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Film: Confessions
Year of production: 2010
UK Release date: 25th April 2011
Distributor: Third Window
Certificate: 15
Running time: 106 mins
Director: Tetsuya Nakashima
Starring: Takako Matsu, Yukito Nishii, Kaoru Fujiwara, Masaki Okada, Yoshino Kimura
Genre: Drama/Horror/Thriller
Format: DVD & Blu-ray
Country of Production: Japan
Language: Japanese
Adapted from the award-winning debut novel by Kanae Minato, still high on the sugar-coated ripples of critical acclaim with his previous features Kamikaze Girls and Memories Of Matsuko, genre-busting auteur Tetsuya Nakashima returns like a scalded cat with Confessions. Gone are his trademark candy-coloured worlds, replaced by a sinister universe contaminated by disease, bullying and murder. Will Nakashima’s delicious new direction hit the sweet spot once again, or will it leave the audience with sweet Fanny Adams?
Yuko Moriguchi (Takako Matsu) is a middle-school teacher whose 4-year-old daughter is found dead in the school’s swimming pool. Convinced that two of her students were responsible for her daughter's murder, she returns to her classroom and begins a final lesson the students will never forget.
Referring to the killers as Student A and Student B, Yuko’s ramblings are at first treated as tommyrot by the children half-listening to her inane drivel. Then she reveals that two of the cartons of milk they had been drinking prior to her arrival have been laced with the HIV infected blood of her dead child’s father.
Confessions spill quicker than the milk, as each suspect reveals motives, allies, and a disturbing lack of sympathy. Will Yuko be satisfied with their acceptance of blame, knowing only too well that they aren’t old enough to be truly punished for their actions, or will she decide to end her teaching career by going out with a bang?
All films should be this pretty. Exploring the dark side of adolescence with wit and delicacy, Confessions creates a disturbingly bleak atmosphere that more than compensates for a sparse plot, further complimented by an indie soundtrack and stunning visuals by Director Tetsuya Nakashima. A film more about mood than substance, ordinary teen irritants are blended with the extreme so seamlessly here it’s frightening, as we see when, early on, Student A (a chilling turn by Yukito Nishii as Shuya) reveals his unrivalled genius by creating contraptions to torture cats and dogs and another electrifying invention to stop purse snatchers.
The other students may be flirting with the opposite sex and questioning the joys of puberty, but apart from an orchestrated fling halfway through proceedings, Shuya is far too busy devising ways to inflict pain and suffering on those that have failed to spot his superiority, praying the mother that abandoned him finally will. Meanwhile, Student B (Naoki) is so disgusted with himself for allowing his trust to be abused, he accepts his punishment, takes it on the chin, then spends the rest of the film transforming into a caveman, intent on scrubbing away any past mistakes - his mud-encrusted body a constant reminder of the horrors that fell before.
It’s certainly a haunting tale that will linger long in the memory, helped by a dry sense of humour running all the way through it (the students rendition of KC Band’s ‘That’s The Way I Like It’ is absolutely brilliant), with gruesomeness and giggles combining perfectly, culminating in a genuinely explosive denouement.
Takako Matsu’s performance as the scarred teacher is deftly restrained: her intense opening monologue is so gripping you’ll question how thirty minutes have zipped by. But Nakashima masters such a lengthy confession with ease, cutting to cold and harsh visual flashbacks, classroom mayhem and a self-contained story so beautiful it’s almost a disappointment when the new term begins.
With a script that feels like it’s followed Robert McKee’s best-selling book ‘Story’ to the letter, Confessions uses the principles of screenwriting to great effect - especially in the way of structure, with its perfectly placed inciting incident and rollercoaster second act leading to the chilling climax. Clearly helped by an artist who has already mastered the form, Nakashima soaks Kanae Minato’s script in such lush imagery you’ll gladly drown in its dreamy slo-mo sequences (at its stunning best in the pouring rain), entwined with wide-eyed acts of violence that will make the journey uncomfortable but compelling. The violence may not always be graphic in nature, upsetting any gore hunters amongst you, but although pleasantly understated, when it does inevitably fall, it certainly makes a bigger splash than the painfully poetic demise of Yuko’s daughter.
Without showing anything overtly, Confessions projects an atmosphere of palpable evil and menace with minimal locations and fuss. Fine-tuned characterizations help a plot structure that could become confusing if not dealt with so brilliantly, but this sophisticated shocker is slightly let down only by the plot’s thinness. It's not a massive problem. In the end, it allows Nakashima to intersect the action with some wonderful sequences (helped along by cracking melodies from Radiohead, The XX and Japanese superstars Boris), each subtle moment adding depth to plot, characters and back stories with superb realism, never allowing the viewer's mind to wander.
This, of course, is also a horror, so add to all this gripping drama the countless memorable scenes that surprise with their sudden brutality (Shuya cutting himself in class to terrify the haters or the cuteness and foreboding doom of a kitten with its mother), mix in some brilliant performances, especially by the children (it’s easy to see why the whippersnappers are often treated badly in Asian cinema – who in their right mind would want to teach this lot), and it’s obvious the only confession this movie needs to make is that it will blow you away.
Certain to be remade by a Hollywood studio, bursting with inventive visuals and a slew of nasty surprises, Confessions is a beautiful piece of work harmonized with a cracking soundtrack, brilliant screenplay and wonderful performances. Put simply, the best film of 2011. DW
Film: Memories Of Matsuko
Release date: 14th February 2011
Certificate: 15
Running time: 130 mins
Director: Tetsuya Nakashima
Starring: Miki Nakatani, Eita, Yusuke Iseya, Teruyuki Kagawa, YosiYosi Arakawa
Genre: Comedy/Drama/Fantasy/Musical/Mystery
Studio: Third Window
Format: Blu-ray
Country: Japan
Based on the acclaimed novel by Muneki Yamada, Tetsuya Nakashima’s Memories Of Matsuko comes to Blu-ray for the first time, after being adapted into a television series in its native Japan, and garnering worldwide acclaim from audiences and critics alike.
Young slacker Shô Kawajira (Eita) has moved to Tokyo with dreams of making it as a rock star, but soon finds himself leaving his band and breaking up with his girlfriend.
After stalking the streets of Tokyo’s Shinjuku district in search of a seedy thrill, he is abruptly woken by his well-to-do father, Norio, who arrives carrying a casket of ashes and some troubling news. He informs his son that his 53-year-old aunt, Matsuko, has been found murdered. He explains that she has led an entirely meaningless life and has been estranged from the family for thirty years. Previously unaware of her existence, Shô is uninterested until Norio asks him to clean out her apartment for him.
After arriving at the dilapidated building and beginning to sort through the piles of rubbish in the apartment, Shô finds an old photograph which allows him to begin to piece together elements of Matsuko’s life and the events leading to her murder. Intrigued, he learns more from the people that knew her in life, and soon discovers that her time on Earth was anything but meaningless.
After feeling like she was playing second fiddle to her terminally ill sister, Matsuko struggled with trying to win her father’s affections, eventually making him proud by becoming a school teacher, only to be dismissed after trying to protect a student, Ryu, who was accused of theft. What followed was a series of abusive relationships, plagued by suicide, murder and crime, including a spell in prison, work as a hostess girl and eventually becoming a Yakuza’s girlfriend.
Her intriguing story unfolds as Shô works his way through her belongings. Shô has some unexpected encounters of his own while aiming to solve the mystery surrounding her untimely death…
At first glance, it seems apparent that Memories Of Matsuko owes a debt of gratitude to Jean-Pierre Jeunet’s Amelie - from the artificial vibrancy of the colour palette to the playful nature of the narrative and naïve innocence of the protagonist - and in many ways this comparison is justified. However, Memories Of Matsuko carries with it a darker edge, and uses the fabricated sense of innocence to juxtapose the potentially disturbing and challenging aspects of Matsuko’s interesting life. Moments of hardship and terror are interspersed with impromptu musical numbers and scenery straight out of a child’s pop-up book. This playfulness continues into the ‘real’ world of Shô as he meets a colourful cast of characters, ranging from a tattooed mentalist punk to a vivacious porn star, who all share a connection to his late aunt.
One of the most engaging elements of the film is Matsuko herself, perfectly portrayed by Miki Takatani. She forms a perfect balance between the extroverted surrealism and fragility of the character, without becoming too melodramatic. Each stage of Matsuko’s life requires a shift of tone which proves effortless, exemplified by one of the most endearing running gags. As a child vying for her father’s affections, Matsuko finds that by pulling a face, in tribute to a Manzai act they see together, she could make her father laugh, thus taking some of the attention away from her sister, Kumi (Mikako Ichikawa). Throughout her life she continues to rely on this facial contortion as a coping mechanism in times of duress (of which she experiences many). As the troubling situations Matsuko finds herself in mount up, pulling this face becomes customary, with often hilarious results. However, as these situations grow from simply troubling to outright shocking, and the character retreats within herself on the road to becoming the eccentric recluse we know has just been killed, this act stops, sadly signalling an end to the childlike innocence of Matsuko, just as she has been corrupted and abused by those around her.
Matsuko laments that she needs a man to be happy, despite each one of them mercilessly beating and abusing her. This perseverance in the face of such adversity is rewarded by the ascent into heaven once Shô deciphers the mystery surrounding her murder, but is a questionable end result for someone who does little to escape her situation and defends these men to the detriment of her few positive relationships. This mixed moral message offers little to the film’s success, and somewhat undermines Matsuko’s complex and interesting characterisation.
The perfect balance of the film’s narrative tone is exacerbated by the unique visuals, which add a sense of melancholic surrealism to proceedings. This film really finds its home on Blu-ray, where the crisp, energetic palette glows and adds richness to the film that mesmerizes in high definition.
A vibrant, surreal and exciting film, Memories Of Matsuko is equal parts murder mystery, bildungsroman and fantasy. Takatani’s excellent performance forms the backbone of the narrative, and the superb art direction and imaginative use of a variety of narrative forms seems perfectly tailored to the Blu-ray format. RB
Film: Memories Of Matsuko
Release date: 14th February 2011
Certificate: 15
Running time: 130 mins
Director: Tetsuya Nakashima
Starring: Miki Nakatani, Eita, Yusuke Iseya, Teruyuki Kagawa, YosiYosi Arakawa
Genre: Comedy/Drama/Fantasy/Musical/Mystery
Studio: Third Window
Format: Blu-ray
Country: Japan
From the heart and mind of multi award-winning Japanese director Tetsuya Nakashima - famed for the critically acclaimed Kamikaze Girls and, more recently, the Oscar-nominated Confessions - comes a visually stunning and peculiar musical- drama with a gritty undertone bubbling beneath its cherry blossom surface.
Do not let the genre fool you; this is far from the family friendly musical we have all come to know (and possibly love). Think more Sweeney Todd as opposed to Grease. The word “sex” is echoed three times within the opening minutes of Memories Of Matsuko, so PG this is not.
The resonance of such profanity can be heralded to Sho; a down-and-out, 20-year-old man drowning in a sea of porn and alcohol. He is quickly dumped by his current squeeze for living a somewhat meaningless existence.
After a particularly vice-filled night to dampen his heartbreak, he is awoken by his father, Norio, in a surprise visit. Norio, who is indifferent to the squalor of his son’s lifestyle, asks Sho for one simple favor. That is to clean the apartment of Matsuko Kawajiri, a 53-year-old, overweight and unkempt woman living as a worthless recluse. And to Sho, the aunt he never knew existed, until she was found murdered in cold blood.
From this point on, the story is told retrospectively, with Sho learning of his aunt’s life through the many different colorful characters he meets, whose lives are intricately linked with the memory of Matsuko. Beginning with the comic relief, tattooed neighbour and police detective, we jump back in time to Matsuko’s early years as a young, attractive school teacher. Matsuko’s story begins to unravel as the film jumps between the present day and the past.
From her childhood days, her rocky relationship with her father and sister, her downfall as a teacher, to her forays into abusive relationships, prostitution, prison, murder, love, friendship and salvation. We soon learn of every harrowing detail, which will eventually lead to her breaking point, and ultimate demise...
On the surface, Memories Of Matsuko is a simple story of love, loss and redemption told through bright, overly saturated colours and the occasional sing song. Matsuko (Miki Nakatini) drives the storyline as the naïve, head-in-the-clouds princess searching for that one true love, while trudging through the heartbreakers and rejects. However, writer and director Tetsuya Nakashima has taken this two-dimensional cliché and invigorated it with a genuine sense of humanity and life. He has in turn contributed a perfect reminder of one very important aspect of filmmaking - extraordinarily good storytelling!
Miki Nakatani’s portrayal of troubled heroine Matsuko Kawajiri is beyond any reasonable doubt, simply awe inspiring, and well-deserving of the six separate Best Actress awards she has received for such a complex character. She is able to capture the fundamental nature of a woman who is caught in a downward spiral, beginning with such captivating innocence as a young adult. We are able to understand the basis of why her character will ultimately end up the way she does, starting with the simple psychological fodder of ‘daddy issues’.
The neglect she receives from her father (who favours her over her sick sister) is a surprisingly relatable issue in today’s world. It is the strong yet simple ideal that Tetsuya Nakashima plays off, to bestow a sense of empathy and sympathy to a character who is, in effect, an extremely needy and, at times, self-absorbed person.
But it is because of the multiple dimensions this character has that Miki Nakatani proves her worth as a diverse actress. As Matsuko grows from the stereotypically cute young woman, both her character and her performance begin to gradually mature.
The constant strive to please people in the hope that it leads to acceptance is upheld as the backbone of such a character, and Miki does exceptionally well to provide the obligatory three dimensions throughout the film. But all is well and good saying she can smile or cry when the time is right, what is actually the most admirable aspect of Miki Nakatani’s performance is the significance of sincere emotion, charm and the authentic sense of confusion she injects into a character who is put into situations none of us would wish upon ourselves.
Her emotions are juxtaposed against her scenarios; so the subtleties like smiling softly after being beaten are visual oxymoron’s that make us forget that Matsuko is just a character in a film, and instead we see heartfelt performances from all the characters, that transcends past the screen and touches our hearts. We begin to realise that Matsuko is human, and feels as we would feel if we were to face blow after blow, devoid of any salvation.
If this sounds like you will be watching a human train wreck, then admittedly it is just that. As things go from bad to worse in Matsuko’s life, we find out through her eyes how she must feel despised (which is made clear at the beginning of the film when she utters: “Please forgive me for being born”) from the people she has hurt to her feelings of rejection. What Tetsuya Nakashima weaves from this is a cast of characters that prove the complete opposite.
This is where the one grumble rears its ugly head. A lot of the supporting characters, while heartfelt and very enjoyable to watch, can also be a tad over exaggerated. This is maybe intended to fool viewers into a false sense of security, especially coupled with the cartoony visuals; however, some characters feel like caricatures of people they should have been, with the saying ‘less is more’ applying.
As mentioned before, the visuals are CGI heavy, utilizing animation and quirky sound effects. All of this is put to good use alongside some very unusual cinematography. While definitely not everybody’s cup of tea, in the context of the subject matter being tackled in the film; it is clear that this is all intended to be a bizarre contrast to the very adult subject matter.
Diving deeper into the cinematography, it is clear that a lot of thought has been put into blending the emotion and colour together. Like a lot of Asian cinema, colour is vital. So like with Hero or Lady Vengeance, you will get your darker more sombre colours with your sad scenes, and your bright over-the-top colours and over exposure in happy scenes.
The same goes for the musical sequences; while very cute, catchy and enjoyable, coupled together with very applicable and literal lyrics, it, at times, can actually get quite awkward, especially if you’re a testosterone-filled male. The cutesy animations and bubblegum lyrics can make any adult feel fairly embarrassed if they are caught watching this alone. However, given a chance you will find that these musical sequences are actually a very inventive, and a creative muse for exceptional storytelling.
With an award from the Japanese Academy for Best Music Score; the music is intelligently interwoven into the story. So don’t expect to see hundreds of characters bursting into random harmonies. But instead the music acts more like a backing track to Matsuko’s life. Matsuko does not generally ‘sing’ but instead she ‘sings along’ to sometimes funny, or sometimes racy, but always genuinely intimate and applicable songs that pack one hell of an emotive punch.
Memories Of Matsuko is an epic tale of harrowing humanity, filled with lessons of life and unconditional love. Tetsuya Nakashima has woven together an irrefutable blend of good storytelling and interesting visuals to bring you a story that will touch you from the beginning to the end. If you enjoyed films like Amelie then be sure to give this a try. VLN
Check out the trailer below for Confessions, which is released in cinemas on 18th February 2011.
More information on this film can be found by clicking here.
Reigning in his impulse to create surreal candy-coloured worlds full of chaos and confusion, with Confessions, Nakashima opts instead for an intense drama throbbing with dark emotions and powered by a savage central performance.
Takako Matsu (K-20: Legend Of The Mask) stars as Yuko Moriguchi, a middle-school teacher whose 4-year-old daughter is found dead. Shattered, she finally returns to her classroom only to become convinced that two of her students were responsible for her daughter's murder. No-one believes her, and she may very well be wrong, but she decides, nevertheless, that it's time to take her revenge.
What happens next is all-out psychological warfare waged against her students in an attempt to force them into confessing what she knows in her heart to be true: they are guilty and must be punished.
Brilliantly building the psychological tension from the film’s very start before pulling out all the stops for a devastating and explosive finale, Nakashima has produced what is arguably his most mature and impressive work to date. A superb script, excellent performances from a fine cast and a perfectly pitched soundtrack (that includes tracks by Radiohead, acclaimed Japanese experimental rock band Boris, and this year’s Mercury Prize winners,The XX) make Confessions one of the most original and impressive films of the year.
Film: Confessions
Release date: 18th February 2011
Certificate: 15
Running time: 106 mins
Director: Tetsuya Nakashima
Starring: Takako Matsu, Masaki Okada, Yoshino Kimura
Genre: Drama/Thriller
Studio: Third Window
Format: Cinema
Country: Japan
When a bored college student learns that a long lost aunt has been found dead in a park, he begins piecing together her life to see if it had any value. What he finds is a revelation.
Talented film director Tetsuya Nakashima (Kamikaze Girls) wields a host of cinematic tools to make Memories Of Matsuko a memorably entertaining and emotionally powerful fairytale tragedy, weaving together realistic human drama with offbeat comedy and spectacular (Bob Fosse-like) production numbers to tell the heartbreaking story of Matsuko Kawajiri, a starry-eyed woman who spends her entire life searching for a worthy ‘prince’ capable of returning her limitless love.
Versatile actress, Miki Nakatani, renders a virtuosic performance in the lead role of Matsuko.
Film: Memories Of Matsuko
Release date: 14th February 2011
Certificate: 15
Running time: 130 mins
Director: Tetsuya Nakashima
Starring: Miki Nakatani, Eita, Yusuke Iseya, Teruyuki Kagawa, YosiYosi Arakawa
Genre: Comedy/Drama/Fantasy/Musical/Mystery
Studio: Third Window
Format: Blu-ray
Country: Japan
Blu-ray Special Features:
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Making of
•
Storyboard to film comparison
•
Interview with music composer Gabriele Roberto
•
Theatrical trailer
•
Trailers of other Third Window Films titles
Confessions, the “latest masterpiece” from the director of Memories Of Matsuko and Kamikaze Girls, Tetsuya Nakashima, will final open theatrically on 18th February 2011, with the DVD and Blu-ray release tentatively set for 11th April 2011.
Third Window Films, who will distribute the film in the UK (and will also release Memories Of Matsuko on Blu-ray in February), have said dates are subject to change, however, so keep checking subtitledonline.com for latest updates in the New Year.
Film: Kamikaze Girls
Release date: 8th February 2010
Certificate: 12
Running time: 103 mins
Director: Tetsuya Nakashima
Starring: Kyoko Fukuda, Anna Tsuchiya, Kirin Kiki, Hiroyuki Miyasako
Genre: Comedy
Studio: Third Window
Format: DVD & Blu-ray
Country: Japan
An ode to individuality, friendship and loyalty in a cynical, somewhat desperate world. Does Kamikaze Girls have anything new to say?
17-year-old Momoko (Fukada) is fiercely individual. Eschewing modern fashion in favour of the rococo style, with which she is forever obsessed, she also treats the people around her with a curiously cold detachment. When her ‘useless’, wannabe gangster father (Miyasako) is run out of the city for selling counterfeit designer merchandise in a scheme that incurs the wrath of both Universal Studios and Versace, Momoko is taken to the countryside to live with her grandmother (Kirin Kiki).
Keen to continue buying her favourite frilly dresses, Momoko begins selling the remainder of her father's counterfeit clothes, and before she knows it, into her life rides Ichigo (Tsuchiya), a sullen, hot-tempered teenage biker girl. Ichigo is also fiercely individual, though her external toughness masks an inner desire to belong and be accepted, even if it’s by just one other person.
These two girls have nothing in common except that they have (different) wild imaginations and slightly skewed views of the world around them. Will their antagonism give way to friendship? And will that friendship survive the challenges life throws at it?
Kamikaze Girls is a film that defies easy categorisation, and this proves to be to its endless benefit, as it shifts gears from zany comedy to odd-couple ‘dramedy’ and, finally, to a tense and gritty urban showdown.
Held together by loveable characters, whose good and bad traits are given equal airing, the story rips through a succession of increasingly bizarre situations and sequences that truly dazzle the heart as well as the eyes and brain. And while the story feels haphazard, it never feels false, even in the final third when the characters inch towards scenarios that are more structured and ‘written’ than what has come before. If a viewer is not entirely sure how seriously to take the face-off that forms the climax, director Tetsuya Nakashima is astute enough to quickly right the course and reassert the film’s offbeat tone before the narrative - alternately madcap and reflective - careens off the rails. It is a measure of the film’s infectious nature that, even during what at first feels like a forced climactic conflict, the audience is always willing to ‘go with it’.
Nakashima’s genius is in making the ordinary memorable, and the absurd relatable - all the while making sure that almost everything is, simply, incredibly funny. The madcap first ten minutes features a rapid succession of bravura images: a love-at-first-sight encounter between a drunk woman, projectile vomiting in a way that would make Linda Blair’s head spin; a petty criminal prostrate and sobbing after losing his nerve on a ‘hit’; the view of Momoko from underneath a cow; the camera angle from the point-of-view of a baby being born; another baby born - wearing a tracksuit! And it continues, with the director employing every nifty trick in the cinematic book - rewinds to the rococo period; to-camera asides; summarising flashbacks and cartoons (“so you kids don’t fall asleep”). A cynic may argue that these are simply cheap tricks, style over substance, and they would miss the point completely - like the central characters, Nakashima goes his own way, according to his own whims and wants. It is the perfect stylistic choice for a narrative about teenage outsiders.
If there is one niggle, it is that the film suffers from a short, second-act lull after its utterly riotous introduction to the life of its protagonist, perhaps waiting a little too long before introducing the second half of its central odd couple, Ichigo. Stalling its pace to fill in her back-story, the film’s opening forty minutes play like two first acts in sequence, before beginning its ‘odd-couple’ story where the two very different girls find, if not common ground, then a definite kinship based on mutual alienation. This is not to take away from the performance of Anna Tsuchiya, who turns one of the more common cinematic clichés - the bad girl who wants to be loved - into an endearing, three-dimensional character that the audience feels and roots for, but her initial appearance effectively ‘catches’ the pinball-like narrative.
What pulls the film through during this slightly sluggish period is its characters - broad, over-the-top, but with a novelistic attention to the little details that lends them richness. Ichigo (…of the Ponytails) is prone to spelling mistakes, mispronunciation and, most memorably, spitting in between threats (“She spat!”). She also makes a habit of head butting Momoko when she is cross. Momoko’s father is gullible, sentimental, and prone to severe depression during bad times and impossible cockiness during the good. Her one-eyed grandmother can pluck insects out of the air with Ninja-like precision.
None of these characters are broader, more over-the-top and richly realised than Kyoko Fukada’s Momoko - a breathtakingly beautiful, endearingly sweet teenager who is nevertheless magnificently selfish and nihilistic, apparently tired of human interaction. The character is almost serene in her perverse, pseudo-angelic superiority (as when her 10-year-old self tells her mother that: “humans are cowards in the face of happiness”). Fukada’s gears shift so smoothly, one never questions Momoko’s contradictions, even when she moves from sternly defending her Rococo-inspired, frilly dress to glibly encouraging the hot-tempered Ichigo make good on a vague threat to kill her. Indeed, before the narrative dictates that she come out of her shell, Momoko’s selfishness should alienate audiences. That it does not is a testament to Fukada’s intuitive performance and natural charisma. If the protagonist wrongly thinks that the world revolves around her, there is no denying that this film gratefully orbits its leading lady.
Infectious, joyous and uplifting. Perfectly tempering cynicism with genuine warmth, Kamikaze Girls is a true delight. JN
