Confessions – Review

There is something oppressive about the style of Tetsuya Nakashima’s latest feature. Along with its blue-grey colour palette and strange opening half hour Confessions is at once very good and a bit annoying.

The general crux of the story follows the aftermath of a murder by two high school students. It appears to be a classic folie à deux set up, only the brats have murdered their teacher’s young daughter, and she wants revenge. What follows is a bleak assessment of humanity and the often spiteful attitudes of the characters.

If this were a Hollywood picture it would be wholly concerned with a stalk and slash scenario but Nakashima’s film goes for a different route entirely. It’s certainly not a traditional psycho thriller and the teacher, Miss Moriguchi, is interested in torturing the little bastards before they get their comeuppance.

What does she do? For starters, announces to the entire class she knows who killed her daughter, then informs them she’s puts something in their school milk which they’ll never forget – or get over. Then she disappears from view and we see how the lives of the students are effected by what they know.

Confessions’ is cruel occasionally inspired. Nakashima’s visual flourishes are a little too �?music video’ at times but it’s a strong effort with a perverse bent. Mixing flashbacks and multiple character voiceovers to weave a multi-layered narrative, Confessions, isn’t an out-and-out horror film but it makes for a great psycho-thriller, with the emphasis on psycho.

Rating: ?????

US Release: tbc
UK Release: 18th February
Australia Release: tbc