Confessions (Japanese Film)

Original Title: 告白
Release date: June 5, 2010
Director: Tetsuya Nakashima
Novel by: Kanae Minato
Screenplay by: Tetsuya Nakashima
Cast: Takako Matsu, Masaki Okada, Yoshino Kimura, Mana Ashida

This movie not only left me mind-f*cked, it had me obsessing about human beings for like an hour. Funny thing is that I was crying foul after the screening of Caterpillar. I was beyond surprised that Caterpillar hadn’t been chosen as the Japanese representative for the Academy Awards, but after watching Confessions I totally understood why they chose it. It would have been better to send both according to me. [Amy: But that’s impossible] [Julyssa: I know, but a girl can dream right?]

Confessions tells the story of a high school teacher that loses her child. Seeing as she is a very smart woman, she comes to the conclusion that her daughter has been murdered by one of her students. This knowledge makes her seek revenge for her loss in the most gruesome way possible.

This movie is perfect, from cinematography to the sound design to the acting. Perfection in every frame. So perfect that it really makes you feel like a part of the movie, and so well edited that you never feel the shock coming. Because it was a major shock it makde you dwell into the depths of your darkness and realise that, perhaps, in the end we are all capable of anything, be it good or bad.

Before the film was shown, director Tetsuya Nakashima made a surprise visit. He had flown from Japan to be able to catch the last screening of his film. He told us to please not only concentrate on the plot of the film, but also the photography. He jokingly told us that not all Japanese are evil, and that out of ten Japanese you meet, at least one is going to be really nice.

Rating: ★★★★☆ 

Julyssa

Music is all I do: I work in music, I write about music, I listen to music.

11 Responses

  1. YAM Magazine says:

    Have heard people saying this might be Nakashima's weakest film, so maybe you'd like to watch Kamikaze Girls for fun, and Memories of Matsuko for hardcore whack. xD

    • Julili says:

      I have been dying to watch Memories of Matsuko for a while!
      Weak in what sense? This was very nice, maybe a bit not so original in the photography but I dunno….. guh don't say to me that a movie has a weakness cus then I start seeing it…. u destroyed the illusion!

      • YAM Magazine says:

        actually, it isn't about style, or anything technical, but the way it was handled. I don't doubt Nakashima pulls it off visually, considering his background is on CM-making. He actually directed a very stylish Sentai-spoof years and years ago xD it's hilarious.

        Matsuko is his baby. It's got a heavy style that mixes Amelie, Sin City and Moulin Rouge all together. LOL Planning to review it some time, when I have the time xD

  2. YAM Magazine says:

    The story, dummy. The characters, the idea that's presenting. xD Read that people thought it was predictable, others thought it was uncomfortable (because of how it deals with the end).

    I haven't watched it yet, I'm just trying to read other people's thoughts without trying to spoil much of it.

    The trailer made it seem like it was the mystery, while Kamikaze Girls was about these girls unique friendship, and Matsuko was about the fall from grace of this woman who kept making the wrong choice in life. Ugh, just thinking about it reminds me of Kumi xD

    • Julili says:

      Well it is a revenge story so ofc it is somewhat predictable… it is about hurting the ones that hurt you.
      I found it extremely uncomfortable…. it dwelled deep in to what make people disgusting, murderers, lunatics. I walked out of that cinema hating humanity…..

  3. amy says:

    This is my FB review LOL

    “Possibly the most effed up movie I’ve seen released in 2010 that’s labeled as a drama. Stylish Tetsuya Nakashima, who doesn’t disappoint with slick cinematography, composition, and music, loves to make his actors suffer and so he does in Kokuhaku, a film about grief, revenge, cruelty, and manipulation.

    Takako Matsu plays a teacher whose daughter is killed by two of her students, but instead of turning them in, she makes them suffer from it. Kokuhaku portrays a lot of difficult subjects such as parental abuse, bullying, murder, attempted murder… there’s lots of – stylish – blood, and some dead people.

    It’s horrible… but worth just one watch.

    I don’t think it’s Nakashima’s best work, because this story was just so disconnected… but perhaps that was the intent.”

  1. April 17, 2014

    […] Lo and behold. ‘Tis a thing of beauty. As everything that is directed by Tetsuya Nakashima, and if there’s anything to go by- it looks like his latest movie is a lot more Memories of Matsuko than it is Confessions. […]

  2. April 19, 2014

    […] ¡Miren todos, aquí está! Es una belleza, como todo lo que es dirigido por Tetsuya Nakashima, y si nos dejamos llevar por las apariencias- ésto parece ser mucho más Memories of Matsuko que Confessions. […]

  3. September 22, 2014

    […] del Mundo) — y que cuenta con diez sets diferentes de talentos que incluye a Takako Matsu (Confessions), Hikari Mitsushima, Koji Yakusho, Tomosaka Rie, Machiko Ono (!!), Ken Watanabe (!!!), Kimiko […]

  4. November 1, 2016

    […] Center of the World) — and featuring ten different sets of actors that included Takako Matsu (Confessions), Hikari Mitsushima, Koji Yakusho, Tomosaka Rie, Machiko Ono (!!), Ken Watanabe (!!!), Kimiko […]

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