Vengeance Is Mine
Eureka Entertainment | Release Date: October 17, 1979 CRITIC SCORE DISTRIBUTION
85
METASCORE
Universal acclaim based on 13 Critic Reviews
Positive:
13
Mixed:
0
Negative:
0
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Critic Reviews

Critic scorePublicationBy date
100
Chicago Sun-TimesRoger Ebert
The film gathers fearful force. Read full review
91
The A.V. ClubDavid 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
90
Time OutStaff (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
88
Slant MagazineClayton Dillard
Only Imamura could irreverently intertwine Catholicism, brutal murders, and pachinko to produce such devastating ends. Read full review
88
Chicago TribuneAlan G. Artner
Icily brilliant. Read full review
80
Washington PostPaul Attanasio
Shocking and relentless, the movie pioneers an unholy border between Rembrandt and pornography, finding a transcendent unity in the abasements and attainments of man. Read full review
80
BBCMatthew 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
80
TV Guide MagazineStaff (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
80
Chicago ReaderDave 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
80
The New York TimesVincent Canby
VENGEANCE IS MINE, directed by Shohei Imamura, a Japanese director largely unknown in this country, is chilly without being austere, the sort of confounding movie that tells us too much and not enough. Read full review
80
The GuardianStaff (Not Credited)
Mysterious, complex and brilliant: the disquieting portrait of a serial killer, seducer and con-man in Japan whose motivation remains an enigma. [9 Sept 2005, p.13]
80
The TelegraphStaff (Not Credited)
An impressive and unconventional thriller. [4 Sept 2010]
70
EmpireWilliam 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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