Vengeance Is Mine - Criterion Collection

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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

Description

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.

Customer Reviews:

a murderer on the loose........2007-07-20

This review is for the Criterion Collection DVD edition of the film.

Based on a true story, Vengeance is Mine which was released in Japan as "Fukushû suruwa wareniari" is about serial killer on the from police. The killer later visits a brothel and begins a relationship with one of the women there.

The film was directed by famed Japanese director Shohei Imamura.

The special features are a theatrical and teaser trailer and an interview with Imamura.

The film is well made but the subject matter is for mature audiences.

Savage........2007-05-28

Again, Shohei Imamura's total control of his craft shows itself in his brutal masterpiece Vengeance Is Mine. This true story follows Iwao Enokizu (Ken Ogata), a con artist, thief and killer. The film starts with Enokizu's capture and uses unusual, but brilliantly effective editing and pacing to unravel the story of his life. We see Enokizu as a troubled boy in a strict Catholic home and turn into a scam artist and womanizer. As an adult Enokizu's resentment towards his religous father is compounded by rumors of an affair with the father and Enokizu's wife. As his hatered grows stronger and his crimes become more serious, we see first hand Enokizu's downward spiral into murder and the devastating consequences for those around him.

The disturbing nature of this film doesn't lie in it's gore factor (there are very few actual murder scenes), but rather with the non-judgemental view taken of the killer. Imamura neither glorifies nor condems Enokizu. He simply lets the character exist, and lets his inherent nihilism reveal itself. This nihilism is something that both Enokizu and the audience must grapple with throughout the film. Ultimately, Enokizu can only kill innocent people, being too much of a coward to face those he truly hates. This is fully realized in two emotionally gutwrenching scenes at the end of the film; one with Enokizu's lover and another with his father.

The family drama, the cat-and-mouse game between Enokizu and the cops, and some interesting third-act revalations make this two hour plus film quite an undertaking. Don't watch it while making dinner. But with the great acting (Ken Ogata especially), outstanding editing, interesting shooting locations and masterful direction, Imamura takes this messy story and turns it into an artistic, esoteric thriller. A sort of japanese Taxi Driver. The ending is pure Imamura; a poetic farewell to Enokizu that is both eerily enigmatic and profoundly meaningful.

Finally on DVD.......2007-05-24

It's fortunate that this, one of Imamura's very best feature films, was finally reissued on DVD. Considering that this film was one of The Criterion Collection's very first laserdisc releases and has obtained an impressive cult following, I think that it's been too long of a time coming!

This was Imamura's return to cinematic fiction, eleven years beyond the release of his brilliant, high-budget flop, "The Profound Desire of the Gods" and following a string of excellent, well-received postwar television documentaries that established him as the most insightful realist of Japanese film. "Vengeance Is Mine" has all of the Imamura trademarks: incestuous relations, miserable poverty, human oddities and a fleshy mountainload of sweaty, passionate sex. However, the brutal violence and narrative indifference that Imamura carefully depicts distinguish this film from any other in his oeuvre. The brutal exploits of Ken Ogata's serial killer are presented with uncomfortably dispassionate detail, featuring understated, nuanced and remarkably effective cinematography. Fiction is rarely so honest, or so chilling.

The scene that most viewers of this film seem to remember best is the last, when Mikuni and Baisho throw Ogata's post-cremated bones to their fate only to see them hang defiantly suspended in mid-air. But the most remarkable scene of this film is one that nobody seems to notice. A portmanteau set was created to depict Ogata climbing the stairs as he prepares to murder the mother of his lover; in a hall adjoining the stairwell, his own mother (hundreds of miles away, in her own home and a state of senility) staggers quietly, preparing to berate her husband for the amorous relationship with his daughter-in-law that he hasn't quite pursued. The production design, execution and symbolist implications of this scene are staggering; rarely in cinema does one encounter theatrical conventions so neatly and brilliantly conveyed. Imamura was a true genius of his art.

The cast is as excellent as the story. Seasoned, popular veterans (Rentaro Mikuni, Nijiko Kiyokawa) are paired with numerous bright young stars of the late '70s (leading man Ken Ogata, Mitsuko Baisho, Chocho Miyako), many of whom went on to achieve much greater fame. Ogata and especially Baisho were mainstays in Imamura's casting until the director's death in 2006.

Imamura will probably be best remembered for "The Ballad Of Narayama," "Black Rain," or "The Eel," and that's just as well. The accessibility of those films doesn't detract from their excellence in the slightest. But "Vengeance Is Mine" occupies a curious position as one of the man's most unique, innovative and truly provocative films. The sensitive and objective viewer will come away from it feeling simultaneously threshed and comforted.

This film was initially released to Japanese theaters on my birthday: April 21st, 1979. A pleasant coincidence!

On many complexities of the human soul..........2002-02-23

In the beginning of Vengeance, there is a key scene of the film's main character. He is unrinating, in order to wash his hands off the blood of his victim. He then notices he's under a tree, wipes his hands with his jacket and picks an apple. He takes a bite and spits.

However, the point -we understand as the story unfolds engrossingly to contain many other characters in similarly true moments- is in fact to lay bare the human soul.

Immamura achieves very successfuly this main objective, through his immense storytelling powers: the over the top performances he pulls from his superb cast and his brilliant melding of the many subplots.(The editing here, in my opinion, is one the best works ever done in a movie.)

In a little over two hours, Vengeance speaks volumes about the many complexities of the human soul and offers many opportunities to confront its dark side. Thus, it is not an easy movie to watch. Yet it offers many insights to the Japanese culture, and is a great point to start knowing the Japanese cinema as well. Highly recommended.

gripping from start to finish.......2000-09-10

In this highly ambiguous tale of moral uncertainty--both in terms of the killer himself and all those around him (his father, his wife, his lover and her mother), Imamura is at the top of his game. I saw this film at a film festival in Berkeley the first time and it haunted me for a long long time. The commentary on the back cover of the VHS says it best "Imamura's refusal to either despise or forgive his protagonist makes the movie a devestating experience."

Average customer rating:

Klansman/Vengeance Is Mine
Starring: Lee Marvin , Richard Burton , O J Simpson , Linda Evans , and Ernset Borgnine
Manufacturer: CATCOM Home Video
ProductGroup: DVD
Binding: DVD

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ASIN: B000EBHW7O
Release Date: 2006-03-28

Product Description

The Klansman (1974 - A small southern town has just been rocked by a tragedy: a young woman has been violently raped. The white town fathers immediately declare that the attacker had to be black, and place the blame on Garth, a young black man. Assuming that the men in white sheets aren't intent on holding a fair and impartial trial, Garth takes to the woods as the Klansmen lynching party hunts him down. Vengeance Is Mine (1976)- Ernest Borgnine stars in this low-key crime drama that takes place in the backwoods of America. After robbing a local bank, three thugs seek a hiding place at a secluded farm. But the farmer, played by Borgnine, defies the criminals, holding them at gunpoint and leading to a tense and emotionally charged stand-off while the police race to the scene.

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Vengeance Is Mine
Starring: Vengeance Is Mine
Manufacturer: Phantom
ProductGroup: DVD
Binding: DVD

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ASIN: B0002JC5M0
Release Date: 2002-10-14

Album Description

Asia exclusive release directed by Imamura Shohei (Warm Water Under Red Bridge, Eel and Black Rain) in 1979 and starring Ken Ogata (Pillow Book, Mishima). A convoy of patrol cars traverse a provincial countryside to escort captured criminal Iwao Enokizu to the local police precinct for interrogation. Callous and unremorseful, he laments his inevitable fate as unfair, citing that his arresting officers will outlive him and continue to pursuit of hedonistic pleasure now denied him. All Code / NTSC. Original Japanese dialogue/ optional English & Chinese subtitles. 2002.

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Vengeance Is Mine
Director: John Trent
ProductGroup: DVD
Binding: DVD

General | Westerns | Genres | DVD | Video
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Color
Run Time 92 min

ASIN: B000KE306M

Product Description

Adam Smith is a God-fearing nature-loving farmer who lives a peacful life with his field hand and granddaughter on the outskirts of Locust is country home is invaded by 3 murdersous bank robbers, he decides to fight vilolence with violence and takes the law in his own hands.

Vengeance Is Mine (Japanese With English Subtitles)

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Vengeance Is Mine (Japanese With English Subtitles)

ProductGroup: DVD
Binding: DVD

Product Description

Imamura Shohei's chilling portrait was voted the best Japanese film of the decade by critics in both Los Angles and New York. Based on a true story and a prize-winning novel, this is an icily precise account of a killer who abandobns his devout Catholic family and his faith to go on a 78-day spree of murder and mayhem. The unnerving objectivity with which Immamura tells the story, combined with the film's formal beauty and precision and its refusal to explain or condemn, produces a devastating effect. "Inside of this man. could there be nothing but hollowness? I think I can see the forlorn inner soul of today's man." (Imamura)

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