Vengeance Is Mine - Criterion Collection
by Shohei Imamura
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DVD Cover Information
Actor: Ken Ogata, Mayumi Ogawa, Mitsuko Baisho, Nijiko Kiyokawa, Rentaro MikuniDirector: Shohei Imamura
Brand: Image Entertainment
Cinematographer: Shinsaku Himeda
Editor: Keiichi Uraoka
Producer: Kazuo Inoue
Writer: Masaru Baba
Writer: Ryuzo Saki
DVD: Region Code 1
Audio: Japanese (Original Language); English (Subtitled)
Format: Color, Dolby, DVD-Video, NTSC, Subtitled, Widescreen
Picture Format: 1.66:1
Running Time: 139 minutes
DVD Release Date: 2007-05-15
Audience Rating: Unrated
Studio: Criterion Collection
Movie Reviews of Vengeance Is Mine - Criterion Collection
Movie Review: Good, savage lil Japanese thriller
Summary: 5 Stars
Shohei Imamura's Vengeance is Mine is savage, coldblooded, intense, and one of the best foreign films ive seen in a while. It tells the true story of Iwao Enokizu, played by Ken Ogata. The film begins with his capture by the police and then traces the events of his life. Enokizu, you see, is a vicious serial killer and thief. The Devil incarnate. The film deals with complex issues concerning the nature of fate, evil, psychosis and immorality. As you watch this film youre torn between feeling absolute repulsion toward Enokizu and yet some kind of sympathy, and that was what i liked about the nature of this film. No easy answers at all. Great film, but be prepared.
Summary of Vengeance Is Mine - Criterion Collection
LIKE ALL GREAT SHOHEI IMAMURA PROTAGONISTS, VENGEANCE IS MINE'S IWAO ENOKIZU (KEN OGATA) LURKS ON THE MARGINS OF JAPANESE SOCIETY. A THIEF, MURDERER, AND CHARMING LADY-KILLER, IWAO IS ON THE RUN FROM THE POLICE. DIRECTOR SHOHEI IMAMURA TURNS THIS FACT-BASED STORY, OF THE SEVENTY-THREE-DAY KILLING SPREE OF A REMORSELESS MAN FROM A DEVOUTLY CATHOLIC FAMILY, INTO A COLD, PERVERSE, AND, AT TIMES, DIABOLICALLY FUNNY TALE OF THE PRIMITIVE COEXISTING WITH THE MODERN. MORE THAN JUST A TRUE-CRIME CASE, VENGEANCE IS MINE BARES MANKIND'S SNARLING ID.Long before Vengeance Is Mine, American directors like Jules Dassin (Naked City) invested the procedural with journalistic detail. Similarly, Japan's Shohei Imamura (The Eel) lays out all the facts for the viewer's delectation: names, dates, times of death, and methods of execution, i.e. "skull crushed with blunt object." (In the DVD booklet, Michael Atkinson compares him to journalist-turned-filmmaker Samuel Fuller.) The murderer, however, is no mystery. Imamura introduces us to the unrepentant Iwao Enokizu (Mishima's Ken Ogata) in the opening sequence. He then backtracks to the clutch of murders the con man committed in the early 1960s. At the same time, he keeps an eye on the cops as they follow his trail, while flashing back to Enokizu's rebellious youth. Based on Ryuzo Saki's true-crime novel, Vengeance Is Mine further deviates from the neo-realist noirs of old by withholding judgment. That isn't completely surprising, since it was preceded by nine years in which Imamura worked exclusively in the documentary realm. Vicious killer that he is, Enokizu is outgoing rather than downbeat. Further, his past includes a weak-willed father and an unfaithful wife, but that information doesn't make him sympathetic. Nor does it explain his crimes. Enokizu is an empty vessel for the audience to fill as it sees fit. As Imamura acknowledges in "My Approach to Filmmaking" (also part of the booklet), "I love all the characters in my films, even the loutish and frivolous ones." Vengeance Is Mine is a must for fans of Japanese cinema and unconventional thrillers alike. --Kathleen C. Fennessy
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