I do love a good thriller – I don’t like horror movies (with the scary looking ghosts and shit), but I LOVE thrillers. I watched this film because a friend from my film class suggested it to me, and it seems interesting. Here’s what I thought.
The main character, Yuko Moriguchi, played by Takako Matsu.
Synopsis and spoiler-free review portion:
Confessions (Japanese: 告白 kokuhaku) is a psychological-thriller about a disenchanted middle-school teacher, named Yuko Moriguchi (pictured above), of a class of misbehaved students. The events of this movie takes place after Ms. Moriguchi’s daughter had been murdered – by two students in her class (“Student A” and “Student B”). She proceeds to take revenge on these two students to avenge her daughter’s death. Confessions is directed by Tetsuya Nakashima, and has won several awards for that year.
Lots of talking:
Well, the film’s name is Confessions, so it probably makes sense that there is a lot of talking. But at some point it gets to be a lot, and then I find myself checking my phone. I don’t know why. I need to read subtitles, so it makes no sense that I should check my phone while watching this movie. I also really rarely check my phone while watching things. BUT THERE WAS SO MUCH TALKING. Thankfully, not the whole film is like this – I think it happens the most during the first 20 or so minutes. Just letting you know what you’re getting into.
Me nearing the end of Ms. Moriguchi’s first soliloquy.
Multiple storylines:
I liked that Confessions followed multiple storylines from different POVs – not only that of Ms. Moriguchi’s, but also that of the two culprits, and other side characters. It made the film a lot more interesting (maybe because I’m a really big fan of this type of storytelling), because partway through, I was really wondering where this movie was headed if it was only going to follow Ms. Moriguchi. I don’t think that would have been a very good movie. Don’t get me wrong – overall, I liked Ms. Moriguchi’s character, as she was probably the most interesting character (to me anyway); there just didn’t seem to be enough material to just follow her around the whole time.
I wonder what he’s thinking about.
Moody visuals:
If you could tell from the pictures I’ve selected for this post, pretty much the whole film is filtered by a… I want to say rainy? type of filter. I think it looks nice and artsy, and goes well with the serious tone of the film. There are also a lot of symbolism that they use throughout the film to evoke mood (like the popping of bubbles, etc). I liked that they used these two devices to enhance the overall aesthetics of the film.
Buttahfllly! “But what does it MEAN?”
Problems I had with the film:
The lots of talking thing… I could deal with. For the purpose of what they were trying to do, I think it worked and accomplished what they needed to. But there were a few other problems – like the fact that it was kind of predictable at times (which is the worst in a thriller!!!) and some of the cheesy special effects. They went a little overboard with the visual effects sometimes (that I mentioned in the previous section) and that came off as a little corny to me.
Recommended for:
I still think it’s a good watch, despite some of its shortcomings. It still has its twists and turns that I didn’t see coming (though not as many as I would have liked and not some of the more important ones), which kept it interesting. I guess it’s recommended for people who like psychological-thrillers because that’s all I can really consider it. It’s also a pretty interesting insight into the deranged minds of pre-teens. If you’re not good with seeing bloodshed though, this one might not be for you.
Middle school is this much fun apparently. Weird kids.
Specific scene analyses (spoilers ahead!):
Scroll down to TLDR; for ratings and to skip the spoilers! There’s actually not a lot left I need to say in this section anyway, but you know, spoilers.
The ending bit:
I have mixed feelings about the ending, but I think I mostly liked it. It definitely wasn’t an ending that I felt was unsatisfying – it was – but there were a few things I didn’t really like about it. The fact that Shuya’s plan was going to fail – and the way that it was going to fail – was so obvious. The prospect of a kid blowing up a room full of preteens and teachers is pretty far-fetched… even for a movie. It wasn’t just obvious to me right? It was obvious right? Of course Ms. Moriguchi’s going to intercept his plan! However, I didn’t expect Ms. Moriguchi to blow up his mom’s office. I liked the plan, didn’t like the special effects for this part or the dramatic reenactment of the event inside Shuya’s head. It was a little over the top for me. When I was talking about cheesy special effects before, I was referring to this. This was my biggest problem with the movie. It seems like it’s not that big of a deal, but it really ruined the whole tone of the ending for me. Ms. Moriguchi’s last lines were pretty badass though. I’m still wondering why no teachers stepped in to say anything.
IN-SYNCED GASPS!!!
TLDR;
Recommended for: People who like psychological-thrillers (duh), people who like movies told from multiple point of views, people looking for a good plot twist
Not recommended for: People who are squeamish with blood, people who don’t like watching movies with a bunch of kids (this is a thing right?), people who don’t like to watch movies with a lot of talking (I feel like this isn’t a thing to worry about if you speak the native language, but be prepared to be reading the subtitles a lot.)
Ratings:
Visuals: 8/10 – They were pretty good; I liked that the movie used a lot of artful imagery. A lot of the visuals had to do with building the mood of the movie. I just couldn’t get over some of the cheesy special effects.
Story: 7.5/10 – The story was good too, but I felt some of it was over-dramatic and parts of it were predictable. Still interesting to watch though.
Overall enjoyment: 7.5/10 – Overall, I did enjoy the movie, but I didn’t love it. It felt a little long to me at times, and I didn’t like that some parts felt cheesy or predictable to me. I don’t think I’d watch it again though.
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