In Japanese with English & Chinese Subtitles
Genre: Drama/Thriller
Director: Tetsuya Nakashima
Cast: Takako Matsu, Masaki Okada, Yoshino Kimura, Yukito Nishii, Kaoru Fujiwara, Manami Hashimoto, Naoki Ichii, Hirofumi Arai
RunTime: 1 hr 47 mins
Released By: GV
Rating: NC-16 (Content Not Suitable For Children)
Official Website: http://kokuhaku-shimasu.jp/index.html

Opening Day: 25 November 2010

Synopsis:

Middle school teacher Yoko Moriguchi's (Takako Matsu) life comes crashing down after the murder of her 4 year old daughter. Eventually Yoko Moriguchi suspects some of her own students to have been responsible for her daughter's death. An elaborate plan for revenge then ensues, including forcing students to drink HIV tainted milk...

Movie Review:

A fair warning to all viewers of Tetsuya Nakashima’s film- this is very disturbing viewing, so steel your nerves before you step into the cinema. But don’t for one second let that warning turn you away, for you will be missing one of the best, and I would say, most important films of the year. Tetsuya’s adaptation of Kanae Minato’s bestselling novel is a deeply absorbing psychological thriller that paints a grim and indeed distressing portrait of youths in his country, but local viewers will no doubt find much to take away in light of the recent spate of youth violence.

Right from the very start, Tetsuya grabs your attention with a riveting monologue by junior high-school teacher Yuko Moriguchi. To an initially rowdy and inattentive class, Yuko announces her decision to quit teaching, and then evenly launches into a perfectly logical narration of the recent death of her four-year-old daughter. Found floating face-down in the campus swimming pool, the police have since ruled her daughter’s death as an accident, but Yuko knows otherwise.

She goes on to tell the class that there are two killers- Student A and Student B- but does not reveal their identities. Rather, she discloses chronologically the chain of events leading up to her discovery, by which point the class of students have already figured out who they are. She knows she will not get any recourse by going back to the police, and has decided to exact revenge by teaching them the meaning and value of life. So she drops a bombshell- she has injected HIV-infected blood into the milk the two murderers just drank.

That plan may appear ludicrous at the start- the chance of HIV transmission via such fluids is almost zero- but the ingenuity of it will become apparent later. Within just this first half-hour, Tetsuya grabs your attention by the neck and doesn’t let go. There is something simply arresting about his visuals- the foreboding greyness of the classroom, the flashbacks here and there to the murder, and the shifting reactions of the students- combined with a pulsing soundtrack that makes for a completely involving experience.

It is clear then that Tetsuya isn’t content to follow genre rules. This is no whodunit, since it is clear very early on who the killers are. Tetsuya is more interested on two counts- first, the consequences of this revelation on the two young students, Shuya and Naoki. The science genius Shuya becomes the target of the class’ jeers and taunts, the subject of his classmates’ physical and verbal bullying, whereas the recluse Naoki has vehemently refused to go to school, clinging on the brink of insanity.

In the reactions of their classmates to Shuya and Naoki’s act, Tetsuya exposes the malice and sadism capable in our adolescents. Their unkind words and deeds are less a righteous means of punishing Shuya and Naoki for what they so cruelly did than an expression of their inner propensity to intimidate and torment the weak. They have strength in numbers, and their false sense of justice is no more than a pretext for them to exert their superiority and browbeat their fellow classmates. In this respect, some viewers may recall the controversial film “Battle Royale”- indeed, the theme here is similar to that in the latter, though this film is much more frightening for portraying it in such a realistic manner.

The other aspect Tetsuya is interested in is the ‘whydunit’, the motivations and psyche behind Shuya and Naoki which led them to commit such a heinous act. This he divulges through their very own perspectives by way of their respective confessional stories. Tetsuya adopts a non-linear narrative through these different points-of-view, and the end result is a film that is much more multi-faceted and intricate.

Probing the causes behind the dysfunctional youth of today’s modern world, the film places equal blame and responsibility on broken families, a lax education system and fellow maladjusted peers. Instead of painting Shuya and Naoki as mere criminals, Tetsuya reveals them to be victims of a wider, much more pervasive societal malaise, an insidious venom coursing through the veins of our modern-day society that threatens to poison the lives of our young. When the barely 13-year-old boy Shuya calmly and coolly remarks- “No one taught me not to murder”- you know that something must have gone very wrong in his upbringing.

While Tetsuya observes keenly and critically the state of our today’s teenagers, Yuko pretty much disappears during the middle act. But she makes a fascinating return during the last half-hour, as she unveils her fiendish plan of vengeance. Because one least expects it, that revelation is all the more shocking, and suddenly Yuko is no longer just the grieving parent but an altogether more malevolent mastermind. This change of tack is disquieting to say the least, as the audience is left reeling from the bleakness and amorality of almost each and every one of the characters.

There is no consolation to be found here. Tetsuya’s social examination paints a harsh picture, but there is no denying the social problems facing our youth today- whether is it in Japan or even here in our very own country. His message is made even more compelling by his gorgeously elegant filming style- including visual allegories and choice of colour themes- as well as an eclectic soft-rock soundtrack including experimental rock band Boris, the XX and Radiohead. In the wake of the spate of youth violence that has gripped our nation, this is an important film that demands to be seen- however unpleasant its message may be. Notwithstanding its relevance, "Confessions" is a thrilling masterpiece riveting from start to finish.

Movie Rating:

(A brilliantly plotted psychological thriller that is easily one of the year’s very best films)

Review by Gabriel Chong