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Nov 03, 2014 Web Exclusive By Austin Trunick

Iwao Enokizu (Ken Ogata) opens Vengeance Is Mine in the back of a Japanese police cruiser. An angry mob screams at the car; the captured murderer sits there coolly, disregarding the officers’ line of questioning. He’s been the subject of an eleven-week nationwide manhunt and knows he’s headed for the gallows, but he doesn’t seem to care. This lack of care seems to be Iwao’s defining trait; through a series of flashbacks, we watch as he carries out his brutal murders with little motivation—and even less remorse.

Shohei Imamura’s unflinching serial killer film was ahead the curve when it arrived in 1979. Iwao Enokizu was the rare monster in human skin; a being both wholly evil yet entirely (and horrifyingly) believable. The camera doesn’t look away as Iwao fumbles through his crimes; Vengeance’s lurid portrayal of sex is equally discomforting. (A side plot concerning the mutual attraction between Iwao’s wife and Iwao’s elderly father meanders off course for perhaps a little too much of the runtime.) Although the film doesn’t feel as groundbreaking now as it likely once had, Ogata’s nuanced performance shouldn’t be missed. Criterion’s Blu-ray doesn’t bring anything new to the table, extras-wise, that wasn’t on their prior DVD release, but the HD transfer does look stellar.

www.criterion.com/films/822-vengeance-is-mine

Author rating: 6/10