Confessions

'Confessions' may be too grimly cynical to convince fully, but its combination of visual excess, dark wit, random violence, psychological insight and raw emotional intensity is intoxicating.

"Confessions" was a bona fide cultural phenomenon that sent shockwaves through Japan's collective conscience before the tragic earthquakes and tsunami drove people further into soul-searching.

A difficult film to like, an impossible one not to grudgingly admire.

You'll need caffeine on an IV drip to survive it.

A confusing and rather daft Japanese mystery/horror yarn...

I have to say that, despite its effective opening premise and some interestingly spacey mood-alterations and tonal shifts, I found it overcooked and overwrought, and sometimes quite implausible...

The incredible first act boasts more horror, surprise and intrigue than most fully-formed features, and though the subsequent hour never feels as concise or gathered, this is a potent, almost unbearably visceral slice of confronting cinema.

Nakashima's most accomplished film to date.

An engaging and undeniably interesting slant on the source of vendetta and the psychology behind violence and cruelty.

An audacious exhibition of cinematic ingenuity and control.

Impressively directed and beautifully shot, this is a superbly written thriller with strong performances and a terrific soundtrack, though the relentless barrage of twists and turns is ultimately both confusing and overwhelming.

A typically edgy Japanese schoolyard horror, with some serious - and uncomfortable - things to say.