Vengeance is MineIwao Enokizu (Ken Ogata) is a monster. History is tainted with the stories of monsters in the skin of men, who kill without remorse, who lie, cheat, swindle without conscience. Vengeance is Mine follows Enokizu's seventy-eight days of bloodshed across Japan, the events that led to his immoral rampage, the family who bears the burden of his crimes, his capture and the finality of his legacy. Based on the true story of serial killer Akira Nishiguchi (whom Enokizu is somewhat modeled after), the film feels as though it were plucked from the headlines. Charming though Iwao may be, we become a kind of victim, subject to witness is atrocities, as we pray for justice to come and save us all.
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The chronology of Vengeance is Mine is fractured, splintered into a narrative told by and to Enokizu after his capture, in an effort to extract a confession for his heinous crimes. Our introduction to Enokizu is one where we see him as something of a flippant and arrogant jerk, even a petulant man-child--he does not change much from here. In fact, this has been his psychological "locked in" state since the days when he and his family left the Goto islands, forced by the imperial Japanese government after they commandeered his family's boats. The earliest moments we have of Iwao are of a scene of persecution, a Japanese officer bullying Iwao's father, Shizuo (Rentarô Mikuni) because he is a Christian. Iwao's reaction to this scene is to grab a two-by-four and attack the officer--whether his intention was to save his father or an early excuse to indulge his violent tendencies remains a mystery, but since that day, Iwao began to loathe his father for his weakness; perhaps due to this, his mother, Kayo (Chôchô Miyako) began to spoil him. The willful boy became a willful man, passing through the revolving door at prison, and getting into a shotgun wedding with a girl named Kazuko (Mitsuko Baishô). While Enokizu was in prison, Kazuko--now baptized into Catholicism--left Iwao, although his father pleads for her to return to his son, because in God's eyes, divorce is a sin. And whether Kazuko mistakes his pleading for romantic love, or she truly admires Shizuo remains ambiguous--what is evident is that she appears to have fallen for her father-in-law, and tests his faith by conveying her love and admiration to him. Especially so with Shizuo and Kazuko, Vengeance is Mine is steeped in religious angst, as well as familial cruelty--to others and one another. Even Shizuo and Kazuko are not immune to the wicked pull of cruelty, evidenced by their moment of perverse justice when they fatally punish a dog for biting Kazuko. But when Iwao confronts the two about their intimacy, there is no evidence that he does so because he actually loves Kazuko, but simply out of a possessive jealousy--or at least out of spite. Even when Iwao learns that his father tried to set Kazuko up with another man, Iwao's response is not to seek to reclaim his wife's honor or his own, but to blackmail the guy for some easy cash. And Iwao's mother continues to spoil Iwao even when he is out of jail again, who stops off to play pachinko and drink beer before even returning to the homestead. She gives him spending money, perhaps hoping this will sate his rotten temperament; but this token generosity can not change her son--Iwao is rotten to the core.
As Iwao scurries across Japan, grifting helpless old ladies and engaging in detached violence, he dons a disguise as a professor and visits the Asano Inn, run by the pretty, yet pitiable Haru (Mayumi Ogawa). Iwao comes here for a secluded place to hole up and spend his ill-gotten yen on call girls, but begins to get involved in Haru's life, after an argument with her mother, Hisano (Nijiko Kiyokawa). Maybe Iwao actually does feel something for Haru as he flirts, consoles, and then eventually sleeps with her...or maybe we too are taken in by his charms and our desire to believe that we may have been mistaken--somehow--about that grisly double murder at the beginning of the movie, and Iwao's complete detachment from any kind of emotion or regret. Certainly, Haru begins to fall for "the professor" (Iwao's alias), and given her deplorable history with men--cons and abusive keepers--this erudite and compassionate gentleman is a veritable Prince Charming. Even when confronted with the most indisputable evidence about Iwao, Haru still remains steadfast to the killer, and the two continue their passionate affair. Haru's final revelation about Iwao is truly heartbreaking, because she has been kicked around by everyone for her whole life; the camera stares down over her like an indifferent god--the best man in her life is a serial killer. In fact, Vengeance is Mine plays a dark tune about the duplicitiousness of relationships and how twisted they can become. Shizuo and Kazuko certainly care for one another, but their disposition to maintain decorum insists that they wait until they are old and their spouses are dead before they can be forthcoming with their feelings. And Haru and Iwao maintain a relationship driven by desire, though replete with danger and abandon. Ken Ogata's portrayal of the malevolent killer is staggering, both charming and deplorable even within moments of one another. Iwao is the culmination of a man who has gone too long without any sense of morality guiding him, indulged by his mother but not his father--perhaps this, too, accounts for his spite. But Iwao has never physically hurts his family, because as his father later observes, he can only hurt those who have done him no wrong, an antithesis of the "turn the other cheek" kind of Christian his father is, someone Iwao has come to believe is weak for letting himself be bullied. Maybe this guiding undercurrent is behind Iwao's predatory approach to his spree of death and fraud--hurt others before they hurt you. Or maybe it is as Hisano--the fellow "killer-in-arms" alongside Iwao--observes, as they stare over a red-tinged waterbed of eels: he is a wimp, and needs to hurt others to feel bigger than them. Either way, following along with Iwao and his reign of terror is an exercise that demands resolve.
Recommended for: Fans of "true story" crime dramas, for those who can endure the moral vacuum that is Iwao Enokizu's psychopathic wave of destruction. Charming, beguiling, deadly.
As Iwao scurries across Japan, grifting helpless old ladies and engaging in detached violence, he dons a disguise as a professor and visits the Asano Inn, run by the pretty, yet pitiable Haru (Mayumi Ogawa). Iwao comes here for a secluded place to hole up and spend his ill-gotten yen on call girls, but begins to get involved in Haru's life, after an argument with her mother, Hisano (Nijiko Kiyokawa). Maybe Iwao actually does feel something for Haru as he flirts, consoles, and then eventually sleeps with her...or maybe we too are taken in by his charms and our desire to believe that we may have been mistaken--somehow--about that grisly double murder at the beginning of the movie, and Iwao's complete detachment from any kind of emotion or regret. Certainly, Haru begins to fall for "the professor" (Iwao's alias), and given her deplorable history with men--cons and abusive keepers--this erudite and compassionate gentleman is a veritable Prince Charming. Even when confronted with the most indisputable evidence about Iwao, Haru still remains steadfast to the killer, and the two continue their passionate affair. Haru's final revelation about Iwao is truly heartbreaking, because she has been kicked around by everyone for her whole life; the camera stares down over her like an indifferent god--the best man in her life is a serial killer. In fact, Vengeance is Mine plays a dark tune about the duplicitiousness of relationships and how twisted they can become. Shizuo and Kazuko certainly care for one another, but their disposition to maintain decorum insists that they wait until they are old and their spouses are dead before they can be forthcoming with their feelings. And Haru and Iwao maintain a relationship driven by desire, though replete with danger and abandon. Ken Ogata's portrayal of the malevolent killer is staggering, both charming and deplorable even within moments of one another. Iwao is the culmination of a man who has gone too long without any sense of morality guiding him, indulged by his mother but not his father--perhaps this, too, accounts for his spite. But Iwao has never physically hurts his family, because as his father later observes, he can only hurt those who have done him no wrong, an antithesis of the "turn the other cheek" kind of Christian his father is, someone Iwao has come to believe is weak for letting himself be bullied. Maybe this guiding undercurrent is behind Iwao's predatory approach to his spree of death and fraud--hurt others before they hurt you. Or maybe it is as Hisano--the fellow "killer-in-arms" alongside Iwao--observes, as they stare over a red-tinged waterbed of eels: he is a wimp, and needs to hurt others to feel bigger than them. Either way, following along with Iwao and his reign of terror is an exercise that demands resolve.
Recommended for: Fans of "true story" crime dramas, for those who can endure the moral vacuum that is Iwao Enokizu's psychopathic wave of destruction. Charming, beguiling, deadly.