts... just the first scenes tells that this movie is no ordinary one... and of course the sequel comes...

The most brilliant directing since a long time...

The only detail for me to be improved was that younger lead actors could do a bit better in making us feel their real emotions during the movie... it is a very tiny detail when compared to the story, directing and the rest of the movie but still made me expect even more... But we should also understand that building the movie on three unexperienced teenagers is a great risk... I think overall they acted brilliantly... but a bit bit more genuine acting (especially by the end) would polish this movie ... That's the only reason I'm giving 9 points to a definitely 10 point movie!!!

Lastly this is no horror movie but a perfect thriller!.. (under 15 restriction is acceptable)

Watch this movie and be amazed!...

Nakashima's visually stunning "Kokuhaku" is a tour de force of emotionally charged drama and engrossing visuals. Its thought-provoking and often times controversial storyline will haunt one's senses and challenge your notions of morality.

In fact the story's ambiguity is cleverly represented in its title "Kokuhaku" which in Japanese can be defined in two ways - not only to confess one's sins but also to confess one's love.

The story inventively starts in the middle with pretty Middle School teacher, Moriguchi Yuko (wonderfully realized by J-Dorama favorite Matsu Takako) announcing to her homeroom class that she is retiring. Of course, her apathetic and unruly students snidely celebrate her departure with laughter and high-fives. Yuko proceeds to then tell the students of the reason of her departure. In flashback we see the devastating and tragic loss of her five-year old daughter Manami (cute Ashida Mana), who drowned in the school's pool one night. While authorities label the death as an accidental drowning, Yuko discovers to her shock a more sinister explanation. Her daughter was intentionally drowned by two of her own students - the emotionally troubled "mama's boy" Shiomura Naoki (Fujiwara Kaoru) and the emotionally distant yet intellectually gifted Murakawa Shinya (Amami Juri), whom she just calls "Boy B" and "Boy A" respectively. Knowing that the authorities will not take any serious action given the fact that the two are just 13 year old minors, Yuko nonchalantly explains that she has already taken her revenge on the two by tainting their lunch milk with a syringe containing blood from her ex-husband who has HIV (she is also HIV Positive). Thus begins the story proper which examines the shattered lives of these two students as well as the tragic aftermath of this "confession" and of the cruel horrors that transpire from it. Like "Pandora's Box" Yuko's revenge unleashes an evil more darker than she could have ever imagined.

"Kokuhaku", based on the best selling 2008 Japanese novel of the same name by author Minato Kanae, is a blunt indignation of Japanese society and takes particular critical aim at its increasingly apathetic and narcissistic youth. Nakashima's screenplay drives this hard portrayal in by showing us that despite the unspeakable crime committed by the two students, the true evil lies in the resultant bullying and social ostracizing that results at the hands of their classmates. Despite all the information that has been distributed by the media on AIDS and how it is contracted, the ignorance and social stigma shown by the students is truly horrifying.

"Kokuhaku" is not a standard revenge movie and Nakashima masterfully deviates from the norm by focusing not on Yuko's rage but rather on the "monsters" that Yuko holds responsible for her daughter's death. As the movie unfolds, I unexpectedly found myself actually pitying these two poor souls as they were more-or-less victims themselves of unfortunate childhood traumas. While it doesn't excuse them of their crime, it does go far at explaining their motives and forces audiences to feel sympathy towards their plight.

The story's emotional impact is very much due to its extraordinary cast headed by the wonderful Matsu Takako (Long Vacation, Hero). I can understand now why Nakashima insisted on only having Matsu Takako portraying the part of the vengeful Yuko as she brings both a sense of tragic sadness and darkness to her role. Her quiet and understated portrayal is very effective (almost similar to Kaji Mieko's "Jyoshu Sasori" character) and if fact makes her character even more effective in a sense as it's almost like a slow, seething anger. Fujiwara Kaoru and Amami Juri are also quite good as the two juveniles. While Fujiwara tends to overplay his of part Naoki to the point of hysterics, Amami is the one who stands out as the intellectually brilliant Shin whose anti-social persona is just an affront to hide his need for his scientist mother's love and approval. Amami plays Shin as both a tragic and frightening character study. Hashimoto Ai is also great as Kitahara Mitsuki, Shin's only friend and kindred spirit who develops a compassion for the troubled youth and who foolishly believes that her love alone can change him. She is absolutely beautiful and is a definite star in the making. Kimura Yoshino is also wonderful as Naoki's devoted mother. Her performance is very unnerving and showed the unyielding love that her character had for her troubled son (a nice mirror to Matsu Takako's devotion to her character's daughter). Likable actor Okada Masami gives a good performance as the hopelessly optimistic and naive substitute teacher Yoshiteru Terada who attempts to reach out to both Naoki and Shin but whose general concern and good intentions soon become another destructive instrument in Yuko's revenge scheme. While only a small role Yamada Kinera's portrayal of Shin's estranged scientist mother was touching.

The cinematography compliments of Nakashima regular Ato Masakazu and Ozawa Atsushi are breathtaking and beautiful. They add to the emotional impact of the story and are absolutely stunning. Even the gory bits were beautifully rendered and shot (which seems almost strangely ironic).

"Kokuhaku" shatters the perpetual foreign stereotype of Japanese students as polite, docile, overly respectful and timid children and shows us that like in any other countries, some of today's youth have succumbed to the stresses of peer pressure, sense of self worth and purpose and have become selfish and disillusioned. The film is a cautionary tale of those dangers and also challenges the audience's notion and senses of morality. Are Yuko's a actions justified or has she become even more despicable, irresponsible and reckless as the students she holds response for her daughter's death? Does the ends really justify the means or does society really create its own monsters?

As a fan of Japanese anime and films, I was expecting to get another quirky taste of Asian fiction molded into the form of a thriller. I was surprised therefore to find some kind of badly executed Hollywood exercise.

The first disappointment came with the setting of the plot. A Japanese high school and all of the clichés that come with it doesn't make for a very original or interesting backdrop to a murder story. The setting and genre remind of the anime 'Deathnote', which actually had a more believable following of events and cast of characters (which is saying something as it featured Death gods and a magic notebook).

Looking past the setting and onto the characters things do not get any better. Three thirteen year old psychopaths who happen to be in the same form, manipulating and killing each other (and a toddler) off without remorse but still want their classmates and parents to love them just doesn't seem very likely. The teacher's controlled revenge is somewhat believable until she blows up an entire university to get back at one of her daughter's murderers.

This brings me to the pacing of the story. Within the first hour most of the plot is revealed in a monotonous confession by the teacher which takes away most of the tension from the plot. By this time the storyline dissolves into various characters' perspectives of the events. I found it impossible to really feel for any of these people, no matter how sad their stories were, as you already hate all of them for killing the teachers' daughter, their own parents or some cats. The climax involves the teacher devising a scheme in which one of the murderers' mother gets back from her honeymoon just in time to accidentally be killed by her own son. Also the computer generated clock in the second to last scene displays a different time than is seen on the real thing.

So "Confessions" certainly wasn't thrilling in any way nor was it very well executed. Did I at least get my fix of Japanese quirkiness, then? Well, no. The themes of existentialism and loneliness often present in Japanese cinema greatly appeal to me. The problem in Confessions lies in the people dealing with those issues; all of them are unconvincing psychopaths.