Rating summary

Movie		4.0
Video		4.5
Audio		4.5
Extras		3.5
Overall		4.0

Vengeance Is Mine Blu-ray Movie Review

Reviewed by Dr. Svet Atanasov August 18, 2014

Japanese director Shohei Imamura's "Vengeance Is Mine" (1979) arrives on Blu-ray courtesy of Criterion. The supplemental features on the release include original trailers for the film; excerpt from an archival interview with the Japanese director and his frequent collaborators Kenichi Benitani and Kunio Takeshige; and audio commentary by critic and filmmaker Tony Rayns. The release also arrives with a 32-page illustrated booklet featuring: "On Vengeance Is Mine" by Shohei Imamura; "Civilization and Its Discontents" by Michael Atkinson; "To and From Fiction: An Interview with Shohei Imamura" by Toichi Nakata; "My Approach to Filmmaking" by Shohei Imamura; and technical credits. In Japanese, with optional English subtitles for the main feature. Region-A "locked".

Ken Ogata

Based on Ryuzo Saki’s bestselling novel, Shohei Imamura’s Vengeance is Mine tells the story of Iwao Enokizu (Ken Ogata, The Demon), a serial killer who terrorized Japan between 1963 and 1964. After an unprecedented 78-day nationwide manhunt, which was widely covered by the local media, the police finally captured Enokizu and he was quickly sentenced to death.

The film begins with the end, only a few days before Enokizu is punished for his crimes. He is arrested and transported to a prison where the authorities begin questioning him. Enokizu does not cooperate, but a complete account of his crimes is eventually created with the assistance of his mistress.

The film follows closely Enokizu’s troubled path, but the descriptions of his crimes are not organized in chronological order. We learn about his childhood years, and specifically about a traumatic experience he had with a military official who confiscated his father’s (Rentaro Mikuni, A Promise) boats; his unsuccessful marriage to a beautiful woman named Kazuko (Mitsuko Baisho, Ballad of Narayama); and his relationship with a depressed innkeeper (Mayumi Ogawa, Farewell to the Ark) and her peculiar mother (Nijiko Kiyokawa, Free & Easy Special Version). We also learn about the strange relationship between Enokizu’s father and Kazuko.

Vengeance is Mine is a raw, at times uncomfortable to watch film about moral degradation. For some serial killers the act of killing is an intimate ritual of sorts, a way of achieving pleasure which alcohol, sex, or drugs cannot deliver. For the serial killer in Vengeance is Mine the act of killing equates an extreme form of anger suppression.

The film does not make it clear, however, what the anger (or the vengeance implied in its title) is for. Enokizu’s inexorable desire to hurt those he becomes close with is puzzling to say the least. He is a smart but not strikingly intelligent man whose past clearly does not offer any clues as to why he has become a monster.

The people Enokizu has a relationship with are also strange, though it is a lot easier to understand why. For example, the abused Kazuko finds Enokizu’s father attractive and begs him to make love to her because she feels safe around him. On the other hand, even after the innkeeper learns that Enokizu is a killer, she decides to stay with him because his presence makes it a lot easier for her to deal with her eccentric mother.

Director Imamura knew many people who lived lives similar to the ones the various characters in his film have. Once a happy black marketer who bought illicit liquor and cigarettes from American soldiers and then sold them for profit, Imamura spent a great deal of time amongst homeless loners, prostitutes, thieves, and crooks who taught him a lot more about life in post-war Japan than his university professors did. Naturally, Imamura felt attracted to them and their world. Vengeance is Mine is a product of his fascination with the dark side of Japanese society.

In 1980, the Japanese Academy recognized Vengeance is Mine with six awards, including Best Film award, Best Director award, and Best Actor award (Ken Ogata). During the same year, the film also won Best Screenplay (Masaru Baba) and Best Sound Recording (Shôtarô Yoshida) awards at the Mainichi Film Concours.

Vengeance Is Mine Blu-ray Movie, Video Quality 

Presented in an aspect ratio of 1.66:1, encoded with MPEG-4 AVC and granted a 1080p transfer, Shohei Imamura's Vengeance Is Mine arrives on Blu-ray courtesy of Criterion.

The following text appears inside the booklet provided with this Blu-ray release:

"This high-definition digital transfer was created on a Spirit 2K Datacine from a new 35mm low-contrast print made from the original camera negative. Thousands of instances of dirt, debris, scratches, splices, warps, jitter, and flicker were manually removed using MTI's DRS and Pixel Farm's PFClean. The original monaural soundtrack was mastered at 24-bit from a 35mm magnetic track. Clicks, thumps, hiss, and crackle were manually removed using Pro Tools HD. AudioCube's integrated workstation and iZotope RX 3.

Transfer supervisor: Lee Kline.

Colorist: Joe Gawler, Technicolor, New York."

The high-definition transfer is not identical to the one Eureka Entertainment used for their Region-B release of Vengeance Is Mine in 2010. In addition to the different framing the entire film has a different color scheme -- there is a wider and more prominent range of nuanced browns and reds on the Criterion release which largely replace the nuanced blues and greens from the Region-B release. Brightness levels are also toned down and the blacks appear more accurate on the Criterion release. However, as our screencaptures reveal, the actual discrepancy between the two releases is quite small (the soft blacks remain prominent on the Criterion release as well). Detail and clarity are very good. Additionally, there are no traces of problematic degraining or sharpening adjustments. However, the encoding is clearly superior to that of the Region-B release and as a result grain is better exposed. Finally, there are no large damage marks, cuts, debris, or stains, but I noticed a few tiny flecks popping up here and there. All in all, this is a very good presentation of Vengeance Is Mine which should please folks in North America who have been patiently waiting for it to transition to Blu-ray. (Note: This is a Region-A "locked" Blu-ray release. Therefore, you must have a native Region-A or Region-Free PS3 or SA in order to access its content).

Vengeance Is Mine Blu-ray Movie, Audio Quality 

There is only one standard audio track on this Blu-ray release: Japanese: LPCM 1.0. For the record, Criterion have provided optional English subtitles for the main feature.

Shinichiro Ikebe's music score enhances very well a number of different sequences. The dialog is crisp, stable, and easy to follow. It appears that some additional remastering work has been done because depth is slightly better when one compares this lossless Mono track with the one from Eureka Entertainment's release of Vengeance Is Mine. There are no pops, cracks, background hiss, audio dropouts, or distortions to report in this review.

Vengeance Is Mine Blu-ray Movie, Special Features and Extras 

• Trailer - original Japanese trailer for Vengeance Is Mine. In Japanese, with optional English subtitles. (3 min, 1080p).

• Teaser - original Japanese teaser trailer for Vengeance Is Mine. In Japanese, with optional English subtitles. (3 min, 1080p).

• Commentary - this audio commentary by critic and filmmaker Tony Rayns also appears on Eureka Entertainment's Blu-ray release of Vengeance Is Mine. It contains a wealth of information about the film's production history, its unusual story, and director Shohei Imamura's legacy and career. The commentary was recorded in 2005.

• Shohei Imamura - presented here is an excerpt from an archival interview with Shohei Imamura which was conducted for the Directors Guild of Japan in 1999. Also contributing to the interview are the Japanese director's frequent collaborators Kenichi Benitani and Kunio Takeshige. In Japanese, with optional English subtitles. (11 min, 1080i).

• Booklet - 32-page illustrated booklet featuring: "On Vengeance Is Mine" by Shohei Imamura; "Civilization and Its Discontents" by Michael Atkinson; "To and From Fiction: An Interview with Shohei Imamura" by Toichi Nakata; "My Approach to Filmmaking" by Shohei Imamura; and technical credits.

Vengeance Is Mine Blu-ray Movie, Overall Score and Recommendation 

North American fans of Shohei Imamura's at times quite disturbing Vengeance Is Mine had to wait a bit for a local release, but they should be pleased to know that Criterion's technical presentation of the film is superior to that of Eureka Entertainment. The film itself is quite difficult to deconstruct -- and has a very strange sense of humor -- but as it is the case with virtually all of Shohei Imamura's films it offers a fascinating glimpse at post-war Japan. Hopefully, Criterion will soon upgrade the Pigs, Pimps, and Prostitutes three-disc DVD box set that was released back in 2009. VERY HIGHLY RECOMMENDED.