Murderer's confession 22 years later I have confessed my love for Asian cinema many times, constantly admiring interesting plots and beautiful, emotional actors. Usually, Asian films are subjected to American plagiarism, but this time the Japanese decided to make a remake for the South Korean thriller I Am the Killer 2012, one of the most successful films of Korea.
In 1995, in Japan, there were several serial murders, the killer strangled people in the presence of related relatives. 22 years later, after the expiration of the statute of limitations, a book by a serial killer is published, which appears in public. Police officer Makimura and the relatives of the dead, begin to hunt for him.
For me, Japanese cinema is associated with quality horror films, beautiful and sad dramas and incredible thrash movies on zombie themes. But in the field of action movies and thrillers, Japanese cinema is still lagging behind its neighbor South Korea. But with this thriller, Japan decided to fill in the gaps and start a new round in its movie stream.
After watching two identical movies, you can’t be tempted to compare two similar stories. Korean, unlike the Japanese film, is more dynamic, more spectacular with a graceful plan of revenge on relatives who decided to unite. Japanese, in comparison with Korean more vital, a lot of attention is paid to everyday situations and family relations, as well as a lot of flashbacks that explain the hero’s potential. In this I see the differences between the two paintings, which, with the same name and idea, have a different storyline.
Plus the picture and the director, not blindly copy the story, but make something of their own, show their character and individuality. Therefore, the film is more of a dramatic detective, not a thriller.
The cast. The main role was played by the famous Russian audience Tatsuya Fujiwara (Royal Battle 1, 2; Death Note 1, 2; Tramp Kenshin). The actor himself is bright and memorable, he overplays a little, but films do not suffer from this. He makes his films very emotional, sincere and certainly memorable.
Hideaki Ito- Detective Makimura, for all my sincere sympathy, did not reach the role of Jung Jae-yeon, from the Korean film. His role is not too emotional, although he played not only a detective but also a relative of the deceased. In general, the Japanese deep and all forgivable force in it dominated, over the desire for revenge.
The families of the victims are emotionally broken people, ready to do anything for justice. It is a pity that the director went the other way, shooting a completely different story with them.
Police detectives - in the Korean detective, there was a lot of time devoted to the disclosure of secondary characters, in the same tape, the work of police officers was given little time.
I liked the atmosphere in the film. The picture is filmed gloomyly, in oppressed colors about the hopelessness of the situation of society facing a murderer who becomes famous thanks to victims in the literal and figurative sense.
Evaluation. “The Killer’s Confession” of 2017, according to the genre, I would rather refer to a dramatic detective story, it does not contain dynamic action scenes and dizzying chases. The film is made purely in the Japanese style and spirit, a lot of self-digging, a lot of reflection on destructive topics that ruin people’s lives. In general, all that love Japanese deep, philosophical films about the eternal struggle of good and evil, madness and self-control, revenge and forgiveness.
7 out of 10