Penance

Name: Penance
Genre: Mystery
Released: November 14, 2014
Rating: 58

2014

METASCORE

Mixed or average reviews based on 7 Critic Reviews

See All

USER SCORE

Mixed or average reviews based on 5 Ratings

See All

6.0

VOTE NOW

0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10

6.0	Your Score
6.0	User Score Mixed or average reviews based on 5 Ratings

Would you like to write a review?

There is a 75 character minimum for reviews. If your review contains spoilers, please check the Spoiler box. Please do not use ALL CAPS. There is no linking or other HTML allowed. Your review may be edited for content. 0/5000

Check box if your review contains spoilers

Play Sound

Please enter your birth date to watch this video:

You are not allowed to view this material at this time.

Penance

Now Playing: Penance

Movie Details & Credits

Music Box Films | Release Date: November 14, 2014 | Not Rated

Summary: On a sleepy small town playground, a mysterious stranger approaches a group of young friends, then kidnaps and brutally murders one of the girls. Wracked with grief, the victim’s unhinged mother Asako (Kyoko Koizumi) demands that the shaken survivors identify the killer or face a penance of her choosing. Growing up in the shadow of thisOn a sleepy small town playground, a mysterious stranger approaches a group of young friends, then kidnaps and brutally murders one of the girls. Wracked with grief, the victim’s unhinged mother Asako (Kyoko Koizumi) demands that the shaken survivors identify the killer or face a penance of her choosing. Growing up in the shadow of this tragic debt, each of the four girls cultivates a warped survival mechanism – avoidance, desperation, fear and obsession. [Music Box Films]… Expand

Director: Kiyoshi Kurosawa

Genre(s): Mystery

Rating: Not Rated

See All Details and Credits

Metascore

Positive:

Mixed:

Negative:

Critic Reviews

Ignatiy Vishnevetsky

Nov 13, 2014

The overarching theme is the slow, trickling spread of evil; the old familiar story of violence begetting violence, which Kurosawa is able to render in terms that seem mysterious and sub-rational. Read full review

Nicolas Rapold

Nov 13, 2014

Mr. Kurosawa expertly modulates an uncanny flow of energies between shame and grief, between venal urges and high-minded moral demands. The women’s travails suggest something that’s part curse, part mythic cycle of guilt and part kaleidoscopic dread. Read full review

The Playlist Oliver Lyttelton

Nov 12, 2014

It’s a reminder of what a tremendously talented writer and director Kiyoshi Kurosawa is, and hopefully we’ll see him venturing back to the big screen sooner rather than later. Read full review

Chuck Bowen

Nov 10, 2014

The film is ultimately, and disappointingly, revealed to be a contraption that's less concerned with mental portraiture than with getting all of its expository ducks in a row. Read full review

Simon Abrams

Nov 11, 2014

While it doesn't cohere into anything more substantial than a collection of self-loathing anxieties, Japanese teledrama Penance is effectively unnerving on a scene-for-scene basis thanks to writer/director Kiyoshi Kurosawa's preference for ambience over character-driven drama. Read full review

Deborah Young

Nov 13, 2014

Complexly plotted, elegantly shot and orchestrated, this is the kind of long-winded, intermittently involving festival package that will earn the director of Tokyo Sonata more critical appreciation but will struggle to find a theatrical audience. For a film that requires nearly five hours of viewing investment, it feels terribly stingy on the emotional payoff. Read full review

Mike D'Angelo

Nov 11, 2014

Unfortunately, Penance is an example of a TV movie that definitely belongs on the small screen, to be watched piecemeal over the course of several days. Consumed in one gigantic, four-and-a-half-hour gulp, it becomes painfully repetitive and monotonous. Read full review

SEE ALL 7 REVIEWS

Write a Review

No reviews yet.