Revenge films seem to fall into two categories. They are the Charles Bronson type where the only way it seems to find peace for an unthinkable tragedy is to kill as many people responsible for it. The other type is more subtle, and thus much more sinister. Oldboy would most likely fall into this category. These revenge films usually make the one watching it flip flop on who the victim and the villain are and make an old saying be true; you don't have to take a life to kill a man.
Japan's Confessions is in the latter category. This is not a fun film by any means. In fact it is down right uncomfortable. The first 30 minutes are no more than a middle school teacher Yuko Moriguchi talking to her students. They initially ignore her, as catty, talkative children do. But when Yuko reveals that her recently deceased daughter was not only murdered, but by two students in there class, you can hear a pin drop.
Yuko explains that the Japanese criminal system considers minors unable to understand their actions and thus will not be held accountable for them. However, Yuko describes the students/murderers to the point the rest of the class figures out the culprits' are Shuya (a intellectual with an inferiority complex) and Naoki (a shy boy looking for social acceptance). Yuko explains she plans to resign after this day and that she will not rest until she has her vengeance.
A year passes, and the class moves on to the next grade, with a young, driven new teacher who is unaware of recent events. Naoki has suffered a psychotic break and has become a recluse. Shuya stays in class despite what his peers know about him and Naoki. The class turns on them, continuing to physically and verbally taunt them for their actions, and perhaps showing in their supposed moral superiority they are no better. All the while, Yuko is in the shadows, playing each person off the other like chess pieces, doing whatever it takes to get justice.
Confessions is hard to categorize in some retrospects. It is primarily a revenge film, but also has traces of horror, and dare I say comedy. The film has great use of multiple perspective as we hear the "confessions" of several characters; Shuya who reveals his intentions to be renowned for something and get his mother's attention at any price, Naoki who truly believes he will die and has become a hermit, Naoki's mother who slowly discovers her son has become a monster, and Mizuki the only student that refused to bully Shuya and befriends him but realizes she has made a grave mistake far too late.
The film culminates with the machinations of Yuko achieving her revenge. She has left the boys alive but they are far from it; she has taken from them what mattered most just as they had to her by killing her daughter. They are beaten and broken, and yet their is no victory, no catharsis. Despite her achievement in finding justice, Yuko has still left collateral damage in her wake. Her daughter is still gone and she will remain hollow. The road of revenge has been traveled but there is no easy end point for her or the boys who savagely took a life of an innocent child.
Confessions stands to be one of the BEST revenge films I have ever partaken in. I heartily recommend it if you can find it (Check ebay! That's where I got my copy). It easily eclipses Oldboy in my opinion, and stands up there with The Horseman which falls on the other spectrum of revenge films. As much I am grateful for the international film market, it is sad that ones has to look outside the U.S. for quality, thought provoking films. The industry as a whole has been diluted of ideas, and it's disgraceful that international studios are running circles around us in regards to creativity and furthermore fearlessness.
Until next time, fly high and fly well.
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