Penance [Blu-ray]

PENANCEKiyoshi Kurosawa - Japan - 2012 - 5 episodes each roughly 1 hourBased on the novel by Kanae Minato. The unifying thread is a crime against a child. The child's four friends are placed under a guilt debt by the child's mother and charged with a penance should the culprit elude capture. The episodes/chapters deal with episodes in the friend's lives 15 years later, and finally an episode in the life of the mother following all of these individual experiences. For Kurosawa fans, remember that this is a television production, not a movie, and set your expectations accordingly. The pace is deliberate and the dialogue, while avoiding explicit exposition, does tend to be intricate. I watched the episodes as made available by Fandor in one chunk. While PENANCE does not pack the punch of Kurosawa's cinematic offerings, they bear his indelible stamp and are worth watching. While watching PENANCE, I became aware of how many aspects of Kurosawa's technique are shared by another of my favorite directors, Hirokazu Koreeda. Kurosawa and Koreeda both have an elegantly economical style which is short on hyperbole and long on observational nuance and technical sophistication without resorting to gimmickry. In a way, it seemed to me that Kurosawa and Koreeda are two coins of the same denomination. They both mine their material from the complex lode of the human heart. Koreeda explores those veins which carry an unusual warmth. Kurosawa explores those veins which carry an unusual coldness. Of the two, Koreeda is the realist. Kurosawa, to produce his unnerving tableaux, at times manipulates events to produce his signature sangfroid goose bumps. Both are minimalists, not in the technical sense, but by virtue of using screenplays unencumbered by irrelevance, that most human of characteristics. Be that as it may, for those who enjoy Kurosawa's movies, be prepared to be patient with PENANCE. I almost gave up on Chapter 1, which is the longest by virtue of containing the most backstory and which is the thinnest, at least for me. The subsequent chapters contain more characters, more interactions, and more locations; making them more complete and filling meals. Chapters 3 and 4 were my favorites. Happy hunting.

Excellent. This director has done numerous brilliant films. Check him out, along with this film.

A Well Written Movie! A Women who could not let go of Her Hateful Ways Of Tormenting 4 little Girls who were with her Daughter! It was Well,Broken up So We as the Viewers Saw exactly the Consequences of Her Actions on each Girl in several separate shows! I am not a favorite of these Types of Movies .This One However was a Great Suspenseful Filled Series .Well Worth Time & Money!

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I’m just not sure why I would get that error.

I am a Kiyoshi Kurosawa fan. He is a master in writing and directing psychological thrillers. Penance is a mini-series made for Japan television and then offered to us in this 5-part series. It is not a horror series as it is sometimes depicted. It is a crime psycho-thriller seen through the eyes of four eyewitnesses and the main protagonist who searches for the truth. Each eyewitness and their role in the drama is studied within each of their own part and then the entire drama unfolds in the 5th chapter. Each of the five actresses provide totally different and solid performances. The top acting award though goes to the only role which appears in each part and who will unravel the story at its climax. This is Kurosawa, again at his best. Flawless directing.