Confessions (2010)

This japanese revenge drama has just been released on DVD (in Germany) and had previously been compared to similar films from South Korea, where this subject has been explored many times in recent years and often quite masterful. "Confessions", however, can't match movies like those made by a Chan-Wook Park for instance.

The main reason for its failure is its cumbrous and distant narration and its unbalanced dramaturgy.

The film starts off with a sequence of a teacher Yoku Moriguchi preaching to her students. She tells them that she wants to quit and leave the class. Her motivation is the death of her daughter who died in a tragic incident at the school. At least that is what the police declared. Yoku knows better. She is convinced that two of her students are responsible and intentionally murdered her young child.
And she let's the whole class know it as she explains very sober and disciplined that she wants to take vengeance.

In this opening the biggest flaw of the film reveals itself already. The film is way too talky. The teacher's speech is there to add weight to the premise and illuminate the background story in great detail. Her monologue goes on for unbearable 25 minutes and it is at times hard to keep up with her. For a long time it isn't even clear what the point is. When she is finally done I did not really know where she started but her last words don't miss the mark and have quite an impact anyway.

It's the first of many little twists in the film and I could have lived with this introduction if the actual plot would now kick in. But obviously the film chooses to progress in a way of individual confessions of each of the characters who, one after another, get a chance to narrate their story. Some of it is told in voice over, some of it from within the diegesis.

On paper this idea might have been an attractive device but in the end it does not work on the screen all too well. Along side we see parts of what is told in real time. But it comes across very fragmented and the often changing narrative perspective works against narrative coherence too.
The movie lacks focus and therefore power. It's generally not a good choice to let a movie spell out everything literally instead of just showing it.

On a visual level the film is quite convincing. It is beautifully shot and even unspectacular scenes in a classroom have a certain asthetic to them that are regularly complemented by poetic scenery shots and often feature quite interesting camera angles. But it's kind of useless if the story lacks and therefore feels rather out of place and self-pleasing.

In addition to that, everyone, including the kids who are all around 13 years old, has a very pompous style of speaking and use very formal language throughout the film what makes it feel rather stiff and a little pretentious.

A little randomly we spend most of the time with the characters illustrating their points of view and individual fates until at the end everything comes together in a pretty contrived kind of way. The motivations of some of the characters are not very convincing or engaging either. Most of the little turns add some excitement but eventually there is one or two too many of them.

The movie has its moments and the acting is pretty solid but it is a film that has no center. It's lots of bits and pieces that maybe could have made it into a decent thriller if structered properly. But this way I have to confess that my admittedly high expectations were not satisfied at all. It isn't horrible though and the title kind of suggests a narration like this but the approach simply does not work and so the movie falls apart. It is too talky and too heavy handed and I can't quite recommend it.

TRAILER:
Watch the Trailer for 'Confessions' on Youtube