Confessions (film)
Encyclopedia
is a 2010 Japanese
drama film
directed by Tetsuya Nakashima
.
), a junior high teacher, announces she will resign. She reveals that her daughter, Manami, was killed by two pupils in her class, whom she dubs "Student A" and "Student B". Her disclosure of their behavior soon reveals their identities, but she recognizes that they will escape punishment as legal minors. Instead, she admits to injecting her dead husband's HIV
contaminated blood into the milk cartons that the murderers have just drank from. The rest of the film describes the aftermath of this event in a series of first-person narratives from the two students, Moriguchi, and others.
A new enthusiastic teacher is appointed. Student A, Shuya Watanabe, continues to attend classes but student B, Naoki Shimomura, has developed psychiatric problems. It is revealed that Shuya, who planned the murder, did not actually kill Moriguchi's daughter by electrocution
; instead she drowned because Naoki threw her into the pool.
Naoki is worried that he will soon die from AIDS
and refuses to clean himself, as he equated the smell of untamed hair and body odor to being alive. His mom tries to help but fails as Student B reacts violently to her gestures and shuts himself in his room. It is revealed later that Student B killed Manami on purpose, as a gesture to validate himself in the eyes of Shuya, whom he considers his only friend. His mother eventually realizes that her once good and kind son has transformed into an unknown monster. Seeing no hope, she decides to end their lives, but in the ensuing struggle, she is killed by her son, who is captured by the police.
Shuya describes how his mother divorced his father when he was young because she was unhappy with the role of a house wife and chose instead to pursue her scientific ambitions. He wants to prove himself to her and to earn her attention, which evolved from clever little inventions to gruesome recordings of him killing and dissecting animals. His first public invention, an electric anti-mugger wallet, earns him a science fair award but fails to make the headlines because of a sensational murder that occurs on the same day. He decides to kill someone so that he can become front page news.
After the incident, Shuya befriends Mizuki Kitahara when they were forced to kiss by the rest of the class as part of their escalating bullying tactics against him. Mizuki discovers that Moriguchi had lied about the blood-contaminated milk, reasoning that it was an implausible method of revenge to begin with and that someone so concerned with the value of life would not do such a thing in the first place. Mizuki begins to develop feelings for Shuya, revealing to him a side of herself she'd never shown to anyone else: namely, that she sees Lunacy, the online handle of a teenage girl who killed her parents in a sensational poisoning incident, as her "other self." When she confronts Shuya for not facing his mother and harboring an Oedipus Complex
, Shuya kills her out of rage.
At graduation, Shuya plants a bomb to kill himself and his classmates, but the bomb does not go off and is revealed to be missing; he then receives a call from Moriguchi telling him she had moved the bomb to his mother's office, killing her instead. Moriguchi appears at the end, and tells Shuya, overcome and humiliated, that this was her revenge, and that his redemption now begins, but she adds, "just kidding", referencing to what Shuya told her when he confessed that he killed her daughter.
. It kept grossing and became the highest grossing film for 4 consecutive weeks in June. It grossed over ¥3,500,000,000 in the 8th screening week, and finally, the gross revenue reached the record of ¥3,850,000,000. It is ranked as the 7th highest grossing Japanese film in 2010.
The film received a widespread positive response globally, with critics praising a variety of factors including good adaptation from the book, the director's style, and the acting, particularly by the child actors. The film holds an 80% 'fresh' average score at Rotten Tomatoes
.
Although people under the age of 15 cannot view the film in Japan, the cast is almost full of students of around 13.
at the 83rd Academy Awards
. In January 2011, it made the final shortlist. It won the awards for Best Film, Best Director, Best Screenplay & Best Editor at the 34th Japan Academy Prize. Also, it had 6 nominations in 5th Asian Film Awards
, which is one of the films with most nominations (with Let the Bullets Fly
).
Cinema of Japan
The has a history that spans more than 100 years. Japan has one of the oldest and largest film industries in the world – as of 2009 the fourth largest by number of feature films produced. Movies have been produced in Japan since 1897, when the first foreign cameramen arrived...
drama film
Drama film
A drama film is a film genre that depends mostly on in-depth development of realistic characters dealing with emotional themes. Dramatic themes such as alcoholism, drug addiction, infidelity, moral dilemmas, racial prejudice, religious intolerance, poverty, class divisions, violence against women...
directed by Tetsuya Nakashima
Tetsuya Nakashima
Tetsuya Nakashima is a Japanese film director. He was born in Fukuoka, attending high school in Chikushino. Nakashima was given the Best Director award at the 2005 Yokohama Film Festival for his film Kamikaze Girls....
.
Plot
Yuko Moriguchi (Takako MatsuTakako Matsu
, born , is a Japanese actress and pop singer/songwriter born on June 10, 1977 in Tokyo, Japan. The style of her music is often laid-back and relaxing.- Profile :* Interests: Watching movies and stage plays...
), a junior high teacher, announces she will resign. She reveals that her daughter, Manami, was killed by two pupils in her class, whom she dubs "Student A" and "Student B". Her disclosure of their behavior soon reveals their identities, but she recognizes that they will escape punishment as legal minors. Instead, she admits to injecting her dead husband's HIV
HIV
Human immunodeficiency virus is a lentivirus that causes acquired immunodeficiency syndrome , a condition in humans in which progressive failure of the immune system allows life-threatening opportunistic infections and cancers to thrive...
contaminated blood into the milk cartons that the murderers have just drank from. The rest of the film describes the aftermath of this event in a series of first-person narratives from the two students, Moriguchi, and others.
A new enthusiastic teacher is appointed. Student A, Shuya Watanabe, continues to attend classes but student B, Naoki Shimomura, has developed psychiatric problems. It is revealed that Shuya, who planned the murder, did not actually kill Moriguchi's daughter by electrocution
Electrocution
Electrocution is a type of electric shock that, as determined by a stopped heart, can end life. Electrocution is frequently used to refer to any electric shock received but is technically incorrect; the choice of definition varies from dictionary to dictionary...
; instead she drowned because Naoki threw her into the pool.
Naoki is worried that he will soon die from AIDS
AIDS
Acquired immune deficiency syndrome or acquired immunodeficiency syndrome is a disease of the human immune system caused by the human immunodeficiency virus...
and refuses to clean himself, as he equated the smell of untamed hair and body odor to being alive. His mom tries to help but fails as Student B reacts violently to her gestures and shuts himself in his room. It is revealed later that Student B killed Manami on purpose, as a gesture to validate himself in the eyes of Shuya, whom he considers his only friend. His mother eventually realizes that her once good and kind son has transformed into an unknown monster. Seeing no hope, she decides to end their lives, but in the ensuing struggle, she is killed by her son, who is captured by the police.
Shuya describes how his mother divorced his father when he was young because she was unhappy with the role of a house wife and chose instead to pursue her scientific ambitions. He wants to prove himself to her and to earn her attention, which evolved from clever little inventions to gruesome recordings of him killing and dissecting animals. His first public invention, an electric anti-mugger wallet, earns him a science fair award but fails to make the headlines because of a sensational murder that occurs on the same day. He decides to kill someone so that he can become front page news.
After the incident, Shuya befriends Mizuki Kitahara when they were forced to kiss by the rest of the class as part of their escalating bullying tactics against him. Mizuki discovers that Moriguchi had lied about the blood-contaminated milk, reasoning that it was an implausible method of revenge to begin with and that someone so concerned with the value of life would not do such a thing in the first place. Mizuki begins to develop feelings for Shuya, revealing to him a side of herself she'd never shown to anyone else: namely, that she sees Lunacy, the online handle of a teenage girl who killed her parents in a sensational poisoning incident, as her "other self." When she confronts Shuya for not facing his mother and harboring an Oedipus Complex
Oedipus complex
In psychoanalytic theory, the term Oedipus complex denotes the emotions and ideas that the mind keeps in the unconscious, via dynamic repression, that concentrate upon a boy’s desire to sexually possess his mother, and kill his father...
, Shuya kills her out of rage.
At graduation, Shuya plants a bomb to kill himself and his classmates, but the bomb does not go off and is revealed to be missing; he then receives a call from Moriguchi telling him she had moved the bomb to his mother's office, killing her instead. Moriguchi appears at the end, and tells Shuya, overcome and humiliated, that this was her revenge, and that his redemption now begins, but she adds, "just kidding", referencing to what Shuya told her when he confessed that he killed her daughter.
Cast
- Takako MatsuTakako Matsu, born , is a Japanese actress and pop singer/songwriter born on June 10, 1977 in Tokyo, Japan. The style of her music is often laid-back and relaxing.- Profile :* Interests: Watching movies and stage plays...
- Yuko Moriguchi - Masaki OkadaMasaki Okadais a Japanese actor, best known for his roles as Sekime Kyogo in the drama Hanazakari no Kimitachi e and as Takuma Kakinouchi in the 2009 film Boku no Hatsukoi wo Kimi ni Sasagu.-Films:* Ahiru to Kamo no Coinlocker * Tennen Kokekkō...
- Yoshiteru Terada - Yoshino Kimura - Naoki's mother
- Yukito Nishii - Shuya Watanabe
- Kaoru Fujiwara - Naoki Shimomura
- Ai Hashimoto - Mizuki Kitahara
Film Grossing and Critical Response
Soon after the film had started showing in 266 cinemas, it had already grossed ¥269,835,200 with 194,893 audiences, breaking the record previously held by I Give My First Love to YouI Give My First Love to You
is a 2009 Japanese film. It was based on a manga of the same name by Kotomi Aoki, and it was released on 24 October 2009 in Japanese cinemas. This story revolves around Takuma Kakinouchi, a boy who is told he will die before he is 20, and Mayu Taneda, a girl who is in love with him.The film is...
. It kept grossing and became the highest grossing film for 4 consecutive weeks in June. It grossed over ¥3,500,000,000 in the 8th screening week, and finally, the gross revenue reached the record of ¥3,850,000,000. It is ranked as the 7th highest grossing Japanese film in 2010.
The film received a widespread positive response globally, with critics praising a variety of factors including good adaptation from the book, the director's style, and the acting, particularly by the child actors. The film holds an 80% 'fresh' average score at Rotten Tomatoes
Rotten Tomatoes
Rotten Tomatoes is a website devoted to reviews, information, and news of films—widely known as a film review aggregator. Its name derives from the cliché of audiences throwing tomatoes and other vegetables at a poor stage performance...
.
Although people under the age of 15 cannot view the film in Japan, the cast is almost full of students of around 13.
Awards and Nominations
The film was selected as the Japanese entry for the Best Foreign Language FilmAcademy Award for Best Foreign Language Film
The Academy Award for Best Foreign Language Film is one of the Academy Awards of Merit, popularly known as the Oscars, handed out annually by the U.S.-based Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences...
at the 83rd Academy Awards
83rd Academy Awards
The 83rd Academy Awards ceremony, presented by the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences , honored the best films of 2010 and took place February 27, 2011, at the Kodak Theatre in Hollywood, Los Angeles beginning at 5:30 p.m. PST / 8:30 p.m. EST. During the ceremony, Academy Awards ...
. In January 2011, it made the final shortlist. It won the awards for Best Film, Best Director, Best Screenplay & Best Editor at the 34th Japan Academy Prize. Also, it had 6 nominations in 5th Asian Film Awards
5th Asian Film Awards
The 5th Asian Film Awards was given in a ceremony on 21 March 2011 as part of the Hong Kong International Film Festival.-Best Film:*Winner: Uncle Boonmee Who Can Recall His Past Lives **Aftershock...
, which is one of the films with most nominations (with Let the Bullets Fly
Let the Bullets Fly
Let the Bullets Fly is a 2010 China-Hong Kong co-production action comedy film written and directed by Jiang Wen, based on a story by Ma Shitu, a famous Sichuanese writer. The film is set in Sichuan during the 1920s when the bandit Zhang descends upon a town posing as its new mayor...
).
| Awards | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| Award | Category | Recipent(s) | Result |
| 83rd Academy Awards 83rd Academy Awards The 83rd Academy Awards ceremony, presented by the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences , honored the best films of 2010 and took place February 27, 2011, at the Kodak Theatre in Hollywood, Los Angeles beginning at 5:30 p.m. PST / 8:30 p.m. EST. During the ceremony, Academy Awards ... |
Best Foreign Language Film | Confessions | |
| 14th Puchon International Fantastic Film Festival Puchon International Fantastic Film Festival The Puchon International Fantastic Film Festival , or PiFan, is an international film festival held annually in July in Bucheon, South Korea... |
Jury's Special Award | Confessions | |
| 35th Hochi Film Awards | Best Director | Tetsuya Nakashima Tetsuya Nakashima Tetsuya Nakashima is a Japanese film director. He was born in Fukuoka, attending high school in Chikushino. Nakashima was given the Best Director award at the 2005 Yokohama Film Festival for his film Kamikaze Girls.... |
|
| 84th Kinema Junpo Kinema Junpo , commonly called , is a Japanese film magazine which began publication in July 1919. The magazine was founded by a group of four students, including Saburō Tanaka, at the Tokyo Institute of Technology . In that first month, it was published three times on days with a "1" in them. These first three... Best 10 Film Awards |
Best Film (Ranking: 2) | Confessions | |
| 53rd Blue Ribbon Awards Blue Ribbon Awards The are film-specific prizes awarded solely by movie critics and writers in Tokyo, Japan.The awards were established in 1950 by which is composed of film correspondents from seven Tokyo-based sports newspapers... |
Best Picture | Confessions | |
| Best Supporting Actress | Yoshino Kimura | ||
| 2011 Élan d'or Prize | Best Film | Confessions | |
| 34th Japan Academy Prize Japan Academy Prize Japan Academy Prize may refer to:*Imperial Prize of the Japan Academy, an award of the Japan Academy to non-members in recognition of outstanding academic achievements.... |
Best Picture | Confessions | |
| Best Director | Tetsuya Nakashima | ||
| Best Screenplay | Tetsuya Nakashima | ||
| Best Performance by an Actress in a Leading Role | Takako Matsu Takako Matsu , born , is a Japanese actress and pop singer/songwriter born on June 10, 1977 in Tokyo, Japan. The style of her music is often laid-back and relaxing.- Profile :* Interests: Watching movies and stage plays... |
||
| Best Performance by an Actor in a Supporting Role | Masaki Okada Masaki Okada is a Japanese actor, best known for his roles as Sekime Kyogo in the drama Hanazakari no Kimitachi e and as Takuma Kakinouchi in the 2009 film Boku no Hatsukoi wo Kimi ni Sasagu.-Films:* Ahiru to Kamo no Coinlocker * Tennen Kokekkō... |
||
| Best Performance by an Actress in a Supporting Role | Yoshino Kimura | ||
| Best Cinematography | Masakazu Ato, Atsushi Ozawa | ||
| Best Lighting Direction | Susumu Takakura | ||
| Best Art Direction | Towako Kuwajima | ||
| Best Sound Recording | Masato Yano | ||
| Best Film Editing | Yoshiyuki Koike | ||
| 5th Asian Film Awards 5th Asian Film Awards The 5th Asian Film Awards was given in a ceremony on 21 March 2011 as part of the Hong Kong International Film Festival.-Best Film:*Winner: Uncle Boonmee Who Can Recall His Past Lives **Aftershock... |
Best Film | Confessions | |
| Best Director | Tetsuya Nakashima | ||
| Best Actress | Takako Matsu | ||
| Best Supporting Actor | Masaki Okada | ||
| Best Supporting Actress | Yoshino Kimura | ||
| Best Film Editor | Yoshiyuki Koike | ||
| 2011 Cinema Award | Best Film (Ranking: 1) | Confessions | |
| 30th Hong Kong Film Awards Hong Kong Film Awards The Hong Kong Film Awards , founded in 1982, are the most prestigious film awards in Hong Kong and among the most respected in mainland China and Taiwan. Award ceremonies are held annually, typically in April. The Awards recognize achievement in all aspects of filmmaking, such as directing,... |
Best Asian Film | Confessions | |
| 2nd Theater Staff Film Festival | Best Picture | Confessions | |
| Best Leading Actress | Takako Matsu | ||
See also
- List of submissions to the 83rd Academy Awards for Best Foreign Language Film
- List of Japanese submissions for the Academy Award for Best Foreign Language Film