Confessions

A middle school teacher tells her class in her end-of-term speech that her daughter was found dead in the school pool and that it was not an accident. The killers are two pupils sitting in front of her. Japanese law protects offenders that young, so the legal route is closed. Before she leaves her job she begins carrying out her own sentence; the narration then passes to the others and the same events are rebuilt in different voices. Tetsuya Nakashima directed. The source is Kanae Minato's 2008 novel. Takako Matsu plays the teacher. The film is formally aggressive: slow motion, drained colour and a loud use of music, deliberately at odds with the coldness of what is being described. It grossed roughly 45.2 million dollars worldwide. Rotten Tomatoes sits at 81 percent. It was named Best Picture at both the 34th Japan Academy Prize and the 53rd Blue Ribbon Awards. It was Japan's submission for Best Foreign Language Film at the 83rd Academy Awards and made the January shortlist. Michael Mann put it in his own top ten for the Sight and Sound poll in 2022. Who it is for: viewers who like revenge stories and fractured multi-voice structures. Who it is not for: anyone unable to take violence done to and by children. The film softens nothing at any point.