Vengeance Is Mine

Name: Vengeance Is Mine
Genre: Drama, Crime
Released: October 17, 1979
Duration: 140 min
Rating: 85
Cast: Chôchô Miyako, Gorô Tarumi, Kazuko Shirakawa, Ken Ogata, Mayumi Ogawa

1979

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Universal acclaim based on 13 Critic Reviews

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Movie Details & Credits

Eureka Entertainment | Release Date: October 17, 1979 | Not Rated

Starring: Chôchô Miyako, Gorô Tarumi, Kazuko Shirakawa, Ken Ogata, Mayumi Ogawa, Mitsuko Baisho, Moeko Ezawa, Nijiko Kiyokawa, Rentarô Mikuni, Taiji Tonoyama

Summary: A thief, a murderer, and a charming lady-killer, Iwao Enokizu (Ken Ogata) is on the run from the police. Director Shohei Imamura turns this fact-based story—about the seventy-eight-day killing spree of a remorseless man from a devoutly Catholic family—into a cold, perverse, and at times diabolically funny examination of the primitiveA thief, a murderer, and a charming lady-killer, Iwao Enokizu (Ken Ogata) is on the run from the police. Director Shohei Imamura turns this fact-based story—about the seventy-eight-day killing spree of a remorseless man from a devoutly Catholic family—into a cold, perverse, and at times diabolically funny examination of the primitive coexisting with the modern. More than just a true-crime tale, Vengeance Is Mine bares humanity’s snarling id. [The Criterion Channel]… Expand

Director: Shohei Imamura

Genre(s): Drama, Crime

Rating: Not Rated

Runtime: 140 min

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Critic Reviews

100

Roger Ebert

The film gathers fearful force. Read full review

David Ehrlich

At times a frustrating experience, Vengeance Is Mine transforms over the course of its running time, Enokizu’s impenetrable nature eventually bottoming out and blossoming into a perverse relatability. Read full review

Staff (Not Credited)

At once darkly comic and quasi-tragic, Imamura’s often brilliant tale of Eros and Thanatos is perverse, powerful and subversive. Read full review

Dave Kehr

Imamura’s detached, almost scientific style forestalls any pat sympathy for the central character—he is not a sentimental “victim of society,” but the embodiment of its darkest Darwinian forces. Read full review

Matthew Leyland

Made in 1979, the film has aged superbly, the shock of its violence and acuity of its insights still retaining their punch. True, its lengthy running time is demanding and the momentum does dip in the second half, but it's held together by cool-headed technique and Ken Ogata's imposing lead performance. Read full review

TV Guide Magazine Staff (Not Credited)

Director Imamura effectively portrays some of the more negative aspects of the forces that have shaped modern Japanese people. In this manner the picture resembles his chilling films of teenage wanderlust made in the 1950s. Read full review

Empire William Thomas

Ogata's performance is the obvious highlight, and Imamura constructs an utterly plausible scenario, but at times overreaches, and loses focus. If you can tolerate a few extraneous scenes, though, this is a dark treat. Read full review

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