Overview
A chilling exploration of a man's descent into madness and the violence that ensues.
Ember's analysis
- Pacing
- Measured
- Intensity
- Extreme
- Complexity
- Layered
- Violence
- Graphic
- bleak
- grisly
- tragic
- serious movie night
- japanese cinema marathon
What critics said
Critics broadly regard Shōhei Imamura’s unsettling crime drama as a powerful, poignant, and formally distinctive portrait of criminal despair and social depravity.
What sets it apart
May contain story progression spoilers
The film combines serial murders and a seedy social underbelly with unsettling dark humor.
Iwao Enokizu’s violent murders are driven by an apparently unexplainable compulsion, while the film withholds easy motives.
Police chase Iwao across Japan, but he repeatedly escapes and remains difficult to contain.
Iwao’s encounters with the brothel and other peripheral figures reveal corruption beneath civilized Japanese society.
Films like Vengeance Is Mine, and why
Manhunter
shared serial killer subject, bleak psychological drama, and morally corrosive crime narrative
Memories of Murder
shared procedural pursuit, unsettling violence, and despairing portrait of criminal psychology
The Silence of the Lambs
shared bleak crime drama, grim humor, and meditation on evil and social decay
Pale Flower
shared Japanese crime cinema, fatalism, and emotionally abrasive character study
Movie Details
- Director
- Shōhei Imamura
- Release Date
- 1979-04-21
- Runtime
- 140 min
- Rating
- 7.6 / 10 (159)
Cast
- Ken Ogata
- Mayumi Ogawa
- Mitsuko Baisho
- Frankie Sakai
- Kazuo Kitamura
- Chōchō Miyako
- Nijiko Kiyokawa
- Rentaro Mikuni
- Taiji Tonoyama
- Gorō Tarumi
Where to watch in United States
- Streaming
- Criterion Channel, Darkroom
- Rent
- Amazon Video, Apple TV Store, Fandango At Home
- Buy
- Amazon Video, Apple TV Store, Fandango At Home
Streaming options come from TMDB and change over time.
Common questions
- What is Vengeance Is Mine about?
- A fugitive murderer’s doomed romance becomes a bleak, darkly comic descent into the hidden violence of postwar Japan.
- What is Vengeance Is Mine like to watch?
- Ember's analysis rates the pacing of Vengeance Is Mine as measured, its intensity as extreme and its storytelling as layered.
- Is Vengeance Is Mine violent?
- Yes. Ember rates the violence in Vengeance Is Mine as graphic.
- What did critics think of Vengeance Is Mine?
- Critics broadly regard Shōhei Imamura’s unsettling crime drama as a powerful, poignant, and formally distinctive portrait of criminal despair and social depravity.
- Which films are like Vengeance Is Mine?
- Films with a similar feel include Manhunter, Memories of Murder, The Silence of the Lambs, and Pale Flower.
- How long is Vengeance Is Mine?
- Vengeance Is Mine runs 140 minutes.
- Where can I watch Vengeance Is Mine?
- In United States, Vengeance Is Mine streams on Criterion Channel, Darkroom.
Browse Ember's collections
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