Kokuhaku (Confessions) Review: Stylish Thriller About Teen Violence

Confessions is a slow-paced movie but its superb direction, cinematography, acting, and confrontational subject will hold your attention. The first 30 minutes lock you in and the rest of the film presents itself as a music video.

A perfectly integrated soundtrack goes along with beautiful slow-motion shots that cast a gloomy look on the film. A well-written script propels its characters’ narratives who have their own confessions to make.

Takako Matsu’s monologue sounds harmless but feels ominous even before she delivers her final lesson. The young actors were good too in portraying malevolent kids driven by their own circumstances.

Combining all of this, you end up with an opera about teen violence. It focuses on intense adolescent emotions and delinquent whims that come out in destructive ways.

The movie is visually captivating and thought-provoking but its twists and turns are confusing. You don’t know what’s real and what’s not and where you are in the story. It ends with one cynical punchline that still leaves you wondering.

Nonetheless, the film is a stylish thriller that makes a lasting impression.