Confessions

This little stormer of a movie really takes Asian extreme movies in another direction. A revenge movie that will keep you intrigued and interested till the end. The Far East market has been the home of great originality in the terror & horror film markets, and this is one great highlight in that vein.

The film begins in a school classroom where the teacher tells her pupils that she is leaving, and then begins to tell a long tale revolving round her life and the tragic death that haunts her (her "Confession"). This leads to serious repercussions for some of the pupils. Twists and turns in the story then unfold for the viewer as we are retold further confessions to piece it all together.

A very cerebral movie, the direction masks the revenge story at its heart with a very art-house look and indie soundtrack. A very original film, the acting is exceptional especially from the young school kids. Our lead lady who plays the class teacher is mesmerising as she leads the opening long confession scene. It was a very well delivered scene by her and sets the tone beautifully.

The film begins quite psychological but it then does slide into more graphic detail. Takes you by the hand and leads you down the dark heart at its centre. You don't ever seem to know what to expect.

It's great to have such a fresh original movie. Acting, story and direction are superb. A film I'd highly recommend to all who enjoy dark hearted movies.

Kokuhaku (or Confessions) is a real winner from Japan. Just like the title, the movie is about the Confessions of a group of people. After each confession, a new detail is added into the story until it became a complete story at the end.

I feel empty. Very disturbing. The movie remains dark and cold from the beginning until the end. A great thing in this movie is that you don't know who you should hate. Yes, it's obvious that they have done something terribly wrong, but after each confession, they suddenly became the victim, and then after the movie finished, you ended up feeling the sympathy for every characters.

The acting in this movie is absolutely fabulous. Just look at those eyes of the students. Cold and heartless. I watched it with my mouth wide open. The plot is perfect. I don't know what to complain. There are even some bloody scenes added to it, which make the movie more interesting.

I love it.

This movie really is amazing and left me awestruck, it really is a frightening beauty with really good cinematography and visual elements for a Japanese movie. The plot unravels slowly while giving away certain hints of what is going on bit by bit and is done really well and is put together piece by piece in a outstanding manner. The students are way more obnoxious in this movie than I would have expected from a Asian middle school but to some degree it was necessary. This film really shows the ugly side of human nature how it's sometimes the weak that bully the people that is weaker than them. It was a little bit difficult to believe students in a Asian middle school would act obnoxious as they did in this movie, although I seen far worse in the US but it wasn't difficult to just go with it or stretched so far it was not believable at all. This has different elements put together in a well crafted manner and the psychological aspects of it is very well done, it may seem like a revenge movie or a movie about grief at first but that is only a part of it. What I really liked is how almost none of the characters is nothing like how they may seem at first. It's like you need to be in their shoes or their point of view in order to understand. If this movie was only about revenge than the film would have been over really quick and wouldn't have been as good and would have lacked the character study it needed, but the emphasis on different characters that were involved makes this movie brilliant with good psychological aspects to it. Hatred leads us to look at a very narrow view of things without looking at the whole picture and this is a part of what the plot to this is about. There is no simple and straightforward character in this which plays a big part in this story. This movie really does fit it's positive reputations and is well deserved of it, this is one of my favorite Japanese movie of 2010 from japan. Don't miss out on this brilliantly crafted movie.

9/10

This Japanese film is very visual and dramatic. It is deep, arty, over- utilising slow motion, making it unusual but darkly poignant. It looks great, with clever lighting and colouring for effect. The film is too slow paced attempting to add to the emotions, but simply the characters are only surface felt and so much of it is left for the viewer and their perceptions. The complicated plot also gets lost at points so making it all too ambitious and confusing. Genius or trying to hard?

The film is about a teacher, suffering after her daughter has tragically drowned. She is leaving but wants to exact revenge on her class of pupils, as some were involved in her daughters death. There are several flash backs and moments where the lead lady deals with paranoia and dream like sequences. The class also have half of the story, with several pupils losing their control too.

I did enjoy most of the film, although some of it gets lost in subtitled translations, and it has been hailed for its cleverness, but for many its aims will be lost. World Cinema does not appeal to the mass and this arty music video like drama , although excellent in story and theory, leaves much to taste and individual mood. It is rather long, challenging and grim, but it is none the less commendable, individual world cinematography.

Confessions, directed by one of my favorite Japanese directors, Tetsuya Nakashima, is one of the most disturbing and depressing movies I have watched this year. It is a psychological thriller of a grieving teacher turned cold-blooded avenger with a twisty master plan to pay back the students who were responsible for her daughter's death.

In the story, the major characters make confessions one by one. The more perspectives from which the murder is looked at, the more we know about the characters and their motives, which may remind the audience of A Stranger of Mine. As the story is unfolded, there are several surprising twists. While making confessions and sometimes touching on the subjects they are ashamed of, some characters refuse to accept the truth, tell lies and point the finger of blame at others to salve their conscience.

The director tries to explore the reasons why innocent children become evil teenagers with no conscience. Some seek attention because they are abandoned or physically abused by their parents. Some become vulnerable owing to their overprotective parents. Some feel lonely because they are nerds neglected and bullied by their peers. Some commit suicide or other crimes because they follow suit. Some tragedies are also attributed to the internet which allows people to gossip anonymously, the mass media which places too much emphasis on violence, and the law which exempts teenage murderers from being punished. Thanks to the convincing cast, the characters become lifelike.

The black-grey-and-white setting, which is very different form the flamboyance of Memories of Matsuko, is stifling and depressing. After watching the film, the images of crimson blood, white milk, snow-white sakura, the bleak classroom, the lifeless homes and the dimly lit school hall will linger in one's mind. Apart from these, the gloomy skies in the movie were reminiscent of the ones in Elephant by Gus Van Sant. Despite the ominous dark clouds gathering overheard, every cloud has a silver lining, which symbolizes that the director still believes in the goodness of human nature, despite its dark side. This belief is also reflected in the scene when the female teacher stares at the strawberry given by a kid and another scene in which she says "your new life has begun".

The mesmerizing classical music, spiced with a hypnotizing female voice, not only creates a shocking contrast to the disturbing scenes shot in slow motion, but also adds eeriness to the story. The sound effects are also memorable. When the female teacher puts down the last stroke of the word LIFE on the blackboard, the ear-piercing sound chilled me the bone. When the bubble pops, we feel hopeless.

The film would have been more gripping if the first confession had been shorter and less talky. Besides, the CG images at the end are mediocre. Also, it is a difficult movie for the faint-hearted to sit through.

On the whole, Confessions is a darkly disturbing, visually stunning and thought provoking movie ruthlessly exposing the root of various teenage problems and the dark side of human nature. After watching the movie, I left the cinema with a heavy heart. It conjured up images of several parricides committed by Hong Kong teenagers recently and I pondered on what had happened to our post 90's generation.