acsdoug D
Usually movies about psychos are right up my alley. This one didn't do it for me though. It's not that it's a bad movie, it's just that it's not a very good one either. Not sure why it's rated so highly
Rated 3/5 Stars •
Rated 3 out of 5 stars
05/23/23
Full Review
CKB
In 1967 Japanese New Wave director Shōhei Imamura began making Profound Desires of the Gods, a project on a remote island supposed to take six months that dragged on for a year and half. The actors became, well, difficult, and after this Imamura decided he hated actors and spent the next decade making documentaries. Not surprisingly, his next feature, Vengeance Is Mine, is based on an actual serial murderer and presented much like a documentary. The murderer in question, Enokizu, was raised Catholic, and the film's title does not refer to his own seeking of vengeance (such a popular theme in Japanese culture) but to the Christian God's demand of vengeance for what this man has done. We first see Enokizu immediately after his arrest for an infamous succession of multiple swindles and murders, full of arrogant bluster and refusing to tell the police anything. Imamura then steps in to tell the man's story through a mosaic of flashbacks. In and out of prison since he was a child, Enokizu is a pathological liar who remorselessly takes whatever he can get from others with no plan beyond the con or crime of the moment. Although he can imitate other people for purposes of manipulation, he is unable to partake of their emotional life, and this inner emptiness is his nagging wound that nothing can heal. Imamura uses outsiders living on the fringe as a way of commenting on society as a whole, and he saw "the forlorn inner soul of today's man" in Enokizu's miserable hollowness. Unlike many directors, Imamura does not allow this psychopathic character to appear in any way cool or attractive. Enokizu is not handsome, but average-looking. Since he doesn't have a plan B for anything he does, his murders are messy and inept if the victim fights back. He's also cowardly, fleeing into a corner like a child when a woman he has been bullying pulls a knife on him. The film's humanity is found in its women characters, for one of Imamura's great strengths as a director is his presentation of women as full beings with their own agenda, rather than as long-suffering victims, sexual diversions, or convenient plot devices. Enokizu's hapless wife's frustrated attraction to his father is a fascinating element in its own right, and, along with the doomed innkeeper who comes to love Enokizu only to be murdered by him, provide the film with an emotional weight far beyond mere documentary story-telling.
Rated 4/5 Stars •
Rated 4 out of 5 stars
03/22/23
Full Review
Audience Member
Vengeance is Mine is a chilling portrait of a killer tinged with moments of dark humor. Iwao Enokizu is a man who seems rather mundane at first, until he one day brutally murders two of his co-workers and goes on a killing spree. What makes this film so chilling is the performance by Ken Ogata as the main character who conveys charisma and charm at initial glance by his victims before the monster emerges to brutally murder them and steal their money before moving onto the next victim. It's very believable and frightening. The story offers glimpses into his background, perhaps explaining some motives, but it also leaves an air of mystery as to why he would suddenly snap or perhaps had been harboring these motives for some time. It also doesn't help that his own father has been having an affair with Enokizu's wife, leading to more dysfunction in the lives of the characters. This film never offers straight answers - only conjecture, critiques on society, human nature, and the terrifying nature of psychopathy. It's a brilliant film that should be seen by adventurous viewers who like films that challenge their minds not only through themes, but also in toying with the viewer.
Rated 5/5 Stars •
Rated 5 out of 5 stars
02/26/23
Full Review
Audience Member
An emotionally injected Day of The Jackal, Vengeance is Mine is a splendid thriller about finding indentity.
Rated 4/5 Stars •
Rated 4 out of 5 stars
01/14/23
Full Review
Audience Member
Imamura's true crime film is extrapolated from a book based on authentic transcripts from the case of a serial killer in 1960s Japan. Yet, it seems to occupy some other private and personal space that transcripts would not describe. Not that we get any insights into the motives of the killer - although a few possibilities are tossed around: his family's Catholicism with its strict moral codes and minority/outcast status in Japan; his father's inability to stand up to wartime military transgressions and suspected further hypocrisies; and/or the cultural void left in Japan after the war, surrender, and imported dominance of American-styled capitalism. However, these hints are far from clear. Mostly, we see Ken Ogata as the amoral lead character, both in the present, being interrogated by police, and in the past, travelling Japan as a con-man who occasionally and inexplicably murders. He also has an insatiable appetite for sex. At one point, he seems to form a bond with a woman (Mayumi Ogawa) who runs an inn whose mother had been in prison for murder - maybe they both feel disillusioned with parents/family life. However, it doesn't end well for her...or him. Any vengeance is reserved for the State or God.
Rated 4/5 Stars •
Rated 4 out of 5 stars
02/04/23
Full Review
Audience Member
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Rated 4.5/5 Stars •
Rated 4.5 out of 5 stars
02/22/23
Full Review
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