Search The Archive

Search the film archive

He kills, laughing. That's the kind he is. Often touted as a Japanese In Cold Blood, Vengeance is Mine sees Shohei Imamura energetically depict a true-life murderer who kept evading a police dragnet across Japan. Based on the 1975 novel by Ryuzo Saki, the story unpacks in a series of flashbacks from the killer's arrest - Imamura's vision of this 78-day crime spree still packing as solid a punch in both the violence and insight stakes as it did on its release in 1979. Vengeance is Mine blitzed the Awards of the Japanese Academy with six wins and a further six nominations. “Mysterious, complex and brilliant: the disquieting portrait of a serial killer, seducer and con-man whose motivation remains an enigma. It has the gripping randomness and unreadability of real life.” - The Guardian

---

D Shohei Imamura P Kazuo Inoue S Masaru Baba WS Shochiku Co. Ltd L Japanese w/English subtitles TD 35mm/b&w/1979/140mins