Synopsis
The murder of a young girl leaves the inhabitants of a small Japanese village in shock. The body of Emili is found by four classmates with whom she was playing. The murder is never solved. Emili's mother, Asako, is torn by grief and puts a curse on the four girls when they claim not to remember the killer's face. Each of the girls, in their own way, will do penance for their silence.
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Cast
- Kyoko KoizumiAsako
- Yu AoiSae Kikuchi
- Eiko KoikeMaki Shinohara
- Sakura AndoAkiko Takano
- Chizuru IkewakiYuka Ogawa
- Mirai MoriyamaTakahiro Otsuki
- Kenji MizuhashiTanabe
- Ryo KaseKoji Takano
- Tomoharu HasegawaKeita Murakami
- Ayumi ItoMayu Murakami
Recommendations
- 75
The A.V. Club
The overarching theme is the slow, trickling spread of evil; the old familiar story of violence begetting violence, which Kurosawa is able to render in terms that seem mysterious and sub-rational. - 70
The New York Times
Mr. Kurosawa expertly modulates an uncanny flow of energies between shame and grief, between venal urges and high-minded moral demands. The women’s travails suggest something that’s part curse, part mythic cycle of guilt and part kaleidoscopic dread. - 67
The Playlist
It’s a reminder of what a tremendously talented writer and director Kiyoshi Kurosawa is, and hopefully we’ll see him venturing back to the big screen sooner rather than later. - 63
Slant Magazine
The film is ultimately, and disappointingly, revealed to be a contraption that's less concerned with mental portraiture than with getting all of its expository ducks in a row. - 60
Village Voice
While it doesn't cohere into anything more substantial than a collection of self-loathing anxieties, Japanese teledrama Penance is effectively unnerving on a scene-for-scene basis thanks to writer/director Kiyoshi Kurosawa's preference for ambience over character-driven drama. - 50
The Hollywood Reporter
Complexly plotted, elegantly shot and orchestrated, this is the kind of long-winded, intermittently involving festival package that will earn the director of Tokyo Sonata more critical appreciation but will struggle to find a theatrical audience. For a film that requires nearly five hours of viewing investment, it feels terribly stingy on the emotional payoff. - 40
The Dissolve
Unfortunately, Penance is an example of a TV movie that definitely belongs on the small screen, to be watched piecemeal over the course of several days. Consumed in one gigantic, four-and-a-half-hour gulp, it becomes painfully repetitive and monotonous.
