Actuakers One of my all time favorites.

ChicRawIdol A brilliant film that helped define a genre

Ariella Broughton It is neither dumb nor smart enough to be fun, and spends way too much time with its boring human characters.

Billy Ollie Through painfully honest and emotional moments, the movie becomes irresistibly relatable

The Movie Diorama Asian cinema tends to reside on the extremities of the film spectrum. They are either ridiculously subdued or extremely visceral. This post-modernistic thriller manages to land on the latter side and then some! However, its absurdity consequently increases its implausibility. A teacher confides in her class with regards to her daughter recently dying in an accident, convinced that some of her pupils actually murdered her. The narrative soon explores various confessions of characters involved in the mystery that rapidly creates a complex web of deceit and jealousy. An increasingly interesting plot structure that consistently shifts between these characters and possible motives. We view different perspectives from numerous relatable persons including teachers, students and mothers. All still relating to the thrilling plot. Nakashima bravely identifies the culprits early on after an outstanding twenty minute monologue that contains more tension than most Hollywood thrillers put together. He then proceeds to unravel the motivation behind the crime where psychological strands and moral compasses are heavily tested. Frequently shocking, forever engaging and incredibly stylistic. Yet, the second and third act are so overwrought and elaborate, in an attempt to neatly tie up the mystery, that the tension depreciated far too quickly. Its cold calculated exterior prevented any warmth to seep through, ultimately making it difficult to become invested in some of the characters. A few individuals though, the avenging Moriguchi and prodigy Shuya especially, are fleshed out and thematically portray the preciousness of life. The excessive utilisation of slow motion may seem derivative at first but surprisingly propels a stylistic purpose to the drama. Taking its time to fully render the inner darkness amongst these delinquents. I must confess, despite the several implausibilities, my admiration for the creative narrative and dark nature further cements my love for Japanese cinema.

latinfineart What a completely diabolical story. I am one of the fortunate ones that do not have children. But, I wonder how close to reality this is, in it's fabulously dark and nasty portrayal of today's youth. This film portrays kids who are without hearts or souls, totally disconnected with anyone who is not within their age range, and completely lacking in empathy, compassion, and kindness, and possessing amazing degrees of cruelty, and a withering sense of narcissism and self absorption. The story is told from a point of view of different people who are somehow related to the murderers or the murder itself. I think it is quite an interesting way to tell a story. Seeing it through the eyes of different people gives us a little more perspective on how and why they are feeling that way. It is a story of a mother seeking revenge. Its makes us question humanity and the importance of preserving life. The ending is quite ambiguous, thus it leave the viewers to speculate how it really ended up. The story touches on heavy subjects such as bullying, peer pressure, absentee parenting, poor parenting, troubled youth, violence, and the devastating effect a lack of good role models can have on the kids of today.Children that are led astray by their guardians or their peers can do really frightening things. My guess that the writer/director wanted to show awareness of bullying. It is after all, a huge problem worldwide. This is the type of movie that will make you think twice about being a complete fool, and acting out in ridiculous ways.It starts with a stunning scene, where the teacher makes it known, that she is aware of the culprits amongst her class. These unruly, disrespectful kids, seemingly without a redeeming quality in their entire beings, are shaken up, and subjected to some of the kinds of verbal brutalization they inflict on others, without giving it a second thought. This is a really excellent film. Very well crafted, with great direction. It did not appear that it was a big production, but the effects were quite convincing, the acting was great, and the kids were scary as hell. Is this our future? Are we really in the hands of these souls? I am afraid.

Ziya Aliyev One cold blooded awful movie. So much unnecessary scenes and dialogues could have been written by an amateur starter. Director tries so hard to make the movie a special kind of art and ends up with his or her surreality. I am not so much fun of blood in the movie especially child killers. Movie misrepresents child behavior, child psychology and misdirects its audience. I do not know whether it is banned but it should have banned in all theaters. People who likes or approves this kind of very negative and depressive movie should make appointments with their shrinks. People who has not watched it yet, please do not watch it, movie literally mocks with mothers,children and teachers and praises depressive and psychopathic actions through justifying it with some very funny past events. There is no clue of compassion in the movie which is about 12-13 years of children.

Medysofyan Imagine this: You are a teacher who has just discovered that two of your students are responsible for your daughter's death. Filled with anger and grief, you're more than ready to take your revenge. But what if the murderers are considered under-ages (middle school students), and they can't be punished fairly because the law protects them? That is the main plot of this Japanese psychological thriller from the brilliant director Tetsuya Nakashima. Confessions aka Kokuhaku, which is adapted from a debut novel by Kanae Minato, takes unfolding mysteries in a movie to a whole new level, like opening a box of intellectual surprises. As the story reveal the major character's confessions, the more I know about their motives, and made it hard for me to choose sides.I think Nakashima tries to show how dangerous kids could become if their parents don't treat them properly. In the era of internet and social media, children are prone to be influenced by bad contents if their parents don't guide them. As in Confessions, one of the murderers is a neglected kid who is incredibly smart, but turns into a devious criminal because the society (netizens) doesn't care about his good grades, but cheers to his bad-ass delinquency."Nobody taught me that killing people was wrong. Where other kids got read picture books and fairy tales, my mom taught me Ohm's Law and Norton's theorum. She only ever talked about electronics," Shuuya, a 13-year-old genius student who kills innocent people only for his nonchalant, career-oriented mother to notice him.The setting may resembles 'Elephant' by Gus Van Sant, or 'We Need to Talk about Kevin' by Lynne Ramsay. However, both of which focus on teenagers having mental illness and their insane violence. On the other hand, 'Confessions' portrays how a teacher explores under-aged criminal minds and gives them punishment that serves them right.The film's palette are dominated by black-and-grey colors, with clever play on details mostly showcase middle school student stuffs, perfectly blended by dark, engaging soundtracks. The tone, art and theme somehow reminds me of Richard Ayoade's work in 'Submarine'. I must say the soundtracks are top-notch and sometimes add cuteness and quirk to bloody scenes. The only flaw is too much slow-motion and repetitive scenes though sometimes effective to deliver emotions.On the whole, 'Confessions' is a bleak, savage and mind-blowing thriller that takes on heavy subjects in coming age realm, with engrossing story lines and arousing life-lesson quotes.