…………………………………………………

Confessions Movie Review

Confessions is a 2010 Japanese psychological thriller film directed by Tetsuya Nakashima and starring Takako Matsu. It is an original, but off-putting movie.

………………………………………………….

“Just kidding“

………………………………………………….

A grieving mother turns into a cold-blooded avenger to pay back the people responsible for her daughter’s death. This is a very nasty, overly violent and gloomy movie where Japan once again showcased its obsession with teenage school violence. While I did admire its undeniable originality in approach and in execution, it left me feeling empty and cold.

Japanese filmmakers love flashbacks as a storytelling device, but in Confessions those flashbacks were poorly utilized and quite annoying. They only needlessly padded out the runtime and made the movie slow and uninvolving. The messy structure is further negatively impacted by a lack of stronger character development with not a single character being memorable in any way, shape or form.

There is a lot of solid child acting on display here and they managed to elevate their roles at least to a degree. The movie also benefits from an exceptional soundtrack that is both eclectic and striking. It accompanied the movie’s imagery so well throughout its runtime. The cinematography, editing and directing are also solid.

………………………………………………….

But the movie failed to engage me at all and its themes are not delved into properly. There is also the problem of a plot that is unhinged, but not in a good way. It is too often too improbable and implausible to even consider calling it passable, let alone great.