Film
What's on at the cinema plus reviews of the latest movie and DVD releases
Bookmark this pageVengeance Is Mine (1979)
Director: Shohei Imamura
Movie review
From Time Out London
The serial-killer subgenre is pretty limited and, recently at least, not particularly fertile. But Imamura’s 1979 case history of a murderous con-man on the loose in 1960s Japan is, like ‘Roberto Succo’, free of facile psychology and moral judgement; and like ‘M’ or ‘10 Rillington Place’, it’s concerned less with the individual than with how his acts illuminate the society that spawned him. The discovery of two victims prompts a police investigation that reveals the apparent root of Iwao Enokizu’s sociopathy: a childhood incident involving his devoutly Catholic father. Imamura chronicles the growth of his unpredictable, brutal behaviour: Japan may have undergone a remarkable postwar revival, but Enokizu (Ken Ogata) introduces us to an underclass involved in prostitution, blackmail, fraud, rape and murder. We’re finally left wondering: is anyone here not in pain, not living a lie? Are compromise, oppression, madness, violence and a death wish par for the Japanese course? At once darkly comic and quasi-tragic, Imamura’s often brilliant tale of Eros and Thanatos is perverse, powerful and subversive.Author: GA
Time Out London Issue 1829: september 7-14 2005
Cast & crew
Director: Shohei Imamura
Producer: Kazuo Inoue
Cast: Ken Ogata, Mayumi Ogawa, Rentaro Mikuni, Mitsuko Baisho full cast
Rated: 18
Duration: 149 mins
UK Release: Sep 9 2005
Most popular on this site
Top Stories
Has David Cronenberg turned tame?
Has director David Cronenberg veered too far from his radical and bloody roots with new film 'A Dangerous Method'?
The 10 worst date movies
Just in time for Valentine's Day, we present ten of the least romantic films ever made
Where to watch this year's Oscar-nominated films
Find out where to watch 2012's Oscar-nominated films in London cinemas
10 unlikely badboy biopics
Featuring Phil Collins, Jeremy Clarkson, Nick Clegg, David Starkey and a host of other unlikely subjects
Interview: Sean Durkin on 'Martha Marcy May Marlene'
The first-time director of the brilliant new thriller discusses religious cults and robot boxing
Pop-up cinema for Valentine's Day
Side-step romantic clichés with some alternative Valentine’s viewing
What do you think?
Post your review now